If the Devil were to delve into rock music, the result would not be far from "Ænima," and I often suspect that this is indeed the case, and that the Devil hides behind the ambiguous image of Maynard James Keenan, a dark and mysterious character, deus ex machina of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. It's not easy to imagine the power unleashed by Tool in their monumental concerts, and those who have had the fortune to attend cannot have remained indifferent. "Ænima" was released in 1996, in a golden age for rock, when the heavy sounds of metal were undergoing an evolution and a stylistic contamination that elevated this genre from the wildest trash to a much more complex, personal, and dark artistic form, different just as the generation it represented was different. The creative spring of this revolution is sunny California, symbol of the controversial humanity of our times, where fairy-tale and enchanting scenarios and wealth contrast with the scum, crime, and the most extreme poverty without interruption. The groups taking center stage include Rage Against The Machine, Korn, and Deftones, just to name the most well-known, all united by a roaring expressive urgency and a state of grace that will allow them to reach peaks of global success. But Tool are quintessentially the different among the different, able to stand out even among this handful of "alternative" bands, offering a sound and image not traceable to other groups but to themselves, showing a personality and originality worthy of the greatest artists.
"Ænima" is a miracle of about eighty minutes with no weak points or decline in style, sustained by a powerful, psychedelic rock, stretched to the limits of the hypnotic, by disturbing and mystical atmospheres, and composed of long tracks characterized by continuous variations: a spell capable of thrilling the listener from the very first notes, taking them on a long adrenaline-fueled and dark journey, in a never-ending crescendo that leaves you breathless. The muse of the album is the controversial American comedian Bill Hicks, who died a few years prior and to whom the entire album is dedicated. The American comedian, devoted to drugs and excesses, made disgust for humanity his credo, and from this credo the spirit of "Ænima" is born. Maynard unabashedly spits his total repulsion for an absurd society accelerating towards the abyss, which values nothing, seeks refuge in pseudo-religious cults, sexual oddities, consumer worship, and hypocrisy, a society that has decided to close its eyes to the chilling void in which it finds itself, to peacefully enjoy the last moments of life it has left.
The album starts immediately rough, hard, and uncensored: "Stinkfist" is a perhaps ambiguous metaphor in which the "sweet" experience of fist-fucking symbolizes the desensitization of the spirit and the constant pushing of boundaries to continue feeling emotions. It continues with "Euology," a very sincere and engaging panegyric to the late Bill Hicks, passing to "H." which unfolds unhurriedly with distorted guitars and placid rhythms, progressively growing until it finally explodes in the end; it leads to one of the highest moments of Ænima: introduced by a deep, breathtaking bass, very close to the gothic sounds of early post-punk, "Forty Six & 2" tells the story of change, rebirth, a purification that can only be intuited from a very cryptic text. The first part of the album is sealed by "Message to Harry Manback," a humorous interlude that lightens and alleviates; but in this album, we also find other playful interludes placed at strategic points, necessary to catch one's breath and to add that touch of irony which, at heart, is the pulsating core of "Ænima."
The second part of the album opens with Maynard's fierce attack on the world of self-styled "alternatives" contained in "Hooker with a Penis," then moves on to the extended "Jimmy" and "Push It," a true pillar of "Ænima," introduced by one of those riffs that are unforgettable and supported by an ambiguous text able to release otherworldly energy from the simple words "..pushing and shoving me.." repeated almost to create a mantra. In the last part of this long journey, two of the most precious gems present themselves. In the title track, Adam Jones' guitar dominates with imagination and power while Maynard declares his "love" for his Los Angeles, not hesitating to call it a "Fucking hopeless hole" which he sincerely wishes would sink beneath the oceans. And finally "Third Eye," the apex of the album: the introduction is brilliantly entrusted to a monologue by Bill Hicks on the relationship between drugs and art, which is progressively faded over an elongated drum and a masterful distorted guitar that eventually takes shape into a memorable riff, psychedelia in its most splendid form; the song continues with an oscillating rhythm, alternating dark, dreamy, and sinister digressions with quieter but no less disturbing moments, against the backdrop of the deepest and most spiritual text that Maynard has ever conceived, capable of going beyond traditional boundaries of perception to reach the primordial and absolute meaning of events, the Truth. Thirteen minutes of pure psychedelic rock, hallucinogenic and otherworldly sounds that we cannot simply define as music.
"Ænima" is an album that goes beyond, in every sense, the result of four musicians in an unrepeatable state of grace, among whom it would be a crime not to mention Danny Carey, a true giant behind the drums, a master capable of sustaining impossible rhythms that are the true engine of the album along with Justin Chancellor's metallic and pounding bass. But the musical soul is Adam Jones, a true genius of the six strings, able to make his guitar perform dizzying evolutions with a unique style, recalling the tradition of legendary rock between the '60s and '70s, adding a halo of personal pathological darkness.
"Ænima" is one of the best rock albums of all time, a huge rock, capable of continually improving over time and revealing new details with every listen, a journey that can have no end....
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