Ok, well, I liked the idea of this so I tried it out myself. Ripped the CD to high quality .wavs and then loaded the whole lot into Cool Edit Pro, and lined up the tracks properly so there is absolutely no silence between any of the tracks. The only credentials I have that make my opinion valid is that I've been drumming for 7 years, playing guitar for 8, I'm a huge Tool fan but think that some people try to read too much into the music. It's music, people, not a lifestyle. "Think for yourself.", the quote lots of Tool fanboys love to throw around, is a beautiful example of a paradox. If you follow it, surely you aren't thinking for yourself, yet if you don't follow it then you are not thinking for yourself. Which is why I don't bother with the philosophical side of Tool, just the music.
Anyway, here is a breakdown of each transition:
Parabol --> Parabola: obviously was designed to be like this. No brainer.
Parabola --> Schism: I can see why this guy got excited. The last 3 harmonics at the end of Parabola are similar in progression and timing to the first three chords of Schism. This is probably the best transition out of the whole theory.
Schism --> Ticks & Leeches: Whatever the guy was saying about the first two beats of Ticks & Leeches being the first two beats of Schism is ridiculous. If this guy had been really paying attention to what Danny Carey says, in one of his interviews he explains that the opening beat to Ticks & Leeches is actually straight 16th with accents to make it sound like 3 over the bar of 7. It's in 7/4, which means that the rhythm feels like it's constantly shifting, which is why this guy doesn't seem to be able to follow it properly. Basically, this transition isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
Ticks & Leeches --> Mantra: What the hell? Mantra bears no resemblance to anyone choking. Don't quote me on this, but I remember reading that Mantra is some Japanese instrument which uses catgut strings, reversed and modulated. Of course, since Tool bullshit so much in interviews unless they're talking just about the musical side of things, I have no idea if that's true.
Mantra --> Lateralus: Ok, well this was slightly creepy. Mantra resolves just at the last second into the same note as the open D string that Lateralus opens with. I put it down to coincidence, if the Japanese instrument thing is true it could simply be that that melody started with a D as well. If it weren't for that sudden note resolution, I'd say that this is a terrible transition.
Lateralus --> Faiip De Oiad: Whatever. The notes are completely different. By this point I realised that this theory was probably broken, but decided to finish up anyway.
Faiip De Oiad --> The Grudge: The real transition (where you simply knock the silence between the tracks out) sucked. Faiip ends on a weird tone thing that sounds like someone just making the frequency go up to a huge number of Hz. Then you get the machinery click of The Grudge, and it's really not great. It sounded way better when I went straight into the opening note of the Grudge, but that's cheating and would have worked with any track that opens on a big note.
The Grudge --> Triad: I can see what the guy could hear in this transition, but the 3 note floor tom + snare rhythm used at the end of The Grudge is used a lot... for example at the start of Lateralus. However, by this guys rules 1 + 9 = 10 so that wouldn't be a valid transition.
Triad --> Eon Blue Apocalypse: Nah. No, seriously. Nah. About as smooth as gravel, layered with grit. And anyway, the final chord hangs is cut off at the end. More about that later.
Eon Blue Apocalypse --> Reflection: Final chord stuff, and also the tracks are totally unrelated. You could possibly read something into Eon Blue APOCALYPSE going into a song that starts with "I have come curiously close to the end" but I choose not to, because that is a tenuous connection if I've ever seen one. And anyway, Reflection isn't about apocalypse unless I've totally misheard the lyrics.
Reflection --> The Patient: I must keep reminding myself not to listen to Tool obsessives any more. I must keep reminding myself of this. C'mon, Reflection was born to go into Triad. Oh, and if you listen to The Patient very carefully on its own, guess what you hear at the very start? YES, ITS THE OVERHANGING CHORD FROM EON BLUE APOCALYPSE. I wonder why that could be. Oh yeah, cuz Eon Blue Apocalypse is track 2 on the original CD, and The Patient is track 3. Wow.
The Patient --> Disposition: All the stuff about the same notes - well, that's because Tool practically live and breath in D. Danny's drums are tuned to a D triad because Justin and Adam play in drop D. There are only 12 semi-tones in the octave, and if 2 of your guitar strings provide you with an open version of that note, odds are you're going to use it a lot. I'm already tired of this.
Anyway. My conclusion is that the theory is a nice idea, but this guy is way in over his head. Firstly, there are some tracks on the CD that were NOT DESIGNED TO EVER BE SPLIT UP. For example, Eon Blue and The Patient, and the TRILOGY AT THE END. Breaking those three tracks up is the most ridiculous re-arrangement ever, for this reason:
Modern Drummer interviewer: "Disposition," "Resolution," "Triad" ---are these a trilogy?
Danny: Yes, They were constructed as one song. At twenty minutes, the
three together was a little long, so we split them up.
(Resolution was the name of Reflection on the promo)
Yes, I was very impressed by the spiral work in the song Lateralus. However, to think that this applies through the whole album is a bit far fetched. I get the impression that there is some very interesting background to a lot of the music that Tool does, but I think that's there for them to enjoy. I'm just happy to listen to the music, because this deeper background obviously seems to work in creating better stuff.
Just because Maynard tells you to read between the lines doesn't mean that you have to.
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