Lateralus is Tool's third studio album, released in 2001 (see 2001 in music). The album was a commercial success, reaching the #1 position on the Billboard charts in its premiere week. Two music videos were released: "Schism" (the video had a short ambient track, "Mantra", at the beginning) and "Parabol/Parabola".
The album reached the #1 spot on Billboard Music Chart's top Internet Albums chart, top Canadian Albums chart and the Billboard 200 chart (US).
As of August 5, 2003, Lateralus has been certified double platinum by the RIAA.
Stylistically, Lateralus is a defiantly progressive album, having emerged from a five year legal tussle with Tool's former label. In spite of its unusual and complex content, the album still became a commercial success in the United States quite apart from the mid- to late-1990s explosion of nu-metal bands like Linkin Park.
Track Listing
- The Grudge (8:36)
- Eon Blue Apocalypse (1:04)
- The Patient (7:13)
- Mantra (1:12)
- Schism (6:47)
- Parabol (3:04)
- Parabola (6:03)
- Ticks & Leeches (8:10)
- Lateralus (9:24)
- Disposition (4:46)
- Reflection (11:07)
- Triad (8:46)
- Faaip De Oiad (2:39)
Some time after Lateralus was released a minor flurry of interpretive activity arose around the album. In particular, Carey told an interviewer about Keenan's remark that the time signatures of the main riff in "Lateralus" (9-8-7) also represented a step in the Fibonacci sequence (the sixteenth step, as it turns out). This led some Tool fans to suggest that the tracks on Lateralus can be listened to in spiral-like orders: 6,7,5,8,4,9,3,10,2,11,1,12,13 ("The Lateralus Prophecy") or 6,7,5,8,4,9,13,1,12,2,11,3,10 ("The Holy Gift"). Both arrangements produce different story-lines for the album.
On the ninth track of the album, "Lateralus," Keenan's vocals during the verses coincide with the Fibonacci sequence by syllable.
The cover is translucent and flips open to reveal
the different layers of the human body, including a spiritual layer representing vrajna, the transcendental wisdom of enlightenment or union with the divine. Partially obscured in the brain matter on the final layer is the word "God"
The vocal on "Faaip de Oiad" is of a 1997 caller to Art Bell's radio program, who claimed to have been employed at Area 51.
Personnel
Charting singles
2001 Schism The Billboard Hot 100 No. 67
2001 Schism Mainstream Rock Tracks No. 2
2001 Schism Modern Rock Tracks No. 2
2002 Lateralus Modern Rock Tracks No. 18
2002 Lateralus Mainstream Rock Tracks No. 14
2002 Parabola Mainstream Rock Tracks No. 10
2002 Parabola Modern Rock Tracks No. 31
