Give or take a day, October 18th this year is my 10,000th day.
I wrote this in 2006.
I heard Opiate, Undertow, and Aenima around the same time in my life. I might have overheard a couple of their popular songs on the radio before this time, but 1997 (when I was 15) is when I was first exposed to the band. About a year later, I decided to actively take an interest in the band's music. I listened to Aenima pretty much every day for a year, and therefore songs like "Stinkfist" and "Pushit" are strongly attributed to my teenage angst.
I heard Salival as it came out. I heard "Schism" the day it was put on the airways, and Lateralus close to the day it was released. Lateralus came out in 2001, during a very positive time in my life when I felt "connected" and loved, and I got to share my opinions of the album very closely with my boyfriend at the time. Things with the boyfriend turned sour, and by the time I saw Tool live that November, I had had QUITE a relationship with the album. This only grew over the next year, to the point that I couldn't, in any way, tolerate hearing Tool.
The first song I could find myself relating to again was "The Patient". Eventually I came around and could hear Tool again, though I maintained some distance from Lateralus, and I became "in love" with Undertow in ways I hadn't discovered before. (I mean, I was in LOVE with this album before... but coming back to it was fucking amazing. If I was put on a desserted island with only one thing to listen to ever again, it would be Undertow. It's that kind of <3ing, yo.)
It's been nearly ten years since I discovered this band.
10,000 Days seemed like a joke, at first. The as-yet-known artwork of the album is too similar to previous artwork, the name comes across as cliche, and the song names are ridiculously pseudo-intellectual. I'm still not even sure it's real, and I have it.
I debated for a while about if I'd wait until I have a physical copy of the album versus mp3s in order to listen to it. I knew it would become available before it really was available. I knew I would buy it no matter what the case, because physical CDs have MUCH clearer, cleaner, comprehensive sound than mp3s. Every band I appreciate and respect, I buy from. This was more of an issue of patience. Could I wait?
It came down to the fact that other people had the album and I KNEW they were going to spoil my reactions to the album. I want purity in the way I digest things. Otherwise, I'm inclined to hate. So, when it was offered to me, I took it.
.
From listening to the album once, and not really that attentively, I gather that this album is going to take some getting used to. Vicarious was relatively easy to get into and enjoy, but it seems that the rest of the album is going to take time to sink in. I probably won't know if I like the album for a while. This, for me, is natural.
Vicarious
First Impression: Dream Theater. The intro also reminded me of "The Grudge". The song itself reminds me of some sort of reverse version of "Aenema".
I like it. A lot. It's the best new song I've heard in years, perhaps even since the first time I heard "Reflection".
I like the lyrics, too, although they initially came off as a little weird. Something about them reminds me of A Perfect Circle, but it might just be because of the last APC album being rather political, and this song is just that.
Jambi
First Impression: Is that Slipknot? But then he starts singing, followed by Tool's token bass sound, and... oh, okay. It's not Slipknot. or Mudvayne. or any other band.
It sounds pretty cool. I think I'll like this one a lot in the future. I can't quite intellectualize the lyrics yet, but they seem pretty nice, too.
This song is way harder and immediately striking than what Tool usually does (or, at least, have done for a while).
It's also a really long song.
Wings For Marie
First Impression: Are you sure this wasn't supposed to be called "Wings for Enya"? What a dumb name. I thought this song would be silly or something ridiculous with a name like that, and instead it's very quiet and slow and building.
It kind of reminds me of a serious version of Intermission, because it's essentially the "beginning" of the next song, like Intermission is the beginning of Jimmy.
It's quietly emotional, much like the last tracks of Lateralus. It's "sad".
Anyway, Marie "will be waiting".
10,000 Days
First impression: Not much different from the song before it in its initial quietness or building nature, but it doesn't come across as sad. "Angry" might better sum it up at first. It has more of an intellectual "point".
Good god, this song is long.
It reminds me of Pushit in the way it curves around several times before reaching a point. It's an "experience", I guess.
Pink Floyd-ish...
The Pot
First Impression: I'll take anything after that, but something positive or funny or upbeat would be nice. And delivery is had!
Okay, even though the vocals are fucking weird, I LOVE this. I will be quoting this song to my grave.
This song doesn't really sound like the Tool I know, but it doesn't sound like anything else either.
Lipan Conjuring
First Impression: Short song = segue.
I had a laugh attack the first time I heard it.
Heh, I guess it kind of stands out on its own as a "song", but yeah.. heh. You can't really take it seriously.
Lost Keys
First Impression: Um, is there a point to this? I mean it sounds really cool and all, but does it really have to be so long? It sounds like it came out of a movie.
Rosetta Stoned
First Impression: Another epic drug song? Aren't there enough of-WOAH, WHAT THE FUCK?
I don't get it...
Someone's been hanging out with Jon Davis...
But then it changes, sort of. I don't know. This one is really hard to swallow. It's very different.
It kinds of reminds me of Aenema when all is said and done.
The later half of the song is less "difficult", but it's still really fucking intense. It never "lets up".
Intension
First Impression: Reminds me of a soundtrack, again. It sounds like this album is really experimental with the different styles Tool has previously used plus various new ones that have a sort of "industrial" relation, as far as that type of experimental shit goes. They've obviously grown as a band and as individuals, but still... the song comes across as vain (doing whatever just to make noise) and even infantile. I don't know if it's because of the previous song that it sounds like that, or what.
It sounds somewhat like Reflection does. It also reminds me of The Fragile-era Nine Inch Nails.
Right In Two
First Impression: This one sounds more welcoming than the previous few right from the start. Here is where Maynard uses some of the softer vocals he's been using with APC (especially on Thirteenth Step), with Tool.
I can't really understand the lyrics but they sound significant.
It's really calm and emotionally quieting for the most part, something you'd listen to while attempting to concentrate on a new idea. It's very, very "focused".
It's clear that a lot of people are going to like this song.
Viginti Tres
First Impression: Not a song?
I REALLY like the way the first few noises relate to each other. It reminds me of sparked flame, ovens, fire, breathing dragons, footsteps, hot electric fences, Myst, "the hum" that we all hear but don't realize it until it's so fucking quiet that it's ALL you hear, and it gets so loud that you can't hear anything BUT and your head feels like it's going to implode with this new information...
I wonder what this sounds like backwards? or sped up?
... And the album as a whole?
I was expecting more apparent or clear lyrics, and I didn't get that.
I was also expecting it to be heavier in a different way than it is, but it's still pretty fucking heavy in places.
I wasn't expecting it to relate so much to previous songs they've done.
It's different. I don't know how I'm going to relate to this album over time. Right now, I'm.. amazed but turned off and yet really drawn to it. I want more. It feels like merely a taste, yet a really fucking all-consuming taste. It's going to take me a lot of time to "hear" this entire thing, piece by piece.
I don't think this album is going to gain the same kind of fan base that Lateralus or Aenima drew in, since it's so beyond that of existing social tastes. You can't just put one of these songs on and listen to it as you do anything else you might listen to and simply move on from there. Well, I suppose you could try, but then you'd miss the point.
but yeah.
I'm in a daze. I don't even know what to think.
It's, in a word, amazing.
Over the next few days I kept writing about the album, and my mind changed on a few things. Especially "Jambi".
Fuckin' "Jambi".
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