Tool is among the rarest breed of bands there is. Only they can have huge gaps between albums, reaching 4, 5, and even 6 years between releases, and come back with an amazing album, sell out shows the world over, and keep their fans loyal. It seems absolutely absurd that any metal fan with half-decent taste would NOT like Tool, as they are the creators of music that holds the same musical power as it does emotional power. Yet before I really discovered Tool, before I even had the chance to let them in my lives and embrace the beautiful music that they make, I passed them by.

It was sixth grade and I was slowly getting into metal, starting with alternative metal acts like System Of A Down and Deftones. I wasn’t really into anything too complex yet. Most of the music I listened to I could count in my head without really thinking about, since almost all of it was in 4/4. I went to visit family and my cousin Tre and I began to discuss metal. His wife Tracy asked, “Have you heard the new Tool?”, and me, being the naïve kid I was, said “No, what’s it called?” The kicker? I thought it was a literal tool; something you used to help you do work around the house. So I was shocked when he brought me a copy of 10,000 Days so I could listen to it, and was confused. Then I realized the band was called Tool, and that I was an idiot.

I listened to ‘Vicarious’ and ‘Jambi’, and I didn’t like what I heard. The rhythms contained in this song were not normal, seemingly out of time with one another. The instruments all seemed to be doing different things, which made it even more difficult to decipher. During the middle section of ‘Jambi’, I had to press the pause button and wonder: what are these guys doing? I had never been introduced to something so outer-worldy before, since most of my friends listened to terrible pop music, and even the heavy metal kids didn’t go really heavy into stuff like, say, The Faceless or Nile. After those first two songs, and listening to the beginning of ‘Wings For Marie’, I I had to stop. I went back to my System Of A Down and didn’t revisit Tool for a good year and a half, at the least.

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