Chevelle copies Tool, with great success

Look, it's Tool. No, it's Chevelle. The three Midwestern boys who started off with Point #1 have come a long way. That first album was supposed to have had a couple of singles and been very popular on college campuses (as the band was in college at the time) but I sure didn't hear any of those songs.\nDespite the fact that the band members decided to drop their tuning on their new album, Wonder What's Next, it was done in the vein of Tool. It's been tried in the past, but Chevelle pulls it off. Joe Loeffler throws down some impressive, driving bass lines, and the scratch rhythms and percussiveness of Pete's (his brother) guitar make for some grinding songs. Sam (another Loeffler brother) keeps it all together with some nice drumming. Sam's voice cannot be overlooked, either. When he screams, it makes your hair stand on end.\nThe two songs that could be scrapped from the album are "Comfortable Liar" and "Send the Pain Below." The instruments are great, but the vocals just sound a little too happy for the songs. The songs are all right, but not particularly impressive.\nThe album knocked the wind out of me. Even if the album wasn't good, "The Red" could carry the entire thing. I got cold chills the first time I heard it. I love the climax toward the end, when open harmonics are ringing in the background just before Pete starts screaming that final verse.\n"Wonder What's Next" follows and is probably the most Tool-like song on the album. The driving rhythm is established from the start, and the interlude, in which Pete is just talking, conjures up memories of some of Tool's Maynard James Keenan's more disturbing songs.\nIn a time when nu metal can't do anything but provide guitars tuned down lower and lower, and the only thing pop has to offer is one great single that has to carry an entire album, Chevelle has made an actual album. It is actually enjoyable to listen to this CD from start to finish.