Most epic, most rewarding, most musically impressive album this group have recorded to date.

love tool :)

Joe Baressi that is, Tool has David Bottrill produce Ænima, Salival, Lateralus and they are AMAZING! They switch (to keep things fresh...) to Joe Baressi for this album and the drums fall to the background as the guitar takes a step forward. Good decision? Decide for yourself, the tracks that actually have audible percussion are Vicarious, Jambi and some to some extent on Right in Two, hmm... best tracks on the album. Maynard does save a few of the other tracks but for god's sake bring back David Bottrill!

Awesome Album, Underpar for Tool, because of Joe Baressi.

The album has been dissected by tracks 9000 times (10,000???) so I'll keep it straightforward and simple. I'm 38, have listened to metal/hard rock and most everything else for 22 years now as a music fanatic.

This record has been in my commuter truck for 3 weeks and is still in there...

I could simply stop there as it says it all, but I need to mention a couple reasons why this is TOOL's best record. It grows on you like no other, it is perfect even with near silence on the last track, and its like a near 80 minute movie that just moves like an organism. The album is alive with slow, fast, angry, introspective.

If your a 22 year old jackhammer like I used to be you'll probably rate this TOOL's worst album, but if you're a little older and now how to pace yourself, take in the whole picture, and enjoy the moods ooozing from this album, then you'll agree this is their best work so far, and I'm gonna go way out on a limb and say I like it as much as 'dark side' and I am Floyd's biggest fan. Take it however you want...I still can't take it outta the truck after almost a month--probably a world record for me, even after 22 years of being immersed in music.

Impressive packaging as always, though this time around the music does seem to be less inspired, its much more ambient prone that previous releases and some of the songs are actual snoozefests, pretty boring that is. overall I expected more from a band as involved as Tool. (supposedly there is a whole back story meaning to the 10000 days topic which is related to Maynard's mother somehow.)

Now, before I continue, I normally would ignore any hater reviews, but they've gone so ridiculously insane that somebody has to say something. Its alright to dislike 10,000 Days, but you haters are the poseurs. Why don't you try being aggressive and hard hitting if a loved one was dying? Every band goes through a stage when they try to be more emotional than angry, it DOES NOT MAKE THEM EMO. Anyone saying that is clearly a fanboy who refuses to listen to anything soft. Quit calling people who enjoy 10,000 Days fanboys because for one thing, ya'll are the fanboys, and at least fans of this album have more taste in music than these 1-star haters like you, you, you, etc.

Put it this way, 10,000 Days is the best album of 2006 because not only does it have some good melodic pieces, but some other nifty surprises. Progressive metal can't get any better than this and this album shows that Tool can still kick Bass [I'd probably get banned if I say the actual word.] Let me get to the songs:



VICARIOUS (10/10): The album's first single and it punches hard after about 30 seconds. Its message is about people who sit around watching TV just to see people die rather than helping those people. Oh, and did I say its a hard hitter?

JAMBI (10/10): Another amazing song and while I still haven't found out the message yet, it could be about a man that goes after rich and valuable treasures (possibly including a woman) and he is ridiculed for that.

WINGS FOR MARIE (10/10): Breath taking and very slow. Gone is the anger and ranting and memorials for the lead singer's mom are in. Trust me, this song does work out and kinda has a Dream Theaterish feel to the song.

10,000 DAYS (WINGS Part 2) (10/10): Continues the mellow trend of Wings, except it does bash certain people that disliked Marie (Maynard James Keenan's mom I'm guessing) for a while before ending its few minutes talking about when Marie is led into Heaven. Truly tearful but thoughtful :)

THE POT (9.5/10): Maynard's singing gets better when he bashes possibly people in his life that lied about him. Although not as hard as Jambi or Vicarious, its still memorable.

LIPAN CONJURING (7/10): I wouldn't skip this, but if you like South American native chantings, well, you'll feel right at home.

LOST KEYS (BLAME HOFMANN) (7/10): Nothing too special here, except that it does turn out to be a story about a doctor, a nurse, and an extremely strange patient who reveals a rather strange tale on the next track.

ROSETTA STONED (10/10): The story is too weird to mention in this review, but all I know is that it lets you decide what the message is (personally, I'm guessing this is anti-pot.) Its very hard hitting and should be able to quench some people's Tool thirst)

INTENSION (8.5/10): The mood changes back into mellow, but yet it also seems to peaceful. I have no idea what its about though.

RIGHT IN TWO (9/10): Although this has a Darwninian nod, it also mixes in some references from Genesis, the first chapter of the Bible (its about after Adam and Eve sinned and how it brought in all kinds of terrible things.) Its still good, but not as special as Wings.

VIGINTI TRES (6.5/10): Basically silence with possibly a few Latin phrases being utters. The title means "23" in Latin (wow, someone knows a bit of Latin) and although it has Latin, it still is my least favorite.


If you've bought 10,000 Days from the store, you probably noticed the clever artwork plus a few things to keep you busy (if you bought this online, then you could be missing out on something to do if you are somehow bored.) The artwork features magnifying glasses because they expect you to look at the rather interesting pictures (some of them features the band members, a trend that Tool refused to participate in for years.) Thats pretty much the "nifty" surprise I was talking about earlier. Although this isn't the greatest Tool release, its still worth buying (if you are buying because of the cool artwork, you'll more likely be disappointed.) If you are still a Tool fan wishing for something softer and mellow, well, this will be a gem.