Bands that sound like tool?

Tool is one of those bands that no one really sounds like due to a combination of one of the most unique vocalists, the bass being used as a lead instrument, and just all around experimentation. They were my favorite band for 4 years before I even discovered extreme metal and I have yet to find a band that sounds like them so I doubt you will with a forum post. Some Porcupine Tree songs have those "Tool-ish moments" especially since they also are obsessed with drop D tuning and like some upfront basslines (maybe try Strip the Soul?), but even so, you couldn't say they sound like Tool.

Edit: Opeth and Katatonia sound about as much like Tool as The Beatles sound like Suffocation. (ok that's obviously an exaggeration but they don't sound alike at all)
 
For somewhat similar vocals try
Chevelle - Point #1

For similarly progressive metal music with a lot of emphasis on the bass
Isis - Oceanic / Panopticon / Wavering Radiant
Enslaved - Ruun / Vertebrae

And definitely get into Porcupine Tree though they're much more mellow. Good songs to start with for a Tool fan would probably be Russia On Ice (one of their best of all time), Strip the Soul, or Anesthetize.

And while Opeth is nothing like them, they are one of those bands that no one really sounds like (well, successfully, there's a lot of clone attempts like Farmakon or Gwynbleidd) and a lot of Tool fans get into them. Start with Blackwater Park and Damnation and go backwards if you are more into the metal side and forwards if you like the prog side.
 
Their first album was sorta metal but its mostly alt rock and it makes its way on the radio once in a while here. But the vocals are good.
 
Edit: Opeth and Katatonia sound about as much like Tool as The Beatles sound like Suffocation. (ok that's obviously an exaggeration but they don't sound alike at all)

Katatonia definitely has some "Tool-ish" moments. I can hear a major influence in their later material.

There used to be a band called Earshot. They weren't that great, and I don't even know if they're still around; but they sounded like Tool.

EDIT:
Here's a sample; 0:48 mark sounds a lot like Tool
 
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Edit: Opeth and Katatonia sound about as much like Tool as The Beatles sound like Suffocation. (ok that's obviously an exaggeration but they don't sound alike at all)

I don't really like the album all that much, but there are clear Tool esque riffs on Viva Emptiness (note that that is later era Katatonia, not their early stuff).
 
There used to be a band called Earshot. They weren't that great, and I don't even know if they're still around; but they sounded like Tool.

EDIT:
Here's a sample; 0:48 mark sounds a lot like Tool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-oJyAmNOI

Great example of Maynard like vocals, horrible song though. You could really tell they were trying to make it on the fact that he sounded like Maynard.

As for reqs I cant really think of that much besides Isis, which have already been mentioned.
 
Great example of Maynard like vocals, horrible song though. You could really tell they were trying to make it on the fact that he sounded like Maynard.

Yeah, exactly. I owned the record back in high school but could never get into it (probably on account of how bad it was). When I saw this thread I went digging through all my old cds and found it. Still sucks.
 
There are some great bands that have been mentioned here, like porcupine tree, katatonia and opeth I love those guys. But if you want something that sounds a little bit more like tool, but still holds a lot of originality, I suggest a band like riverside. They're a great polish progressive band, they're not extremely tool-like but I find that they take some influence, more so than some of the other bands mentioned, and they're definitely not clones. A band that sounds at times sound a fair bit like tool, are an instrumental band called indukti, really great stuff and still has originality, using violin and harp as main instruments, but still have a more obvious influence. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want a clone, and these guys are great. :)