what year did tool aenima album come out

I can imagine how baffling this must’ve been for the band. For a band as obsessed with their image as Tool, Ænima somehow dragged them further into places they didn’t necessarily want to be. They were accused of being sellouts, becoming the bullshit three-ring circus sideshow of freaks they always detested. They dismissed their long-time manager, who then sued them for commission (“fret for your contract”). They were involved in a lengthy legal battle with their own label, Volcano Entertainment (“fret for your lawsuit”). Since the release of 1996’s chart-topping Ænima, Tool had found themselves headlining Ozzfest and winning Grammys. Considering the wait times fans have had to endure since its release, five years is a walk in the park, but a lot was happening during those five years. It’s funny to think that at the time, Lateralus ended the longest drought between albums for the band.

But what exactly were they? And what the hell was Lateralus? Well, that’s even harder to pin down. At the very least, you could never fault Tool for being anything other than themselves. By 2001, the band had spent a decade inventing and reinventing themselves, and yet we still weren’t any closer to figuring them out. Tool in general can be a lot, depending on your patience for supremely talented art-metal weirdos who love dick jokes and videos starring depressed stop-motion humanoids. It remains one of the longest single albums released on CD.įor both the uninitiated and real Tool-heads alike, Lateralus is a lot. “We thought we’d give them two seconds of breathing room.” How generous. “The manufacturer would only guarantee us up to 79 minutes,” drummer Danny Carey said at the time.

It’s a wonder the universe didn’t collapse in upon itself from the sheer density. Lateralus, which turns 20 years old this Saturday, uses every bit of real estate a compact disc can offer, both figuratively and quite literally. Tool packed that sucker to the damn brim.

What year did tool aenima album come out