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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
You're going to totally shit on me for both saying this and bringing it up again, but yes, on Lateralus this is EXACTLY what Maynard James Keenan does lyrically, and what tool does sonically. Lateralus is an existential record that does not sugar coat or try to positively slant life, rather, it portrays all the realities of the human experience on the table, naked and exposed, and we are asked to live through this in the hour of that record, and we are not given any guidance as to how we should interpret it. We are just left to experience it. The sound and dynamics of the music perfectly reflects this. The lyrics explore it directly and yet also in a nuanced and subtle way. But I agree completely with you that (a) there are few to none artists who explore life this way through the art of their music and (b) that tool does not come any where near CLOSE to the depth of the vista that is Swans' approach to this kind of honest panorama of being human.
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i dont see many comparisons, tool did 90s post modern rage, they belong to that lineage with ratm, nin, nirvana etc. and all those bands. tool added a whole load of cynical hippie mysticism to it, i dont think it was particularly interesting from a lyrical perspective. it works as a kind of heavy metal redo of prog. its definitely very good music.
tool only has two moves - rage and then mystical bliss. there's a kind of tension between these two and it gets dark.
you are really just talking about your personal experience here. tool cannot compare to swans on a lyrical level. they have simply never approached the layers of complexity and depth that gira has. tool never could write something like killing for company.
i dont think they really need to either. their point was to be a lot more open ended and expansive, and their lyrics on lateralus NEED to be vague because they are aiming for a kind of elevation of the mundane and stressful into some kind of mystical tribulation.
tool have the APPEARANCE of complexity in what they say, and that's all that really matters. but there are times when it borders on crap.
i mean, tool never got beyond the most basic level where maynard goes "im battling through this stress, then there's this mystical release." it was typical loud quiet loud alt rock, only it was dressed up with alex chiu cover art and mystical stoner bullshit.
im not criticising all that, its fine, it works very well for the aesthetic of a prog-metal band. but it just cannot be compared to swans, where gira is sometimes writing stuff that can stand on its own as prose.
maynard is just doing dark but uplifting stuff. fine for what it is, except for when it borders on pantomime punk anger like on certain aenemia tracks.
i dont think you read my original post except for the last line, and you just want to talk about what tool means to you, which should be done in a thread specifically for that.