Tool - 10,000 Days

Tool - 10,000 Days

I somehow have managed to live under a rock when it comes to Tool. 10,000 Days is their fourth studio album, fifth if you count their EP Opiate, and the first one that I’ve actually listened to. I think I may have been missing out.

10,000 Days is a dark and heavy album with complex rhythms and intense lyrics and is just about flawless in its execution. My only real complaint about the album is that the vocals are a little too buried in the mix sometimes, but other than that…nothing. Sonically, it’s great. The guitars have a great, thick, rich distortion that just rips and the bass and drums work here are outstanding.

The tracks are relatively long on 10,000 Days, with the exception of two clocking in between five and eleven minutes. You could think that with such lengthy cuts the album would drag, but it really doesn’t. You have the epic combo of Wings For Marie (Pt. 1) and 10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2) clocking in at 17:25 total yet it still breaths and moves…without the aid of the fast forward button.

Those two tracks, in particular, are almost a metal version of ambient music. Both Wings Pt. 1 and 2 envelop you in their own “environment” if you will. They try to take you into the story they tell not just through their words, but through the music that makes up the two tracks. It would be easy to try and make a comparison to Pink Floyd as far as the overall feel of Wings Pt. 1 and 2, but I think that would be too convenient because they really do deserve to be listened to.


Another high point for me, no pun intended, was the track Rosetta Stoned. This song is basically a cautionary tale against Mulder and Scully ever dropping acid. Area 51, alien abductions, the chosen one or just a bad trip? Lyrically, the song is unique to say the least, and musically it’s intense and heavy and even comes with its own anal probe guitar solo. How can you pass something like that up?


In terms of a modern metal or progressive metal album, I really think this is the real deal. 10,000 Days just manages to seem bigger than most albums that I’ve heard in the genre lately…it’s aurally bigger, bigger in its intensity and bigger in its scope.

If the previous Tool albums are as good as this one is, then I have defiantly been missing out. I guess I know what will be “New: On the pod” next time…Opiate, Undertow, Aenima and Lateralus.

You can purchase 10,000 Days @