Album · 2001
Lateralus
by Tool
Lateralus is a 2001 progressive metal album by Tool. It runs 13 tracks across 79 minutes on RCA Records Label. Riffiter listeners rate it 3.9/5 from 23 ratings.
Progressive Metal · Hard Rock · Metal
Your rating
- 3.9 /5
- 23 ratings
- 73 /100
- 9 critics
- 13
- Tracks
- 79 min
- Runtime
- 112 bpm
- Tempo
- D minor
- Key
Ratings
23 ratings · avg 3.9
Recent activity
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Reviews
1 review
- 4.5
Critics
9 publications
- Kerrang!5/5
- USA Today3.5/4
- Los Angeles Times3.5/4
- AllMusic4/5
- Rolling Stone4/5
- Entertainment WeeklyB−
- NME7/10
- The Village VoiceC
- Pitchfork1.9/10
- Metacriticaggregate75/100
Scores collected from the English Wikipedia ratings box (CC BY-SA). Ratings belong to the publications; follow a link to read the review.
Cover art
3 credits
- Design
- Mackie Osborne
- Illustration
- Alex Grey
- Art direction
- Adam Jones
Tracklist
13 tracks · 79 min
Ranked head-to-head
1 vs 1
Stars say how much you like Lateralus. They never settle which song on it you would defend. Pick between two at a time and the order builds itself.
Nobody has finished a run on this record yet. Rank Lateralus's songs yourself →
Videos
2 videos
Ranked by listeners
top 5 · 7 rated tracks
According to Riffiter listeners, the best track on Lateralus is Reflection — rated 4.7/5 by 5 listeners.
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About
In January 2001, Tool announced a new album, Systema Encéphale, along with a 12-song tracklist containing titles such as "Riverchrist", "Numbereft", "Encephatalis", "Musick", and "Coeliacus". File-sharing networks such as Napster were flooded with bogus files bearing the titles' names. At the time, Tool members were outspokenly critical of file-sharing networks in general due to their impact on artists that are dependent on record sales to continue their careers. Keenan said during an interview with NY Rock in 2000, "I think there are a lot of other industries out there that might deserve being destroyed. The ones who get hurt by MP3s are not so much companies or the business, but the artists, people who are trying to write songs."
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A month later, the band revealed that the new album was actually titled Lateralus; the name Systema Encéphale and the tracklist had been a ruse. Lateralus and the corresponding tours would take Tool a step further toward art rock and progressive rock territory. Rolling Stone wrote in an attempt to summarize the album that "Drums, bass and guitars move in jarring cycles of hyperhowl and near-silent death march ... The prolonged running times of most of Lateralus' thirteen tracks are misleading; the entire album rolls and stomps with suitelike purpose." Joshua Klein of The A.V. Club expressed his opinion that Lateralus, with its 79 minutes and relatively complex and long songs—topped by the ten-and-a-half-minute music video for "Parabola"—posed a challenge to fans and music programming alike. The album became a worldwide success, reaching No.1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart in its debut week. Tool received their second Grammy Award for the best metal performance of 2001 for the song "Schism". During the band's acceptance speech, drummer Carey stated that he would like to thank his parents (for putting up with him) and Satan, and bassist Chancellor concluded: "I want to thank my dad for doing my mom."
In brief
- Is Lateralus good?
- Riffiter listeners rate Lateralus 3.9/5 from 23 ratings.
- What is the highest-rated track on Lateralus?
- Reflection, rated 4.7/5 by 5 listeners on Riffiter.
- When was Lateralus released?
- Lateralus was released in 2001 on RCA Records Label.
- How many tracks are on Lateralus?
- Lateralus has 13 tracks, with a runtime of 79 minutes.
- What genre is Lateralus?
- Lateralus is catalogued under Progressive Metal, Hard Rock, Metal.
- What BPM is Lateralus?
- Lateralus runs at a median tempo of 112 BPM across its tracks, most often in D minor, measured from audio analysis.
- What albums are similar to Lateralus?
- Listeners of Lateralus also rate White Pony by Deftones, Toxicity by System of a Down, Rage Against The Machine - XX (20th Anniversary Special Edition) by Rage Against the Machine.
- Who produced Lateralus?
- Lateralus was produced by David Bottrill and Tool. David Bottrill produced all of them.
- Who wrote the songs on Lateralus?
- Lateralus was written by Adam Jones, Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor and Maynard James Keenan, among 5 credited in total. Adam Jones wrote 2 of them.
Credits
- Produced by
- Written by
- Mixed by
- Engineered by
- Played by
- Adam JonesDanny CareyJustin ChancellorStatik
- Vocals by
- Maynard James KeenanArt Bell
Lineage
3 connections
Lives on in
The GrudgeVitamin String Quartetcovered byThe Grudge- The PatientVitamin String Quartetcovered byThe Patient
MantraVitamin String Quartetcovered byMantra
Credits and connections from Genius