ÆnimaE

From JanglesComing out of Butthole Surfers’ Electriclarryland—an album I knew nothing about and was fairly disappointed by—I felt it was time to pull out a heavyweight from my own adolescence: Tool’s Ænima. The band’s first album, Undertow, established a foothold as a massively influential heavy metal band at a time when grunge was reaching the mainstream. It planted the early seeds of conceptual artistry, primarily through guitarist Adam Jones, with the music video for “Sober” and strange visual Easter eggs like a cow sucking its own udder hidden behind the back cover of the CD. There were hints of prog-rock–style compositions with tracks like “Bottom” and “Disgustipated,” but the album was, above all else, a headbanger’s delight. Just three years later, Ænima felt like a band reaching its own point of artistic maturity. I still remember pulling the CD out of the rack at Circuit City and being met with eyeballs exploding into—and out of—a blinding white box. The lenticular album cover is still something that feels interesting more than 30 years later. Opening the CD, I was met with an image of a man with his back to the camera fellating himself. Opening the album insert revealed even more weird, psychedelic images that came to life when placed in the lenticular cover. Just… weird… and awesome. From that moment on, it felt like Tool had pulled back the veil on a sound-led artistry. Whether it was the album itself, the lineup of music videos that accompanied it, or the overwhelming presence they brought to their live shows, this moment in their career felt like a cohesive, surreal journey through the depths of their collective mind. The strange sounds, far-reaching rhythms, sound effects, foreign chants, androgynous characters, monotone environments—all of it absolutely blew my mind as a 13-year-old, JNCO-wearing garage-band guitarist. This one delivers front to back. It deserves a single sitting and good headphones. Grab a seat and, as they say, open up your third eye.