Tool тобының Ænima альбомы

the Tool album

Ænima ('/ɑː//n//ɪ//m//ə/ AHnimə) is the second studio album by the American rock band Tool. It was released in vinyl format on September 17, 1996, and in compact disc format on October 1, 1996, through Zoo Entertainment. The album was recorded and cut at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood and The Hook in North Hollywood from 1995 to 1996. It is the first album by Tool to feature bassist Justin Chancellor, who replaced original bassist Paul D'Amour the year prior. The album was produced by David Bottrill. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart upon its initial release, selling 148,000 copies in its first week. It was certified triple platinum by the RIAA on March 4, 2003. The album appeared on lists of the best albums of 1996 in Kerrang! and Terrorizer. The track "Ænema" won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1998. In 2003, Ænima was ranked the sixth most influential album of all time by Kerrang! Rolling Stone listed the album at No. 18 on its list of The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.

Ænima is Tool's first studio album with former Peach bassist Justin Chancellor. The title Ænima is a combination of the words 'anima' (Latin for 'soul' and associated with the ideas of "life force", and a term often used by psychologist Carl Jung) and 'enema', the medical procedure involving the injection of fluids into the rectum. Promotional singles were issued, in order of release, for "Stinkfist", "H.", "Ænema" and "Forty Six & 2" with just the first and third receiving music videos. Several of the songs are short segues or interludes that connect to longer songs, The inside cover displays art featuring a painting of a disabled patient that shows a resemblance to singer Maynard James Keenan and Bill Hicks depicted as a doctor or "healer" with the line, "Another Dead Hero". Demo versions of the songs "Stinkfist", "Eulogy", "Pushit", and "Ænema" were recorded with Paul D'Amour on bass, before he left the band. These appeared online in early 2007. D'Amour also worked on "H.", as he is credited as a co songwriter on ASCAP's website. Speculation has surrounded the song "H." The "meaning" of this song has seldom been detailed by the band, as they do not regularly comment on such matters. However, on several occasions, specifically on November 23, 1996, during a show at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Keenan did grant some insight into the meaning of the song. Speaking to the audience, he said, "Any of you ever seen those old Warner Bros. cartoons? Sometimes there's that one where the guy is trying to make a decision, and he's got an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. Seems pretty obvious, right? The angel is trying to give him good advice while the devil is trying to get him to do what's bad for him. It's not always that simple, though. A lot of times they're not really angels or devils, but friends giving you advice, looking out for your best interest but not really understanding what's going to be best for you. So it kind of comes down to you. You have to make the decision yourself. This song is called 'H.'" The song was discussed live during a few other shows around this time, one example being on February 23, 1997, when Keenan introduced this song by referring to the shoulder angel and devil, and also said it is about a hurtful yet dependent relationship. In an interview Keenan gave in December 1996, he commented, "My son's name is Devo H. That's all I'll say." It is also of note that the song's working title was "Half Empty", as it was introduced during a mini tour of California by the band in December 1995. The track "Useful Idiot" features the sound of the needle skipping at the end of a gramophone record growing louder as the track progresses. The track was set at the end of side 1 of the vinyl versions of Ænima as a joke to fool those who owned the version. The song (on vinyl) not only ends in a locked groove, which requires manual lifting of the needle to end playback, but also continues on the run in groove of side 2. "Message to Harry Manback" features calming piano music and the background noises of seagulls while a profanity laden message from an answering machine plays. The person who left the message was a visiting Italian friend of Green Jellÿ member Gary Helsinger. Helsinger and Keenan were roommates at the time of the incident and Helsinger had earlier ejected the guest from the apartment for eating most of their food and running up an excessive phone bill. The name "Harry Manback" is a reference to a comedy routine by Bill Hicks. A follow up message from the same guest became "Message to Harry Manback II", found on Salival which features strings instead of piano. "Hooker with a Penis" refers to a fan who accused the band of selling out after their first EP. "OGT" is taken to stand for "Original Gangster Tool". Keenan whispers in the left channel throughout the song. At 1:41, "consume, be fruitful, and multiply" may be alluding to Genesis, which contains the phrase "be fruitful and multiply" six times. During Lollapalooza 1997, a version of "Hooker with a Penis" remixed by Billy Howerdel in the form of lounge music played over the public address system between sets. During 1996 concerts, Keenan told audiences that the song "Jimmy" is the sequel to "Prison Sex", and how it is about getting through the abuse. It is preceded by "Intermission", a short organ adaptation of the opening riff of "Jimmy". The fourth, and most controversial segue is the NDH spoken word track "Die Eier von Satan". It is introduced by a distorted bassline giving way to a heavy industrial guitar, starting at the :23 mark and lasting only ten seconds, playing a single chord in Drop C tuning over a reversed drum beat in meter. The lyrics are performed in German by Marko Fox, bass player for ZAUM and SexTapes. He is backed by a sound that resembles a hydraulic press, German rant or Nazi rally. While the tone is aggressive, the speaker is merely reciting a recipe for a Mexican wedding cookie. This magical incantation ("sim salabim bamba sala do saladim") is taken from the German children's song "Auf einem Baum ein Kuckuck" and popularized by Harry August Jansen. According to the lyrics, the special ingredient besides this "incantation" is "a knife tip of Turkish hashish". The title is a play on deviled eggs, translating to "The eggs of Satan" in English The track has been compared to the work of industrial and experimental artists such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Rammstein and Tom Waits. "Pushit" was titled as a single word to emphasize the ambiguity of the pronunciation in regard to the "s" word (push it on me/push shit on me). An alternate version of "Pushit" was performed live, including an Aloke Dutta tabla solo, and appears on Salival. The song "Third Eye" contains samples of comedian Bill Hicks. The title may be a reference to Hicks' assertions that psilocybe mushrooms could be used to "squeegee [one's] third eye clean." A goal of the album as a whole was to "open people up in some way and help open their third eye and help them on a path." "Ænema" makes lyrical references to Bill Hicks' set Arizona Bay, in which the San Andreas fault collapses, purging the continent of Southern California and the Baja Peninsula which would give Arizona its own oceanfront. This is further illustrated in the lenticular map under the CD tray. The alternate spelling for the song emphasizes the "enema" portion of the combined title also used for the album; in this way, it differentiates the meaning of the song (with California's collapse seen as a 'flushing out' for the country) from the meaning of the album (the "anima" emphasis indicating a spiritual, Jungian focus for the album in its entirety) while retaining the song's placement as the title track, though the differing spelling and pronunciation marks a different approach from other Tool albums that are named directly after songs (Opiate, Undertow, Lateralus and Fear Inoculum) or sections of songs (10,000 Days). Many regional versions stated the track times for tracks 3 and 4 in reverse. This is noted on all pressings from Australia, UK, and Europe.

Upon its release, Ænima was met with generally favorable reviews by mainstream music critics, citing the band's innovation and ambitions within the album's sound. Jon Wiederhorn of Entertainment Weekly said that it was "one of 1996's strangest and strongest alt metal records", In a retrospective review of Ænima, AllMusic writer Rob Theakston stated that on the album, "Tool explore the progressive rock territory previously forged by such bands as King Crimson. However, Tool are conceptually innovative with every minute detail of their art, which sets them apart from most bands".

The album appeared on lists of the best albums of 1996 in Kerrang! In 2014, readers of Rhythm voted it the third greatest drumming album in the history of progressive rock.