I never denied an influence!!! I know the bands are good friends and I know theres influence that goes both ways. It was Tool's bassist that played on Isis' album actually ("Altered Course," awesome song). All I'm trying to say is listening to the album there is no way that I've ever thought "whoa this sounds like a Tool album." There's a few moments (actually I can only really think of one, a part in "Not in Rivers, But in Drops"), where the influence is obvious, and theres certain parts of their sound that sound like they were influenced by Tool somewhat, but there is absolutely no worship. Its the same way with Opeth and Camel or some band like that. Obviously Opeth has elements of Camel in their sound but theres no way you could call any of their albums Camel worship (well, maybe Damnation at times ^_^). They are two very different bands. They have a similar atmosphere at times but they both have very different goals with their music. If you've still only listened to samples then I reccomend listening to the actual album cause its pretty rediculous to make those statements without hearing it, and if you still think it sounds like a total Tool-fest then I'll give it to you. And Neurosis is the one that influenced Tool, not the other way around btw (they've been around for over 20 years). And again, I love Tool, and I appreciate the influence they've had on them, but Isis is Isis.
ps. the last few posts in this thread were drunk ones, so they might not make sense ^_^