Moody jam-metal band returns

It's hard to believe that Tool has been around for nearly 14 years. One of the first albums I ever purchased was their 1993 debut, Undertow, and their 1996 metal-masterpiece, Ænima, can still be found in rotation on my stereo. Their last record, 2001's dense, challenging Lateralus, was the sound of metal proclaiming itself a vital force in the 21st century. Despite spanning an eternity between albums and engaging in the relatively mediocre side project, A Perfect Circle, Tool remain a vital force in contemporary metal, as they prove with their latest, 10,000 Days.\nTrue to the form of Tool's three previous long-players, a moderate portion of Days consists of instrumental mood pieces. Twenty-five of the 75 minutes is made up of thick, trudging instrumentals like "Lost Keys," "Intension," "Wings for Marie," "Lipan Conjuring" and the droning album closer "Viginti Tres." The good thing about these tracks is not only that they help solidify the mood of what preceded and set the tone for what's to come, but also that what's upcoming is of such a high caliber that they're worth sitting through. The remaining 50 minutes of Days is exactly the quality of organic, introspective metal we've come to expect from Tool, and far more in some cases.\nThe album commences with the one-two punch of "Vicarious" and "Jambi," followed shortly by the stunningly subtle uppercut of the title track, "10,000 Days." "Vicarious" revisits lead vocalist and songwriter Maynard James Keenan's vehement disgust and disillusionment with the modern world first displayed on Ænima's title track, while "Jambi" is one of Tool's most musically invigorating tracks ever, shifting between a series of multi-layered monotone riffs, semi-buried vocal tracks and cyclonic solos. The title track comes on slowly with thunderstorm effects, romanticizing the rain and letting listeners worry about what happens when the lights flicker and the rivers spill over their banks.\n"The Pot" and "Rosetta Stoned" are easily the angriest and most aggressive songs on the record, and seem at home in the same anti-social territory as many of the songs on Undertow and Ænima. If they weren't so musically exciting, they'd be hard to forgive, yet such forgiveness isn't needed for the final significant composition on 10,000 Days. "Right in Two" is possibly the most subdued and elegant extended track Tool has ever cemented on record. The closest thing Tool has ever penned to a political track, "Right in Two" laments "monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground" as Keenan's vocals form a unified noise with the bass, drums, and guitar, resulting in an extended tribal percussion break high followed by the inevitable, jagged come-down.\nWith nearly every song of substance clocking in at seven plus minutes and shifting tempo more often than most modern metal bands change lyrical rhyme pattern, 10,000 Days is not for the casual listener. Those initiated know what Tool is all about, and will be thrilled to find this record not only thematically enhancing Tool's previous works, but displaying a furthering of musical maturity and production mastery rarely achieved by bands so frequently featured on t-shirts at Hot Topic.