Tool

Tool formed in Los Angeles in 1990, and more than a decade on they remain the most stubbornly uncompromising band ever to sell millions of records. Maynard James Keenan sings in a voice that can go from a hushed murmur to a bloodcurdling howl, Adam Jones plays guitar in heavy, lurching patterns, and Danny Carey drums like several drummers at once. Paul D'Amour played bass at the start, and Justin Chancellor took over in 1995.

The 1993 debut album, Undertow, came out with a more classic heavy metal sound, grinding and ugly and gripping, and "Sober" from that year is brooding and slow. Ænima in 1996 was the leap. It turned Tool into a leading force in alternative and progressive metal, and the twisted, clanking "Stinkfist" and the churning "H." pointed the way into longer, stranger songs.

Lateralus in 2001 goes further still, long, winding and intricate. "Schism" is a knotty, shifting wonder, and "Parabola" and "Lateralus" build to huge, cathartic climaxes. 10,000 Days in 2006 continued the voyage, and "Vicarious" and the hammering "The Pot" arrived the same year. Combining music with visual art and a message about personal growth, these records won critical praise and sold around the world, and the band has picked up four Grammy Awards along the way.

They also keep the music industry at arm's length, guarding their privacy and sometimes clashing with censors, and they make fans wait. Fear Inoculum finally arrived in 2019, by which time they had already sold more than 13 million albums in America alone.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.