Laboratory of Mathematics and Writing

I listened to the new Tool song, Fear Inoculum. My opinion of them still hasn't change. The song sort of just plods along for ten minutes and finally ends. It's utterly inconsequential. And of course, the lyrics are deep and meaningful but nobody understands what the hell they're trying to say, but you can interpret them any way you like so it doesn't matter. Maybe that's the point. To just assemble words and phrases in a way that sort of makes sense but doesn't really mea n anything so people can feel smarter about themselves for listening to progressive music. Same goes for the assembly of riffs, melodies, and rhythms. To their credit, they tie everything together well enough so that it isn't just random non-sense. Honestly, I'd rather listen to "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed. That's right. I think a sappy and utterly simplistic radio rock song written by what can be considered a Christian band is more worth listening to. The song...

Tool's music is on the overrated side. It's not particularly bad, but it's not particularly good either. It's sort of just rides the indifference curve.   The problem with these progressive bands is that they like to insert a long chain of riffs (in the case of Tool, they're really not all that complex) without actually building towards anything. They meander about with no direction. It gets tired and boring.  The lyrics are actually interesting. But be honest. You don't understand what the hell they're talking about. I always have doubts whether these bands (not just Tool) even had any intent behind the lyrics. But that's okay, because it's open to interpretation, right?   It's too easy to dismiss bands like Tool, Dream Theater, Meshuggah, and a bunch of others as just music for low-life losers with philosophy degrees. They haven't accomplished anything in life. But smart people listen to progressive music. I listen progressive music, ...