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Lateralus

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Untitled

Lateralus is Tool's third full-length album released in May 2001 (see 2001 in music).

Overview

Lateralus is a progressive rock album, which emerged after a five-year legal tussle with Tool's former label. In spite of its unusual and complex content, the album still became a commercial success in the United States quite apart from the mid- to late-1990s explosion of nu-metal. The album is 78 minutes and 58 seconds long. According to an interview with Danny Carey, the label promised them only 79 minutes, so they "gave them two seconds of breathing room" (it should be noted that just over two minutes of silence is included at the end of Triad, one of the tracks on the album).

Two music videos were released: "Schism" (the video had the short ambient track, "Mantra," at the beginning) and "Parabol/Parabola." These were subsequently released as two separate DVD singles on December 20, 2005, featuring remixes of the tracks by Lustmord. As of August 5, 2003, Lateralus has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 23, 2005, Lateralus was released as a limited edition two picture disc vinyl in a holographic gatefold package.

Surrounding the release of Lateralus there was a highly active rumor mill, with Tool adding grist to the mill in January 2001, when the band announced the new album title Systema Encéphale and an obscure tracklist. One month later, they revealed the real title and a completely different tracklist, much to the chagrin of several members of the media who had accepted and promoted the original title.

Track listing

All songs written by Tool.

  1. "The Grudge" – 8:36
  2. "Eon Blue Apocalypse" – 1:04
  3. "The Patient" – 7:13
  4. "Mantra" – 1:12
  5. "Schism" – 6:47
  6. "Parabol" – 3:04
  7. "Parabola" – 6:03
  8. "Ticks & Leeches" – 8:10
  9. "Lateralus" – 9:24
  10. "Disposition" – 4:46
  11. "Reflection" – 11:07
  12. "Triad" – 8:46
  13. "Faaip de Oiad" – 2:39

Track information & trivia

  • Some time after Lateralus was released a minor flurry of interpretive activity arose around the album. In particular, Carey told an interviewer about Keenan's remark that the time signatures of the main riff in "Lateralus" (9-8-7) also represented a step in the Fibonacci sequence (the sixteenth step, as it turns out). This led some Tool fans to suggest that the tracks on Lateralus can be listened to in spiral-like orders: 1,2,3,5,8,13,4,6,7,9,10,11,12 ("The Fibonacci Sequence"), 6,7,5,8,4,9,3,10,2,11,1,12,13 ("The Lateralus Prophecy"), or 6,7,5,8,4,9,13,1,12,2,11,3,10 ("The Holy Gift"). These arrangements are rumoured by fans to produce different storylines for the album, although the band has said nothing official on the subject.
  • The cover is translucent and flips open to reveal the different layers of the human body, including a spiritual layer representing vrajna, the transcendental wisdom of enlightenment or union with the divine. Partially obscured in the brain matter on the final layer is the word "God." The artwork was done by artist Alex Grey.
  • "Eon Blue Apocalypse" is said to be about Adam Jones' Great Dane named Eon Blue, that had cancer and died, according to an interview with Danny Carey.
  • The fourth track, "Mantra", was alleged to be a slowed-down recording of someone—possibly an old woman—saying "I love you". Keenan has since stated that the song is a slowed-down recording of one of his Siamese cats being squeezed. It has been noted that when the vinyl record is played on a phono player at 78 speed, the track actually sounds like a recording of a mantra being recited.
  • The songs "Parabol" and "Parabola" are directly connected to each other, making the two tracks into one song in excess of nine minutes. A ten-minute long video was made for the song, but received little airplay due to its prohibitive length.
  • The eighth track, "Ticks and Leeches", is rarely performed live due to the immense strain the song puts on Keenan's voice. They have performed it occasionally, however, with Keenan utilizing several distortion devices to minimize the difficulty of the song.
  • On the ninth track of the album, "Lateralus", Keenan's vocals during the verses coincide with the Fibonacci sequence by syllable. The number of syllables progress to the sixth step, then back down to the first step; up to the seventh step, and then back to the fourth step:
[1] black
[1] then
[2] white are
[3] all I see
[5] in my infancy
[8] red and yellow then came to be
[5] reaching out to me
[3] lets me see
[2] there is
[1] so
[1] much
[2] more that
[3] beckons me
[5] to look through to these
[8] infinite possibilities
[13] as below so above and beyond I imagine
[8] drawn outside the lines of reason
[5] push the envelope
[3] watch it bend

It is interesting to note that the Fibonacci sequence shares a relationship with phi, the golden ratio. The golden ratio is used to describe spirals, which are mentioned several times in the lyrics. Also, in "Lateralus", Keenan first starts singing at 1 minute 37 seconds, which equates to 1.617 minutes (the golden ratio = approximately 1.618).

  • Just as "Salival" was initially released with several errors on the track listing, early pressings of "Lateralus" had the ninth track spelled as "Lateralis." The error was fixed in subsequent pressings.
  • The original title of "Reflection" was "Resolution" before being changed at the last minute. Drummer Danny Carey sampled himself breathing through a tube to simulate the chanting of Buddhist monks. There is also the sound of pianos being smashed with hammers sampled on this track.[1]
  • Another common analogy is that the album represents the break-down of a relationship and the feelings/thoughts that follow, although many find the lyrics too open to be about one specific experience.
  • The vocal on "Faaip de Oiad" is a recording of a call from a 1997 conversation on Art Bell's radio program Coast to Coast AM. The caller, in a frantic tone, claimed to have been previously employed at Area 51 and stated that the true nature of aliens were that of "extra-dimensional beings" that have infiltrated the military establishment and plan to destroy the world's large population centers to more easily control the remaining humans. The broadcast was cut short however, when their transmitter failed but Art Bell returned on the air with the use of a back up link system. Supposedly, the same caller called back some weeks later and claimed it was a hoax. "Faaip de Oiad" is Enochian for "the voice of God." Described as Danny Carey's personal percussion piece for the album (as was "(–) Ions" on Ænima), he can be heard drumming intensely in the background along with sounds of static and various electronic debris.
  • In the song "Lateralus," the line "as below so above and beyond I imagine" is a reference to alchemy and hermeticism.
  • Disposition, Reflection, and Triad are a trilogy of songs originally planned as a single 23 minute track. They are performed together live. Also the number 23 has an occult meaning.
  • In "The Grudge," the song is written in 10/8 time and is another example of the wide variety of diverse time signatures employed by the band. The lyrics contain several references to astrology (specifically, the "Return of Saturn"), and to alchemy, "transmutate these leaden grudges into gold".
  • The cd was mastered using HDCD technology, which can be decoded by listening to the CD using Windows Media Player.

Alchemic connections

Some song lyrics on this album can be interpreted as references to alchemy, especially due to the fact that the Philosopher's stone often serves as a spiritual metaphor to evolve from a lower state of imperfection and vice (symbolized by the base metals) to a higher state of enlightenment and perfection. References to this spiritual transmutation are:

"Give away the stone. Let the oceans take and transmutate this cold and fated anchor.
Give away the stone. Let the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold." ("The Grudge")
"Black then white are all I see in my infancy, red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me....Lets me see". ("Lateralus")

If seen in this perspective, the part from "Lateralus" can either refer to the four colors of the Philosopher's stone during different phases of creation, or to the colors of the ingredients themselves (i.e. black = mercury, white = salt, yellow = sulphur, red = stone).

It is also believed that the same line refers to the order in which infants start to see colors.[citation needed]

The infant theory is strongly referenced in the book "The Giver," about a secluded utopian-esque society with many secrets. It is suggested that all within the society are fully color blind. Slowly the main character begins seeing colors, the red of an apple, then the yellow of the sunlight, like an infant awakening to reality.

Some people also believe to have found a relation between Lateralus and the Hermetic Kabbalah,[2]where Black, white, red and yellow refer to the colors associated with various Sephiroth of the Tree Of Life.

Personnel

Chart positions

Album

Lateralus reached the #1 position on the Billboard charts in its premiere week and the #1 spot on Billboard Music Chart's top Internet Albums chart, top Canadian Albums chart and the Billboard 200 chart (US) selling 555,000 albums in the process.

Singles

2001   Schism          The Billboard Hot 100                   No. 67
2001   Schism          Mainstream Rock Tracks                  No. 2
2001   Schism          Modern Rock Tracks                      No. 2
2002   Lateralus       Modern Rock Tracks                      No. 18
2002   Lateralus       Mainstream Rock Tracks                  No. 14
2002   Parabola        Mainstream Rock Tracks                  No. 10
2002   Parabola        Modern Rock Tracks                      No. 31

See also

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