/lit/ - Literature

What is Tool (band)?
I think what makes Tool so interesting compared to other bands is that they present metaphysical themes in a concise powerful package. The songs are composed in such a way that if one is sober or intoxicated the message is delivered. These albums are an amalgamation of The Bible, Faust, Paracelsus, Jung mixed with Bil Cooper, Robert Hienlien, and Michael Crichton. Tool stands alone in modern music with their delivery and approach to music.
Compare them to any other band that pushes boundaries and you will find Tool has the most balanced presentation. Bands like Dream Theater/ Meshuggah are more focused on technical musicianship that the art and message suffer. Haken is better at making their music blend to the topic which the music is about, but it lacks the spiritual element Tool incorporates. Isis and Neurosis hold a lot of emotion and have a spiritual quality to them but they lack mathematical structure and rhythm feeling too crushing. TesseracT is too focused on being djent. Karnivool and Porcupine Tree just don't have the same delivery coming across as softer or abstract. OSI is close but they don't have the climactic structure that makes Tool so iconic.
You can go back to the late 60s or early 70s to find similar themes but the music is whimsical and soft. Primus and Rage Against the Machine are quite similar to Tool but Rage is too hip-hop-oriented and political to compete. Primus is probably the closest but they lack the climactic punch focusing more on creating a scene.
So what is Tool? It is quite difficult to lay out where it fits because it does not follow genre containment. I would argue that Tool is not progressive because it is nothing like the bands that fall in that category. Progressive seems to just be a catch-all for any band that has a theme and uses unique time signatures.
I would say Tool is a new genre called Evolutionary rock but then the overwhelming spiritual aspects of the music are not represented. I could call it Hymnal but then the brutal scientism and outright blasphemy would not be represented. I think is such a perfect blend of genres, themes, and musicianship that they will become a genre in themselves. Bands will try to emulate what Tool did for decades to come but fail like many of the other great arts. This is why I believe Tool falls into what needs to be referred to as the "Icons."
Bands that would fall in this would be musicians that perfected a sound that will stand the test of time. Music that people will look back in wonder at how it could be produced the way someone looks at a renaissance painting.
As we encounter new art constantly these will be the true masters in who will shape culture permanently far beyond the passing fashion. All this rambling will ultimately be put down but I think I am right on this and enjoyed writing this.

>>11343383
Your comparisons are trash.
>leprechaun
>he doesn’t give life a meaning himself
Never said that.
>and a random pothole is fine tuned to hold water
And a random universe is fine tuned to support life