The closest comparison I can think of is a 21st Century version of the "Doors" playing live, with Jim Morrison about as wasted as he could get, as he spouted poetry to the instrumental jam backing him. However, although I don't know the actual state of the band members of TOOL when this album was recorded, there's nothing to do with being wasted here. The lyrics are brilliant if a bit hard to understand. The theme, and there is a theme here, is pure science fiction. The music is all over the place within what I would call progressive metal, but the result delivers a knockout punch! Oh, and TOOL does not sound like the "Doors." My comparison relates more to the meandering music with vocals added as the muse strikes - and TOOL's muse makes a lot more sense!

The band doesn't make it easy for you to put all the pieces that make up "Lateralus" together, but it's worth it to find out as much as you can. The actual graphics for the album are holograms inside the front and back of the jewel case. There are no "liner notes" you can remove and read, just a bit of information on the back of a thin black plastic sleeve that fits over the jewel case. It's designed something like a circuit board, but you have to look hard to find song names, band members, producers, etc. If you want to see the lyrics you have to go to the TOOL web site where they were posted a mere 3 weeks ago. On some songs you can hear the lyrics well, or at least important parts of them. On others, you need that web site.

This album has entirely too much to take in on the first listen. I started with the music, then picked up on what lyrics I could make out and finally printed the actual lyrics so I knew what they were. This was definitely the best approach for me, because if I'd spent my time trying to figure out what the lyrics had to do with the album before listening to it very closely, I would have missed the connections made throughout the album.

The opening track, "Grudge," starts off with drums and driving guitar which fades into a heavy bass line. This entire album is VERY heavy on drums, bass and other forms of percussion. It is NOT like all the typical rap over drum and bass groups out there now. The drums are what hold together all the various pieces of "Lateralus." So does repetition of important musical lines. This song quickly moves into hard rock mode with lyrics that you have to absorb and derive your own meaning from. As the song continues, there are major changes in emphasis on certain lyrics, the music goes back and forth from quiet to loud and at times flips into heavy metal with it's anguished growls and screams. Clocking in at 8:34, it leads you all over the place before dumping you into "Eon Blue Apocalypse," a short instrumental of strange sounds.

"The Patient" starts out quietly with minimal instrumental backing other than a beat and a rather plaintive verse. A big musical instrumental cuts in before the "chorus" of one line. As the song continues the music becomes louder and more complex, while the lyrics are sung louder and stronger, but continuing the theme. This is the first time you begin to connect that someone is telling their own personal story. Some very intricate guitar riffs wrap themselves around the vocal with layering of vocals and harmony until the end of the song when things again become quiet. This segues into "Mantra," another instrumental that's a lot of strange, spacey noises verging on something supernatural.

By track five, "Schism," if you're now in pay attention mode to the lyrics, you begin to recognize more of the story is being handed to you if you can figure it out. This song is still heavily dependant on the beat and there's a certain cadence to the lyrics that make them stay with you. The instrumental isn't terribly loud on this song and the same melody line keeps repeating with different sounds (both musical and other things) being added on top of each other. The line "I know the pieces fit . . ." becomes the mantra within the lyrics. The instrumental traverses all kinds of twists and turns, as well as the sound level. Some areas are almost acoustic, while others are very heavy metal. This particular song is where the album really began to stick with me long after the it was over. From here on out, it's a dizzy ride you crave TOOL to take you on.

"Parabol" is a short song done with minimal accompaniment other than the use of the bass to keep the "beat" and the quiet rattle of the cymbals. The lyrics are sung almost like a chant and sound very sad although the words aren't necessarily depressing at this point. It more or less sounds like the beginning of mourning some terrible loss. At the very end, a loud fuzz guitar note leads into "Parabola" and the drums once again hold things together. This is a wild song full of great guitar riffs, harmonies and more of a metal sound. Guitars definitely come to the forefront in this song and it's a no holds barred, down and dirty rock/metal assault. The lyrics are still a bit puzzling unless you've begun to follow the theme, but this one could be a stand alone song easily. It's also one of several best songs on the album. I haven't heard fuzz bass and guitar used this well in years. The song does end on a very quiet sweet note though.

Drums are the main intro to "Ticks and Leeches," followed by some really amazing guitar work. This is for sure a heavy metal song, but the strong scream that opens the vocal is used to wonderful effect. What I believe is happening in the lyrics at this point is that the person has been used in medical experiments and is equating blood taken from him as done by ticks. He's angry, he believes he's been changed by what's been done to him and his refrain is "Hope this is what you wanted/ Hope this is what you had in mind/ Cuz this is what you're getting/ I hope you're choking/ I hope you choke on this." All this mayhem is relieved by a very quiet, introspective instrumental bridge, before slamming back in with total angry screams, very fast drums and guitars pounding and finally a repeat of the above chorus in the form of questions ("Is this what you wanted . . ."). This is probably one of the best songs on the entire album.

The title track, "Lateralus," begins with quiet guitar and the drums and bass doing double time - very rhythm dependent. This is another song that moves all over the place as far as volume and type of music, from heavy metal and that type of vocals, to quiet, spacey instrumentals meandering along. The lyrics on this song are more poetic and analytical than the others. The vocal is just short of cadence or chant, but the melody is repetitious, another theme carried throughout the album. "Swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human," is an important line here and the melody is very difficult to forget once you hear it. This is another excellent song which again segues into a short, mostly instrumental piece called "Disposition." Again quiet, an acoustic guitar accompanies some spacey sounds and a few lines of lyric that signify something I can't quite figure out.They're sung so softly you can barely hear them over the instrumental.

The last big song with a vocal is "Reflection." Opening with a drum solo and various other types of percussion, the bass layers on top of that, then some synth sounds and middle eastern type instruments create another layer. This song has a lot of repetition - more than the rest - and is hypnotic. The intro is fairly long before the vocal falls in. These lyrics are again very poetic and not easily understood, although it appears the storyteller is trying to bring himself back from despair to hope. The line "Before I pine away . . ." is repeated throughout the song and is a MAJOR hook. Even the vocal has a kind of wailing sound equating to something very foreign and mysterious. Although there are several lines of lyrics, the song is mainly instrumental and gets some crazy sounds pitched in every now and then. This is yet another way cool song.

The final couple tracks have no vocal - well, at least not "Triad," a 6:37 instrumental that starts again with drums and spacey type sounds. This is soon joined by fuzz bass and guitar and builds in volume, but repeats the same music. Layered over is the sound of a wailing prayer (Muslim type?) and synth that sounds like it's from outer space, along with a lot of other weird sounds and types of percussion. A screeching guitar solo layers things again and the driving beat of the drums leaves you feeling almost trapped. The layers of music on this song make for one very intense listen.

There is a hidden track at the end of this album, but at least it's listed on the back cover so you know to expect something else. What it ends up being is certainly not what I thought it would be! Suddenly your ears are filled with static and the faint voice of someone trying to tell a bizarre story relating to aliens, our government, Area 51 and things that seem impossible. I'll leave the final "blow" for you to discover.

As I said above, I find it difficult to review TOOL because their music is just so different from anything else I can possibly think of. However, this is one HELL of an album and my hope is that people who may not normally read a review of a hard rock/heavy metal CD see this and take a chance on purchasing it. I truly think this is a brilliant recording that deserves as much exposure as possible. Get out of the rut of run-of-the-mill bands, no matter what genre they are, and give "Lateralus" the chance to hypnotize