Rating: NNN
The epic sweep and high drama of Tool’s first release in five years suggest they mean business about reclaiming their audience — and that of Helmet, Kyuss and Alice in Chains as well. Everything on Lateralus is delivered on a grand scale, at once recalling the art rock of Genesis, the ambition of Yes and the trauma-like bluster of Sabbath. Only way heavier. Songs that begin softly detonate into a bombastic flurry of smashed cymbals and violent guitar while singer Maynard James Keenan — sounding both wounded and angry — acrobatically swoops overhead. And while, even at 80 minutes, there’s no single track as arresting as, say, Sober from 93’s Undertow, Lateralus is a bruiser.
