Jobie Reviews Music 4: Ænima (album) by TOOL. Requested by Hans.
- ChemicalSkylines
- Mar 7, 2021
- 2 min read
Ænima is the 2nd album by the band TOOL. With 15 tracks spanning an hour and 17 minutes, there’s a lot to unpack here.
“Stinkfist”, the opening track to the album, is a good track - the general sound of the song, and its vocals, make for a nice way to open the album.
“Eulogy”, the track after, has a very heavy instrumental. The sound of the guitar mixed with the drums on this track is awesome
Speaking of, in “H.”, the guitar once again produces a powerful backing track, with vocals to match.
The track “Useful Idiot” can only be understood if you listen to the album in order and with context. Supposedly, this was done to fool those who owned the vinyl edition. This trick only works if you listen to the entire album back to back (or at least H. and this back to back).
“Forty Six & 2” once again has great sound and vocals to match. I know I keep saying that, but that guitar bro!
“Message to Harry Manback” is a real voice message that was sent to former Green Jelly member Gary Helsinger. It’s basically an Xbox live message with an instrumental, which is pretty funny.
“Hooker with a Penis” was a response to some fans thinking TOOL somehow “sold out” to the man. In this song, TOOL makes the point that we’re all “the man”, since we buy products all the time, largely from corporate entities.
“Intermission”, is just an intermission, but you wouldn’t really know it was a separate track if you didn’t look at the track listing. Good instrumental by itself.
“Jimmy” is another good track, same as the others in this point of the album.
The track “Die Eier Von Satan” was so strange that I just had to research it. Although the track has an aggressive instrumental, it’s literally just a recipe for Mexican cookies. Clever.
“Pushit” can be interpreted as Flux’s theme song if you hear it as put shit, instead of push it.
“Cesaro Summability” is a pretty eh track. The title is a reference to the mathematical term. Wouldn’t listen if it wasn’t part of the album.
“Ænma”, the titular track, is a pretty good track. Great sound.
“(-) Ions”, while being experimental as hell and not being good as a song, is at least better than Ceasaro Summability.
“Third Eye”, while having a strange sound, still is a good track with a variety of different sounds to it. Clocking in at nearly 14 minutes, the song feels like 3 songs in one, having different parts to it throughout the song.
Overall rating: TOOL’s Ænima is a killer album. It feels like an experience in its own right, not just a compilation of songs!
8.8/10
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