Alternative Metal

"It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it."

"If we're gonna fly, we fly like eagles, Arms out wide. If we're gonna fear, we fear no evil; We will rise. By your power, we will go, By your spirit, we are bold. If we're gonna stand, we stand as giants, If we're gonna walk, we walk as lions. We walk as lions."

"Now I see you, I'm frozen in time, All your colors burst into life. I don't dare close my eyes, Cause a love like this happens once in a lifetime."

"If you can hold the stars in place, You can hold my heart the same. Whenever I fall away, Whenever I start to break. So here I am, lifting up my heart To the one who holds the stars."

"The album art was a unique design created by artist Alex Grey. The art is different layers of patterns with the different layers of the human body. In Alex Grey's book "Transfigurations" he says the "saw blade" made of eyes "represents the primordial spirit of emptiness and awareness. The next layer was a vajra emitting energy, the subtle essence of soul around which the physical body coagulates. The next several layers detail the physical systems of viscera, skeletal, muscular, nervous, and cardiovascular systems.""

"[T]he band were as impeccably precise on their instruments as they are on record, with every dynamic, subtlety and thread of power displayed flawlessly."

"Particularly impressed was I with "Lipan Conjuring," which was so thoughtful an addition to the album that I feel as if it were included just for me. You see, I went to the record store with only fifteen dollars in my pocket, and I had a devil of a time deciding between 10,000 Days and Native Moods: A Pathway to Peace. On one hand, I love rockin' out to some ten-minute chugging shuffles, but there's another part of my soul that craves the inner harmony that can only be brought on from some high-quality chanting. It was with a heavy heart that I left the store carrying only one of these two things— or so I thought! Imagine my immense pleasure when my hard rock album was interrupted— no, that's too harsh a word— when my hard rock album was magnificently bolstered by exactly the sort of stupid fucking crap I might hear on some grocery store counter impulse buy CD of New Age chanting bullshit! Bravo! I can have my cake and eat it too, and while I eat my cake I can listen to some total crap!"

"First up, "Vicarious": a Dateline Special Report on violence in the news media featuring guest commentator Maynard James Keenan. Excellent! I've been hoping to hear Maynard weigh in on the hottest issue of 1990."

"Tool are one of the few bands who have made themselves famous by disregarding all expectations of them."

"As esoteric and arcane as their music tends to be, there's no doubt that this unique group of musicians weave their magic to everlasting effect."

"Its songs hammer and seethe, melding the lowdown guitars of grunge, the odd meters of progressive rock and the whiplash stops and starts of thrash. Mr. Keenan's sustained, almost androgynous voice hovers within the music, desolate but impervious to the tumult around him."

"In the popular musical climate of today, which seems to favor the blandness of processed rap metal or the redundancy of uninspired readymade pop outfits, it is refreshing that a band such as Tool exists to add some much-needed freshness to the contemporary musical landscape."

"Tool's songs encompassed sullen calm, rapid-fire onslaughts, spacious chords and nimble-fingered counterpoint. Standing room sometimes became a mosh pit. But midway through its two-hour set, Tool chose stasis with a patiently tolling guitar vamp like a mantra. Its fastest music also had a ritual quality, pounding and repeating like drummers in a trance ceremony. Songs that rev up and end abruptly on Tool's albums only accelerated further, riffing harder and harder as if, through furious motion, they could somehow break through Tool's perpetual tension to reach a long-denied release."

"And we thought if we could get this to work with our budget, you know, and put this out, it'd be really unique and reflecting, you know, a lot of the artwork that I appreciate from the '70s."

"Tool has the goods and puts on a blinding display of heavy metal energy mixed with cerebral art focus."

"In an interview with Rolling Stone last July, Jones reiterated how the lawsuit was affecting the band. "It's costing millions and millions and millions of dollars to defend us. And the fans are all going, 'We want a new Tool album. What the fuck?'" Jones said. "But the point is, we're fighting the good fight. We're going to trial and we want to crush them. But every time we've gotten close to going to trial, it gets postponed and we've wasted money and time and it has just drained our creative energy. We bought an insurance policy for peace of mind, but instead we would have been better off if we never had it and just dealt with the original lawsuit.""

"The music of Tool is the dark slime of a warm, black night. Tool is an escape, a subtle revolution of sound and perception. The musical landscape this band crafts…is the fulfilment of life, surreally black and purely haunting."

"A 7empest must be just that."

"Psychopathy. Misleading me over and over and over."

"And your death will profit off me"

"Pneuma. Reach out and beyond. Wake up, remember. We are born of One Breath, One Word. We are all One Spark, eyes full of wonder."

"Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground Silly monkeys, give them thumbs, they make a club and beat their brother down How they survive so misguided is a mystery"

"Tears in my eyes chasing Ponce de León's phantoms. So filled with hope I can taste mythical fountains. False hope, perhaps, but the truth never got in my way before now. Feel the sting. Feeling time bearing down."

"Give him your love, give him your love to save him"

""This song goes out to," vocalist and songwriter Maynard James Keenan began slowly. And then he paused. And he paused still. And he finally finished, "Joey and Dee Dee." The band jumped into an extremely heavy cover of the Ramones' "Commando," baffling some fans and driving others into an approving fit of screams."

"It was so real Like I woke up in Wonderland All sort of terrifying"

"This is so real"

"You believe me, don't you? Please believe what I just said See the Dead ain't touring And this wasn't all in my head"

"Angels on the sideline Puzzled and amused Why did Father give these humans free will? Now they're all confused"

"Father blessed them all with reason And this is what they choose"

"Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here"

"The Deceiver says, he says: "You belong to me. You don't wanna breathe the light of the others. Fear the light. Fear the breath. Fear the others for eternity." But I hear them now. Inhale the clarity. I hear the venom, the venom in what you say. Inoculated. Bless this immunity."

"Free fall through our midnight, this epilogue of our own fable. Heedless in our slumber. Floating nescient we free fall through this boundlessness, this madness of our own making. Falling isn't flying. Floating isn't infinite..."

"Judge, Condemn, and banish any and everyone. Without evidence. Only the whispers from within."

"[Keepin it calm. Keep calm. Keepin it calm. Keep calm. Keep calm. FUCK. Here we go again]"

"Control, your delusion. Insane and striking at random. Victim of your certainty, and therefore your doubt's not an option. Blameless, The 7empest will be just that. So try as you may, feeble, your attempt to atone. Your words to erase all the damage cannot."

"You can kill the revolutionary But you can't kill the revolution"

"Opening strong with their first hit, 1993's "Sober," the crowd - predominantly made up of younger fans, rabid with anticipation - was rushed into a hot frenzy. Lead singer Maynard James Keenan, as is customary for the enigmatic frontman, loomed in the background with his back facing the audience for most of the show. And as the first few songs let their last few notes fade away, Keenan disrobed, removing various parts of his ensemble, leaving him with nothing more then black underwear and a stripe of black paint on his face."

"Keenan…wore an all-black leather outfit, had his face painted black and stood on a spinning platform some distance from the front stage; he never seemed to look at the crowd."

"We always try to think of something that's never been done before, you know, as far as album packaging, and I've been a fan of stereoscopic photography my whole life and belong to the Southern California Stereoscopic Club."

"Tool is a fascinating anomaly."

"The video presentation…offered a stunning visual complement to the band's furious sonic assault."

"Wrath and pain, desire and self-loathing, ferocity and meditation all find a complicated balance in Tool."

"Avoiding self-glorification, the band played in near-darkness under video screens on Monday. Maynard James Keenan, Tool's lead singer, stood on a platform behind Adam Jones on guitar and Justin Chancellor on bass, with his face in shadows, while Danny Carey on drums toiled meticulously by his side."

"Ten to two a.m., X, Yogi DMT, and a box of Krispy Kremes"

"Liar, lawyer, mirror; for you, what's the difference? Kangaroo be stoned; he's guilty as the government"

"A strangely chatty Maynard James Keenan broke his self-imposed exile and spoke casually to the crowd, inciting them to a cheer of "Yes!" and sometimes sharing his thoughts, most of which were unashamedly eccentric to say the least."

"With their feet firmly planted on their spot on the stage and their faces obscured by their long hair, the players simply let their instruments communicate, and made no attempt to try it any other way. Adam Jones in particular was a foreboding figure – his sheer stillness contrasted drastically by the strained and pained sounds he forced from his guitar."

"E.T. revealed to me his singular purpose. He said, "You are the Chosen One, the One who will deliver the message. A message of hope for those who choose to hear it and a warning for those who do not.""

"I can't remember what they said to me"