LATERALUS

'''Lateralus''' (IPA: LA-ter-''AH''-lis or ˈlædərælɪs) is the third full-length album by Tool. It was released on May 15, 2001. On August 5, 2003, ''Lateralus'' was 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.

Contents

Overview

Album art

Track listing

Track information and interpretations

Alchemic connections

Personnel

Chart positions

Album

Singles

References

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 releases. The album was revered by critics and fans alike, and was named Kerrang!'s album of the year in 2001. 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." 80 minutes is usually the maximum possible duration for a commercial CD. The CD was mastered using HDCD technology.
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.
In January 2001, the band 'jokingly' announced that the new album title would be ''Systema Encéphale'' and provided 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.

Album art

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, who also designed the 3-D cover for 10,000 Days. The cover text is styled to resemble Arabic writing.

Track listing

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

Track information and 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). 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.

★ 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 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.

★ The song "The Grudge" 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". It also references the novel ''The Scarlet Letter'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne with the lyric "Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen".^[1]

★ "Eon Blue Apocalypse" is about Adam Jones' Great Dane named Eon Blue, who died from cancer, according to an interview with Danny Carey. [2]

★ Drummer Danny Carey sampled himself breathing through a tube to simulate the chanting of Buddhist monks for the song "Parabol" [3].

★ 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.{fact}

★ The original title of "Reflection" was "Resolution" before being changed at the last minute. Pianos strings were banged for samples on this track.^[2]

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". ("Lateralis")
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.
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.
The four colors also relate to Hippocrates's four humors of the human body, blood (red) yellow bile (yellow), black bile (black), and phlegm (white).
In an interview with Keenan in 2001 he did not acknowledge any alchemic relations in regard to the lyric mentioning black, white, red and yellow. Keenan stated:

Personnel

★ Maynard James Keenan - Vocals

★ Adam Jones - Guitar, art direction

★ Justin Chancellor - Bass

★ Danny Carey - Drums

★ David Bottrill - Producer, engineering, mixing

★ Vince De Franco - Neurocistance/Engineer

★ Alex Grey - Illustrations

★ Statik (Collide) - Machines on "Triad"

Chart positions

Album

''Lateralus'' sold 555,000 copies in its first week, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200. It has been ranked #123 in the "Definitive 200" of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[3]

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

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	"Parabola"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#10
2001	"Parabola"	Modern Rock Tracks	#31
2002	"Lateralus"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#14
2002	"Lateralus"	Modern Rock Tracks	#18

References

1. The Tool FAQ Kabir Akhtar
2. Danny Carey: Demon On Drums Ken Micallef
3. The Definitive 200