- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Alternative PressLateralus could have been released four years ago, for all the sonic progression that's contained (or not contained) within its 79 minutes. [Jul 2001, p.57]
-
Tool has made an album that's undeniably its own, yet one which adds layers of subtlety, texture, and meaning that move its sound forward into complex new territory.
-
It is dense, it is long, it is complicated. It is also a magnificent triumph of artistry over blind anger.
-
Lateralus takes the L.A. band over the edge with elongated musical movements that simmer under heavy-duty distortion, Middle Eastern percussion and freakish guitar-and-drum time signatures that will make musical mathematicians (i.e., prog-rock dorks) as excited as the kids in the mosh pit.
-
Entertainment WeeklyThe music has a clean, fluid flow but sounds thin-blooded and far less visceral -- freeze-dried -- next to newer, younger Ozzfest regulars, like Staind, who have followed in Tool's wake. [25 May 2001, p.77]
-
Research has led me to conclude that the correct, and possibly only, way to fully appreciate this album is at extremely high volume on a decent hi-fi whilst massively stoned out of your gourd.
-
They're the metal Radiohead. Though it's definitely a million times more metal than anything the Oxford miserablists have recorded, 'Lateralus' still easily contains the same amount of misery and self-obsessed navel-gazing.
-
Q MagazineUltimately, it's Tool's experimental, borderline progressive, edge that proves most rewarding. [Aug 2001, p.141]
-
So much of Tool's third full-length studio album makes so little sense at first. But that is one of Lateralus' most endearing qualities: It rolls out its pleasures and coherence slowly, even stubbornly.
-
The band continues to rock in the Rush/Metallica eight-minute flexathon tradition: it may impress you with individual lines, but in the end, it excels mainly at musical gymnastics.
-
"Lateralus" is primarily a collection of puzzling time changes, haunting vocals and beyond-intricate percussive patterns that create a theme rooted more in Eastern philosophy than in rock and roll.
-
Tool's songs are long because the band takes its time, resisting show-offy displays of speed in favor of texture and minimalist mood, borrowing key elements from Far Eastern music and industrial rock along the way.
-
A 79-minute sonic sojourn of hard rock delivered with an arty, fusion-conscious sensibility rooted most obviously from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Jane's Addiction.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 580 out of 641
-
Mixed: 3 out of 641
-
Negative: 58 out of 641
-
JoeHMar 21, 2009
-
Jan 31, 2011
-
Oct 25, 2015