This page is about the truth behind Tool....

.

Critical Analysis of Ænima...Tool is much more then a band it's a way of thinking...Read on...

Before I begin, I will let you know that in noticing how meticulously constructed the music on AENIMA is, I would naturally presume that the meaning are just as explicit. You may be able to listen to these songs on different levels, but they ultimately reach a maximum level of depth, and that is their true, abysmal meanings. I am a musician, and there is no fucking way in hell that I would write unintentionally ambiguous music. That's the shit you hear on the radio made by cock-smokers that call themselves rock stars. Anyhow, I've put three years of thought into deciphering AENIMA and I don't feel like letting my interpretation fall on deaf ears. So I'll give it to you in a nutshell at first. AENIMA is the word for that indescribable thought that traps itself in your head when you trip LSD. Some people might say that "drugs aren't necessary to understand the music," or "tripping is an illusory form of consciousness." To understand music, you have to know where it's coming from. (Remember: they're "reeeeeeeaaaaaal fuckin' high on drugs!") I know where AENIMA comes from, and the CD is one complete thought when added up into a whole from all of it's constituent parts. Dig it like I do and everything down to the art and the liner notes and what little they've revealed about it in controlled interviews becomes relevant in its meaning. Figure it out and you become a very, very special mother fucker. It will also empower you to notice that many other musicians talk about the same things in their music, well, the good ones at least.

Stinkfist is a song that contains a metaphor: Tripping LSD is getting anally fucked by LSD incarnate. Maynard's voice shifts between a perspective relative to your own, and directly personifying the LSD in your head. The whole song makes sense this way. Listen for the human sex cycle in it's 4 stages (excitement, plateau, climax, resolution) in the interlude and compare it to how an acid trip operates in a similar manner.

Eulogy is for God. The first 2 minutes are a timeline that progresses from the beginning of time through all the shit that we do until we reach the future, where we are at God's funeral. Then there's the interlude where you progress from being empty and scared, needing God to being totally empowered in yourself, telling him to "get off your fucking cross." Still gives him the due respect that he deserves, as we couldn't have gotten this far without him
as, ultimately, a stepping stone.

H. is a definition of lachrymology... Quite paradoxical. Notice how the song always shifts from two polarized motifs, never resolving itself completely. "What does the H stand for?" It doesn't stand for anything in specific. That's part of the paradox. Notice how when he says "I don't mind..." the music becomes "the storm." Lachrymology is the principle that we can advance ourselves only through adversity. Without a negative there cannot be a positive kind of thing. (And eerily similar to the yin/yang of Zen philosophy.)

I am the Useful Idiot, for figuring this out... I think.

46&2 has been established primarily already. The Jungian psychological shadow, the parts of yourself that you hide or deny, is part of it. Also is the chromosome theory (author unbeknownst to me) stating that Aborigines (sp?) had two less chromosomes than us (42&2) and consequently a unity-vibe consciousness in which every individual in the tribe behaved like cells in a greater organism connected in thought, operating as a unified whole. I guess the hypothesis is that normal humans (44&2) are a stepping stone (*I'll connect this with lachrymology later) into a superior form of humanity (46&2.) The idea is that if you search yourself inside out (LSD helps) for all of the real answers to everything that you ponder, you will evolve. People with 46&2 are know as FUTANTS (liner notes...) [*There's many more connections to FUTANTS in the rest of the CD]

Take notice that this CD is much more complex in thought and construction than many other people might think, and explaining it is quite a chore. A chore I do, however, I don't mind doing unless it's all for naught.

Message to Harry Manback is intended to be a random "shout-out" to anyone in America from someone who isn't. I've never left this country, but I'm sure that the world probably doesn't think of us in the same way that we envision ourselves whatsoever. (Behold the power of television.)

Hooker With a Penis has a very specific niche on the album. It's the one song that's focused explicitly on anger. It also tells us what they think about money and capitalism and how it has effected everything. Notice the directionality of the music: it beats you down, you fight back... And it comes in three successive waves that increase in magnitude each time. I will attempt to write a formula for the song.

[1st wave of increasing anger swells to release][2nd wave goes from condescending to anger which swells once again to release (then delve into your evil thoughts, because you're mad)][3rd wave gets you fuming mad (notice the shit breaking, because you're SO fucking mad) "...fatass dirty dollar>>>shut up and<< Intermission. This also serves as a transition into the even darker and
regions of the album.

I suspect the special thing about Jimmy is that NOBODY but Maynard knows what it means in it's entirety. I know that it's a pretty weak interpretation, but it kind of goes along with the whole songs with weird time signatures aren't an integral part of the concept of the album thing (i.e. Money a la Dark Side of the Moon is in 7/8 because money doesn't really fit into life.) Although, I know where "home" truly is...

Die Eier Von Satan is intended to point out the ambiguity (and utter meaninglessness) of language. Not that it's bad, but the more you think with words, the more it narrows your mind. Of course this is because it sounds like a nazi rally, while it's actually a recipe for hash cookies.

Pushit is (by intention) the most epic song ever written. Shares a paradoxical relationship similar to H, except it get's resolved by going through "the gap" that exists between him and this person. I'm sure you've noticed that when the song slows down and mellows out, this is the descent into the gap. In the very bottom of the gap, we hear "i am somewhere I don't want to be" (gives me chills just thinking about it.) Then Adam's brilliant guitar work catapults us out of the gap, where then the weakness that attached us to this person before is cast away, only to realize what it means. This song makes me think of my father (Don't mention that on your page) when he says "there's no love in fear." When this much feeling gets put into the song at that moment, you're setting yourself up to cry your fucking eyes out at the very end. So now you're crying...

Like a little baby. Cesaro Summability. Hmmmm. What do you remember thinking about when you are a baby? (This is when the cover comes in very handy.) Imagine that when you're dead, you're part of the "smokebox" and as you live you get further and further away (that is until you get old and die, when the process reverses itself.) The left speaker is the raw power of the central stream of consciousness that the "smokebox" represents, and the right speaker represents all of the other people saying words that aren't words because you don't understand them. This part corresponds to the eyes on the outside of
the "smokebox."

So, "smokebox" equals death (objectivity) and the eyes equal life (subjectivity.) [This ties into the Bill Hicks quote in the 3rd eye intro: "Today a young man on acid realized that (the matter/energy thing is later) we're all of one (objective) consciousness that experiences itself subjectively, there's no such thing as death life is only a dream in the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."]

Ænema is merely Tool's rendition of revelations. Of course the world is fucked up and full of people who can't swim (figure things out for themselves because they're weak-minded) and a few people who can swim (FUTANTS.) When California falls of the western seaboard, the world will probably collapse, as symbiotic as the global economy is. Mom=Earth. I wish I knew when it would happen, or if it actually will. Eventually though, SOMETHING has got to give SOMEWHERE and evolution will clear it's name. I can't wait.

(-) ions is cool. Generally about how Einsteinium relativity states that the fourth dimension of time in constantly unfolding before us. Combined with Bell's theorem of interconnectedness and the Hicks thing where he also mentions "that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration." [Explanation: the computer screen you're looking at now is not (objectively) the same as the one you were just looking at seconds ago, which is now just electricity; backwards in time.]

Third eye... What can I say? Listen to this song on lots of acid. Lots of acid. Lots of acid. The intro pulls you in... First Hicks quote establishes that Tool does lots of LSD (probably.) I say that to understand music, you have to know where the musicians are coming from. I already touched base on the 2nd quote, and I'm not sure exactly how the 3rd goes but it's something like: "it's not a war drugs, it's a (war) against personal experience, okay? Keep that in mind at all times thank you." This quote just makes me feel comfy before the music surges up on me. *Take important notice that Maynard's vocals _foreshadow_ the next musical motif. So when he say's "on my back..." he means "I'm on a trip." Then the music departs into the trip with a mighty scream to let go... Then the music leads you away into the peak of the trip (when the drums stop for those few seconds) and then, just like a real acid trip, its suddenly gone and you didn't even realize exactly what happened. Now, if you're listening to this on acid, you let the child's rhyme get stuck in your head, so you will see how life is just a dream and you've know it all along. The song stops and all of a sudden goes to a completely unconnected situation, well almost, you'll see. The idea here is that you've just died (it's a metaphor) and remember the child's rhyme... Listen to the difference between the two times they play it and connect that difference to what happened just before you hear it. Kind of complicated to explain (i can't be any more serious about using LSD to enhance your musical perception,) but I think I've probably given you enough. "PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE!" functions as a "period" on the end of the "sentence" they've written. The rest of the song is devoted to your newfound unity with the universe.

There's so much more, but the thing is... Once you realize that you are a futant, you can figure all of the little details out for yourself. This is because I have noticed why so many things are the way they are by adopting this superior, new world paradigm. [making up excuses to stop typing for now.]

Warning! If you don't want to get lonely by being the light at the end of the tunnel that scares everyone else away by exposing their shadows, don't try to learn what I'm trying to teach here. I suppose I could have mentioned this much earlier, but if you're meant to understand, then you will... Good luck.