| You’d think in such a climate that cohesive albums would be mounting an enormous comeback, but there are so many copies of Tool’s Lateralus in the used bins that one is tempted to use them for coasters. This isn’t because there’s anything wrong with Tool; they’re fine. But they, or whoever’s working their records to the press, force-feeds us the notion that This Album Is A Total Experience until we’re so fed up with it that the album itself doesn’t have a chance. It’s bound to disappoint. Let it alone; put it in a modest package and mount a decent tour, and you can trust your audience to notice if you’ve done something more than space a couple of decent songs between a whole bunch of filler. |
