jasonfranks

10 SONGS #10 "Aenema" by Tool, AENIMA 1996

Well, there we have it: the last of my ten songs, another demand for the obliteration of Los Angeles.

Where to begin? Tool is one band that I definitely discovered well before they became the juggernaut they are today. Like the boy of the song  "Hooker With a Penis", I go back to their OPIATE EP--although I don't think I picked it up until 1994, once UNDERTOW was out. I picked up UNDERTOW the following year, during my first trip to the United States. 

When AENIMA dropped in 1996 Tool were vaguely popular, but I was already a big fan. My friend Pete picked up the album as soon as it came out and I heard it for the first time in his car on the way to University. It blew my mind. One listen and I knew that Tool were going to be huge.

A concert was announced and the album began its slow burn up to success. Pete and I bought tickets immediately. About 5 months later they were the hottest tickets in town and Tool were huge--they're almost a subculture of their own here in Australia. When casual aquaintences discovered that I had tickets they called me a Tool Slut. But I didn't fucking care.

Tool played the Offshore Festival at Bell's Beach in 1997, which was a week before the main gig. I went to that show, too. Maynard painted himself blue. And yea, verily, THEY WERE LIKE UNTO GODS.

"Aenema" isn't really the title track of the album: take a look, the song title is spelled differently. Funky spelling aside, the album is 'anima' and the song is 'enema'. It's this latter that I'm going to focus on, although the album itself warrants an essay.

"Aenema" is pretty much exactly that: Maynard Keenan venting his frustration at his home. He chants a litany of everything that pisses him off: gangsters, celebrities, religious cults, and junkies-- and he wishes apocalypse upon it:  eteor showers, tidal waves, earthquakes, whatever it takes.   "The only way to fix it is to flush it all away," he sings. "Learn to swim, see you down in Arizona Bay." Maynard's voice is as much an instrument it is about the lyrics: you can prominently hear him rhythmically choking back the bile throughout the song.

Eventually Maynard relents. "Try and read ebtween the lines," he demands, weariness in his voice. "I can't imagine why you wouldn't welcome any change, my friend."

Adam Jones' guitar is sinewy and brutal; his leads slash spasmodically against Justin Chancellor's sinuous bass. Danny Carey's drumming is as thunderous and complex and nuanced--nobody in this band plays like anybody else and their sound is unimistakable, and that is what I like best about them. They're utterly unique, they're visceral and complex and challenging  and obtuse and sensitive. Even when they make a misstep, it's always an interesting one.

-- Tool Slut #666