The musicians write the music first then hand it off to MJK and he adds the lyrics so the lyrics are the last thing. To me this song is about human apathy and how we have let the planet go to hell through greed and selfish abuse of the environment and resources etc. Add in our innate warlike, power-grabbing nature, and he’s warning us we need to wake up and change our ways before we either destroy ourselves or leave the earth too damaged to even live on. This is actually my fave Tool song, something new to catch or pick up on every time I listen to it.
Exactly! Besides the lyrics, the ocean/water sounds that open and close the song also give credibility to the idea it’s about the climate crisis. And- if you’re listening to the song with that idea in mind- the fact that Maynard’s vocals stop, the instruments get softer and build up again, yet vocals don’t come back in, could be interpreted as: humans may go extinct in this mass extinction but life will persevere
Tool is always pushing sonic boundaries with their music. Contrast this track next to Sober and the growth of the band will blow your already blown mind.
It's about humanity not doing anything about global warming and impending climate disaster despite knowing we were on a bad path since the 1970s. If humanity doesn't unite to save itself, we'll all find ruin together.
Exactly! Besides the lyrics, the ocean/water sounds that open and close the song also give credibility to the idea it’s about the climate crisis. And- if you’re listening to the song with that idea in mind- the fact that Maynard’s vocals stop, the instruments get softer and build up again, yet vocals don’t come back in, could be interpreted as: humans may go extinct in this mass extinction but life will persevere
Yet the same people who cry about climate change have become multi millionaires,live in beach front mansions and fly around in private planes to go to climate change events telling us plebs we are the problem.
Maybe the end humanity as many of us know it.....unless those of us that are "free" wake up from our "wanton slumber" and hear the obvious alarm bells that have been ringing for well over a decade.
God, i fucking love Tool. The only problem is all other music has basically been tuined for me. Ill tolerate shit, but it's never the same as when i listen to Tool.
"Ticks and Leetches" on Lateralus is a good one. There is a story behind it and it's a big 🖕 to the music label executives that wanted Tool to do a more basic rock song that wasn't long and radio-friendly because Lateralus album is more progressive.
If you don't trip but want to get an idea of what would happen - if you're ever stuck awake over night because you couldn't sleep throw this on headphones during the late afternoon, maybe 3-4PM when your second wind is starting to flag a bit. You won't get the full effect but you'll definitely get the shape of it.
In the states, it is a word to wake the military up from their slumber. Also, I think the word you are looking for in English is enamoring. Tool is enamoring
They actually played this as an instrumental for a long time before Maynard put lyrics to it. There is still the instrumental video on YT. EDIT: There is always snare, but Danny often shuts off the snares. So it kinds has a thud instead.
This whole album is about what is going on in the world today!! Just pay attention to the lyrics!! Fear Inoculum track is about the JAbErDoO!!! An Awakening is upon HUMANITY!!!
Maynard, as I'm sure others have explained adds the lyrics, melody/rhythm afterward and it's often explained that he uses his voice as essentially another instrument. So melodically, rhythmically, everything, is intentionally for how it comes across. He could just hum these songs and I'd love it, but I would never have guessed what the other musical geniuses inspired him.
Yeah Reveille is the bugle call to wake up the army folks at the barracks as well as war time. The bugle player guy. ;) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8r5Ieh0OuQY.html
For Tool listening I like to imagine eyes closed, head down, letting the bass and percussion root you to the ground while the guitar and vocals flow over and around you.
Its simple...He's telling us to wake the F up, mobilize before its too late, or cease to be. It is amazing the timing of this album. Those who know... and i dont think you will get it...until its too late.
With regards to time signatures for Tool songs, the drums throw me off. Listen to Justin on the bass and you’ll pick up the click better. Him and Danny seem to toss off to each other to keep the pulse.
Maynard considers himself as another instrument and not a vocalist. In live performances he will often put himself at the back in darkness as not to draw attention to himself. This is why you notice his lyrical style as being different perhaps.
Worth it getting comfortable, poor a glass of the finest spirits, light up and enjoy the whole album. Interludes included ofcourse. Future Sound Of London (Life Forms) meets Tool .. it's great 😊
It's harmony at its most chaotic. Systematic disfunction. Stuttering balance. Description often said by someone acclimating themselves to ToOl. Don't know how to say this but its music that doesn't match but yet it does. You ever notice sometimes when the music is most chaotic all of a sudden drops into a perfect groove? Most ToOl fans will tell you that drop counting is a myth. Lol
Super important....Adam, Justin and Danny write the instrumental parts and spends many months doing that.. Then, the pass it off to Maynard who writes the lyrics and vocals. He's described as the 4th instrument because of that. It helped me hear that as two pieces and became easier for my ear to blend them. It's truly art at the highest level. I'm not sure these guys really conceive how gifted they are .
The key to Tool's rhythm is math. Always remember, 3 4s make 12 just as 4 3s do...or 6 2s...10 3s make 30 like 5 6s....move your body in 2s and you'll never miss. Tribal
I dont really know what time measues are, but they're grouping beats and then sequencing varying group sizes which makes it hard to deduce some form of pattern.
To me, you may first hear a Tool song and think “it doesn’t fit “. But you soon realize that it’s almost like it couldn’t POSSIBLY be any other way. It’s perfection. And the fact that you can never ever predict what the melody will be is one of my favorite parts. Nothing is more annoying to me than hearing a song on the radio for the first time and being able to sing along within 30 seconds. Too predictable, too generic. That ain’t creativity… it’s bubble gum for the lazy masses. Tool makes you think. Tool takes you on a journey. Four masters of what they do… each individually creative and totally unique and yet somehow able to collaborate. Amazing.
Tool loves to do bars of 7, 8, and 9 in sequence. It fools you because it averages out to 8/8 which is 4/4 ish. But the stagger loses you. But then you catch it again, only briefly.
4:17 structure yes i would describe it as entrancing and tribalistic like with the constant rythm or beating of a drum ir the beating. Yes ive describe their music myself as such. I feel the same .
Of which is why I can lose myself in their music. They are put on in times like when I don't want to think I just want to relax and clear my head ya know
Of which is why I can lose myself in their music. They are put on in times like when I don't want to think I just want to relax and clear my head ya know
I always pictured it to be an Angelic battle. That people are so foolishly "sleepwalking" thru this life not caring where we come from or what we're doing here just being in a wanton slumber pissin our lives away! No regard to this gift of life we've been afforded. So he's looking for the "dread" alarm from the heavens saying guess what people.....times up! So NOW we have :to be or NOT to be- DO or DIE! And THEN we wake the fuck up n appreciate our lives cuz now we're fighting for the lives we took for granted? But, idk? lol That's just my opinion of course. 1 thing that confused me tho?Is I always thot the reveille was the trumpet sound off used to wake the troups in the armed forces? The dread alarm being Gabriel's trumpet sound on the END OF DAYS!!?? Yeah! Thats why I thought of an Angelic Army!!?? Am I getting senile? Dammit my phones dead n cant find charger!!! Ahhh!
I personally think the song is about the ruin of the environment and the call to arms is for us all to get up off our fat asses and do something about it.
You like tool, check out the band Wheel and the song Dissipating, I would say that this song is musically similar to Descending, slow build up to a epic finale, lyrics wise is like a precursor to Descending.. they are probably a band that's closest to tool's kinda music creativity.
the Irony of this song & this album is that it dropped 4 months before CoVis started in China, it is as if it was meant to be a guide to warn us how to suriove the fear mongering & insanity that was about to ensue
This song is a warning …about humans destroying the planet, that we need to care and we should be fearful of losing our home. Nothing will matter if earth becomes an unlivable place. It’s not about an epidemic. I don’t know where you get that from. Everything has to fit your non- stop narrative about 2020… you make EVERYTHING about that.
It's the strongest take ever on global warming. It's an immediate call to arms, to fight this inevitable reality. It starts and ends with ocean taking over. Oceans will work after we are gone. That is what this song is. A rallying cry
