Tool is quite possibly one of the greatest "thinking man bands" of the time. There musical talent is far beyond most of todays common pop bands. Keenans voice is completely distinct from any other voices of the time, and portrays an atitude of insanity quite possibly only compareable to Pink Floyd's Roger Waters. 10,000 Days, being my first Tool experience, will always be to me the greatest album by Tool. The story line is completely insane and dark. There music varies between heavy metal Metallica esque sounds such as Vicarious and Jambi and the use of disturbing sound effects and chants such as in Lipan Conjuring. The album starts out having the feeling of a fairly talented and catchy heavy metal band. As you continue into the album the albums breaks down into an extremely addicting musical journey. The rise and falls in the bands volume made me jump. The use of the thuderstorm sound effects caught me off guard making me realize that this is no average metal band. As the album nears the end it breaks down into complete craziness and finnaly end with the sounds effects of a machine. Overall I would say that Tool,especially in this album, is bringing talent and uniqueness back into popular music.

I feel that 10000 Days picks up where Lateralus left off, and Tool continue to put effort into expansion. After listening to Lateralus and all the previous albums for 5 years, with only live bootlegs to satisfy my thirst for new Tool, I was ready to move on and put Tool in my "happy memories." And then I bought 10000 Days, listened to it intently, alone, straight through with no stops. It was like having a really profound conversation with a close friend. I was moved and inspired. Also, admittedly, confused and a little foggy headed when I went outside. My point is, Tool continue to provide releases with no detail left uncrafted, and no moment left meaningless. I was surprised to hear many things on this album that, until now, the band seemed almost reluctant to do. Specifically, Maynard seemed to open up lyrically and emotionally a bit more on this record, speaking of family directly, for example. Progress continues: Danny has his new custom-worked electronic pads with melodic capabilities, Justin does some weird solo features with bass effects (not to mention the classic mind-bending and incredible timing features with Danny), and Adam continues to push the limits of simplism to new levels (e.g. lead guitars in Lost Keys and Rosetta Stoned), while also shredding up some mean classic metal riffs in Tool's incomprehensible timing style (e.g. Jambi). All this paired with the incredible album artwork and packaging makes 10000 Days a must-buy.. and, more importantly, a "must listen intently and pay your respect." :)

I probably had too high of expectations for this release, after hearing and loving Tool's past three albums. It seems like the band was trying to maintain a more progressive approach to their music, as opposed to the much heavier sound present on Aenima and Undertow. A good portion of the album is slower, more melodic, and even mellow at times. And while the album still has Tool's signature 6-minute+ epics, only a few tracks such as "Vicarious" seem like they would fit in on Tool's older works. While 10,000 Days is in no way a bad album, fans of Tool's previous releases who are expecting a similar sound may find themselves somewhat disappointed.