Lateralus

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Lateralus
Studio album by Tool
Released	May 15, 2001
Recorded	October 2000 - January 2001 at Cello Studios, Hollywood, California, The Hook, North Hollywood, California, Big Empty Space, North Hollywood, California, The Lodge, North Hollywood, California
Genre	Alternative Metal, Progressive Rock
Length	78:58
Label	Zoo Entertainment
Producer(s)	David Bottrill, Tool
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link (CD/VHS) Alternative Press (7/10) , July 2001 (p. 57) CMJ (Favorable) , July 2001 (p. 57) Entertainment Weekly (B-) May 25, 2001 (pp. 76-77) NME (B-) May 25, 2001 (pp. 76-77) Pitchfork Media (1.9/10) link PopMatters (Favorable) link Q December 2001 Rolling Stone link Spin Magazine (Favorable) 7 January 2002 (p. 77)
Tool chronology
Ænima (1996)	Lateralus (2001)	10,000 Days (2006)

Lateralus (pronounced later-alice, or ˈlædərælɪs in IPA)^{[citation needed]} is the third full-length album from the band Tool. It was released on May 15, 2001.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Track listing 3 Track information, trivia & Rumoured interpretations 3.1 Alchemic connections 4 Personnel 5 Chart positions 5.1 Album 5.2 Singles

[edit] Overview

Lateralus emerged after a five-year legal tussle with Tool's former label. In spite of its unusual and complex content, the album still became a commercial success in the United States quite apart from the mid- to late-1990s explosion of nu-metal. The album is 78 minutes and 58 seconds long. According to an interview with Danny Carey, the label promised them only 79 minutes, so they "gave them two seconds of breathing room".^{[citation needed]}

Two music videos were released: "Schism" (the video had the short ambient segue, "Mantra," at the beginning) and "Parabol/Parabola." These were subsequently released as two separate DVD singles on December 20, 2005, featuring remixes of the tracks by Lustmord. As of August 5, 2003, Lateralus has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 23, 2005, Lateralus was released as a limited edition two picture disc vinyl in a holographic gatefold package.

In January 2001, the band 'jokingly' announced the new album title would be Systema Encéphale and an obscure tracklist. One month later, they revealed the real title and a completely different tracklist, much to the chagrin of several members of the media who had accepted and promoted the original title.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Tool.

1. "The Grudge" – 8:36
2. "Eon Blue Apocalypse" – 1:04
3. "The Patient" – 7:13
4. "Mantra" – 1:12
5. "Schism" – 6:47
6. "Parabol" – 3:04
7. "Parabola" – 6:03
8. "Ticks & Leeches" – 8:10
9. "Lateralus" – 9:24
10. "Disposition" – 4:46
11. "Reflection" – 11:07
12. "Triad" – 8:46
13. "Faaip de Oiad" – 2:39

[edit] Track information, trivia & Rumoured interpretations

• Some time after Lateralus was released a minor flurry of interpretive activity arose around the album. In particular, Carey told an interviewer about Keenan's remark that the time signatures of the main riff in "Lateralus" (9-8-7) also represented a step in the Fibonacci sequence (the sixteenth step, as it turns out).^{[citation needed]} This led some Tool fans to suggest that the tracks on Lateralus can be listened to in spiral-like orders: 1,2,3,5,8,13,4,6,7,9,10,11,12 ("The Fibonacci Sequence"), 6,7,5,8,4,9,3,10,2,11,1,12,13 ("The Lateralus Prophecy"), or 6,7,5,8,4,9,13,1,12,2,11,3,10 ("The Holy Gift").[1] These arrangements are rumoured by fans to produce different storylines for the album, although the band has said nothing official on the subject.

• "The Grudge" references the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the line 'Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen'.^{[citation needed]}

• The cover is translucent and flips open to reveal the different layers of the human body, including a spiritual layer representing vrajna, the transcendental wisdom of enlightenment or union with the divine. Partially obscured in the brain matter on the final layer is the word "God." The artwork was done by artist Alex Grey.

• The fourth track, "Mantra", was alleged to be a slowed-down recording of someone—possibly an old woman—saying "I love you". Keenan has since stated that the song is a slowed-down recording of one of his Siamese cats being squeezed. It has been noted that when the vinyl record is played on a phono player at 78 rpm, the track actually sounds like a recording of a mantra being recited.^{[citation needed]}

• The eighth track, "Ticks and Leeches", is rarely performed live due to the immense strain the song puts on Keenan's voice. They have performed it occasionally, however, with Keenan utilizing several distortion devices to minimize the difficulty of the song.

• On the ninth track of the album, "Lateralus", Keenan's vocals during the first few minutes form a Fibonacci sequence. The number of syllables progress to the sixth step, then back down to the first step; up to the seventh step, and then back to the fourth step:

[1] black

[1] then

[2] white are

[3] all I see

[5] in my infancy

[8] red and yellow then came to be

[5] reaching out to me

[3] lets me see

[2] there is

[1] so

[1] much

[2] more and

[3] beckons me

[5] to look through to these

[8] infinite possibilities

[13] as below so above and beyond I imagine

[8] drawn outside the lines of reason

[5] push the envelope

[3] watch it bend

The Fibonacci sequence shares a relationship with Phi, the golden ratio. The golden ratio is used to describe spirals, which are mentioned several times in the lyrics: "Swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be human", "Spiral out, keep going" twice, and "Spiral out, keep going." five times.

• Just as "Salival" was initially released with several errors on the track listing, early pressings of "Lateralus" had the ninth track spelled as "Lateralis." The error was fixed in subsequent pressings.^{[citation needed]}

• The original title of "Reflection" was "Resolution" before being changed at the last minute.

The original song was supposed to consist of Disposition, Reflection, and Triad all together. Drummer Danny Carey sampled himself breathing through a tube to simulate the chanting of Buddhist monks. There is also the sound of pianos being smashed with hammers sampled on this track.[2]

• The vocal on "Faaip de Oiad" is a recording of a call from a 1997 conversation on Art Bell's radio program Coast to Coast AM. The caller, in a frantic tone, claimed to have been previously employed at Area 51 and stated that the true nature of aliens were that of "extra-dimensional beings" that have infiltrated the military establishment and plan to destroy the world's large population centers to more easily control the remaining humans. The broadcast was cut short however, when their transmitter failed but Art Bell returned on the air with the use of a back up link system. Supposedly, the same caller called back some weeks later and claimed it was a hoax. "Faaip de Oiad" is Enochian for "the voice of God." Described as Danny Carey's personal percussion piece for the album (as was "(–) Ions" on Ænima), he can be heard drumming intensely in the background along with sounds of static and various electronic debris.^{[citation needed]}

• "Disposition," "Reflection," and "Triad" are a trilogy of songs originally planned as a single 23 minute track. They are performed together live. The back of the CD's outer sleeve is designed to resemble a circuit diagram; these three songs are "linked" by printed lines and small circles as if they are part of a parallel circuit. The number 23 has an occult meaning.

• In "The Grudge," the song is written in 10/8 time and is another example of the wide variety of diverse time signatures employed by the band. The lyrics contain several references to astrology (specifically, the "Return of Saturn"), and to alchemy, "transmutate these leaden grudges into gold".

• "Eon Blue Apocalypse" is said to be about Adam Jones' Great Dane named Eon Blue, that died from cancer, according to an interview with Danny Carey. [3]

[edit] Alchemic connections

Some song lyrics on this album can be interpreted as references to alchemy, especially because the Philosopher's stone often serves as a spiritual metaphor to evolve from a lower state of imperfection and vice (symbolized by the base metals) to a higher state of enlightenment and perfection. References to this spiritual transmutation are:

"Give away the stone. Let the oceans take and transmutate this cold and fated anchor.
Give away the stone. Let the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold." ("The Grudge")

"Black then white are all I see in my infancy, red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me....Lets me see". ("Lateralus")

If seen in this perspective, the part from "Lateralus" can either refer to the four colors of the Philosopher's stone during different phases of creation, or to the colors of the ingredients themselves (i.e. black = mercury, white = salt, yellow = sulphur, red = stone).

It is also believed that the same line refers to the order in which infants start to see colors.^{[citation needed]}

The infant theory is strongly referenced in the book "The Giver," about a secluded utopian-esque society with many secrets. It is suggested that all within the society are fully color blind. Slowly the main character begins seeing colors, the red of an apple, then the yellow of the sunlight, like an infant awakening to reality.

Some people also believe to have found a relation between Lateralus and the Hermetic Kabbalah [4] where black, white, red and yellow refer to the colors associated with various Sephiroth of the Tree of Life.

[edit] Personnel

• Danny Carey - Drums
• Justin Chancellor - Bass
• Adam Jones - Guitar, Art Direction
• Maynard James Keenan - Vocals
• David Bottrill - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
• Vince DeFranco - Engineer
• Alex Grey - Illustrations
• Statik (Collide) - Machines on Triad

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Lateralus reached the #1 position on the Billboard charts in its premiere week and the #1 spot on Billboard Music Chart's top Internet Albums chart, top Canadian Albums chart and the Billboard 200 chart (U.S.) selling 555,000 albums in the process.

Year	Chart	Position
2001	The Billboard 200	#1
2001	Top Internet Albums	#1
2001	Canadian Albums Chart	#1
2001	UK Albums Chart	#16

[edit] Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak Position
2001	"Schism"	Billboard Hot 100	#67
2001	"Schism"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#2
2001	"Schism"	Modern Rock Tracks	#2
2001	"Parabol"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#10
2001	"Parabola"	Modern Rock Tracks	#31
2002	"Lateralus"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#14
2002	"Lateralus"	Modern Rock Tracks	#18

Tool
Danny Carey | Justin Chancellor | Maynard James Keenan | Adam Jones
Paul d'Amour
Discography
Opiate | Undertow | Ænima | Salival | Lateralus | 10,000 Days
Popular Songs
"Prison Sex" | "Sober" | "Stinkfist" | "Forty Six & 2" | "Ænema" | "Schism" | "Parabola" | "Vicarious" | "The Pot"
Related articles
Tool tours | Progressive rock | Bill Hicks | A Perfect Circle | Peach | Pigmy Love Circus | Lobal Orning