TOOL

[Quark]

Despite being a 90s Kerrang kid Tool completely passed me by.

I know Matt said to give the back catalogue a spin before the new album, but I've just jumped straight in.

Bugger me but this is the good shit.

[fatyeti24]

1 minute ago, Quark said:

Despite being a 90s Kerrang kid Tool completely passed me by.

I know Matt said to give the back catalogue a spin before the new album, but I've just jumped straight in.

Bugger me but this is the good shit.

I've not listened to 'em since the 90s, first album era.  I'm currently listening to the new album, and enjoying it as my annual dip into metal.

I have, however, seen them play at Glastonbury.

[Matt42]

All jokes aside

Why is this album getting really really negative reviews by some critics?

Some absolutely love it and some are giving it like 2/10?

[Madyaker]

4 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

All jokes aside

Why is this album getting really really negative reviews by some critics?

Some absolutely love it and some are giving it like 2/10?

Some people think going against consensus makes them cool and clever. Or else it went over their heads. I'm going to have to order the vinyl I think.

[jparx]

19 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

All jokes aside

Why is this album getting really really negative reviews by some critics?

Some absolutely love it and some are giving it like 2/10?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8104-lateralus/amp/

[VCK]

3 hours ago, Matt42 said:

All jokes aside

Why is this album getting really really negative reviews by some critics?

Some absolutely love it and some are giving it like 2/10?

The music press right now really has a thing for slamming rock music whilst promoting boring pop music. It's weird.

[Nicklord]

34 minutes ago, VCK said:

The music press right now really has a thing for slamming rock music whilst promoting boring pop music. It's weird.

Nah, this album has great reviews in general. It's 88 on metacritic. It's just when some people don't like this album they slam it like it's the worst thing ever put on a record for some reason 

[maelzoid]

In the Spotify era, the purpose of music criticism has changed. We used to read reviews to guide us on how to spend our hard-earned. Now, when you can sample all of it yourself before buying, its no longer needed. I think we read reviews now for entertainment, the pleasure of reading a well-argued and well-written article that maybe offers some insight into music we can listen to for ourselves.

To that end, I think many writers have to edge towards more extreme views, and so you get ridiculous puff pieces or utter slams when in many cases, the album is of middling quality.

When an album is really good (as is the case here) or really bad, any writer that goes against the consensus is going to attract more attention, especially on something like Metacritic - that one take-down with the red number is going to draw proportionally more hits than all the consensus reviews.

ps. I'm loving all the enthusiastic comments here from folks new to Tool. 

[dentalplan]

Maybe they just think the album is bad, guys.

[VCK]

Their album has charted at number 4. That's at least 3rd down on the Pyramid, right?  

[Matt42]

1 hour ago, VCK said:

Their album has charted at number 4. That's at least 3rd down on the Pyramid, right?  

It’s pretty good they brought themselves back onto streaming otherwise they would have done much worse.

They are pretty irrelevant here which is a shame. However in the US they’ve absolutely smashed it.

[Madyaker]

Number 4 is really impressive for an album like this.

[Nicklord]

And the CD sold out like 3 weeks ago. It would be higher if they made more but for some reason they didn't 

[Matt42]

Well the new stuff sounds insane live

How on earth does everything sound so CRISP

 

[jparx]

TOOL are consistently the best sounding band I've ever seen live. The only ones that come close are Radiohead and Bon Iver. Porcupine Tree sounded ace back in the day we well.

[Rubber Soldier]

On 9/4/2019 at 9:59 PM, VCK said:

The music press right now really has a thing for slamming rock music whilst promoting boring pop music. It's weird.

You’ve also described half this forum there ?

[SecretFish]

Tool would be the perfect headline act. Perfect. 

[Matt42]

But how does it SOUND so good? It’s like the Cure in... sounded better than on record!

[SecretFish]

5 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

But how does it SOUND so good? It’s like the Cure in... sounded better than on record!

Because they are probably the tightest / best band on the planet.  
When live they make most main headliners seem ... small 

[a6l6e6x]

Tool were good at download this year but they really aren't a glasto act unfortunately

As for live sound I've always found deftones very good in that area

[Madyaker]

I don’t think they’ll play but I’d be delighted if they did. Could they headline the other? I think they’d be too big for John peel it’d be like the streets last year all over again.

[maelzoid]

Tool headlining the other is ...just... within the realms of possibility. Any other festival would have to have them headline outright, but they may understand the scale of Glastonbury.Of course I would expect it to not be televised.  Still very slim chance and I would be betting against it.

I think after festivals in '19 it will be their own shows next year.

[jparx]

1 hour ago, Matt42 said:

But how does it SOUND so good? It’s like the Cure in... sounded better than on record!

Adam, Justin and Danny are all obsessive geeks and spend hours upon hours perfecting it. Their attention to detail is unreal.

Edited October 15, 2019 by jparx

[Kusy]

Prague in may.

[JSmurphy]

33 minutes ago, Kusy said:

Prague in may.

yea boiiiiiiiiiiiii