Make no mistake, this isn't your father's rock record. However, Tool are conceptually innovative with every minute detail of their art, which sets them apart from most bands. "For their second release, Tool explore the progressive rock territory previously forged by such bands as King Crimson. "We're not that different from Tori Amos in that sense." "There are a lot of metaphysical, spiritual and emotional changes going on right now, and we're just trying to reflect that," Keenan told Rolling Stone in '96. The enthralling blend helped Ænima go double platinum, and turned Tool from alt-metal trailblazers to one of the staple heavy bands of the past 20-plus years. There's the charismatic bully of "Eulogy," the obsessed fan at the heart of "Hooker with a Penis," the misanthrope in "Ænima" who, imagining California's tumble into the sea, sneers, "Learn to swim." Keenan illuminates the joy in malevolence, while the richly detailed thunder conjured by the prog-inflected drum and guitar parts only amplifies the twisted anima at work. Engaging, unrepentant creeps are a Tool specialty, and Ænima crawls with them. "How could this mean anything to me?" mutters Maynard James Keenan's protagonist in "Stinkfist," and his delivery is so convincingly wolrd-weary you almost don't notice that he's singing about having his arm "shoulder deep" up someone's rectum. The title of their second album, Ænima, although invented by the band, is meant in part to evoke Jung's concept of the "anima," or life force, and the LP is riddled with existential ruminations on why we're here and whether it's worth it.
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