I’m a huge Tool fanboy. I’ve only been listening to them for about three years now but they’ve been my favorite band for most of that time. I’m also an A Perfect Circle fan and love them almost with the same fervor but have a little bit more loyalty to the original band than I do to Maynard’s side project.
Talking to other fans about it, it seems that the preference for one band or the other (if any exists) is split pretty evenly so I’m curious as to other Dopers’ opinions on the matter. Which do you prefer? Do you have any specific reasons or is it mostly instinctual?
To me, Tool is much darker than APC. Maynard seems more willing to take risks with Tool, and that APC is more about charting, and getting units sold. I’m not saying that APC is a flash in the pan or anything, it just comes off more like Tool Lite. But if it gets more people turned on to Tool, then so be it.
I have heard Maynard in interview talking about APC being a little lighter than Tool, perhaps even a more “feminine” side, I guess for lack of a better word. It seems that APC’s arrangements might be a little richer and fuller, where Tool’s tends to be more straightforward. They both carry the tendency (wonderful as it is) for strange time signatures, syncopations, and unconventional melodies. Maynard has been evolving in the APC direction for a little while, IMO. . .Opiate was raw, angry, menacing, and imperfect. Undertow was dark, angry, disturbing, and yet more polished. Aenima was quite a bit more polished still, and toned down in the graphic imagery and debauchery, seemingly meant to be more widely acceptable. Enter Mers de Noms, a good album that is no way offensive (well, I guess except for those who love God), meant for wide acceptance. Then Lateralus, a good album that seemed like a mix of Aenima and Mer de Noms–fuller instrumentation, less angry Tool. Then Thirteenth Step, another APC album, inoffensive, and good.
My preference is Tool on Opiate and Undertow, then APC (either CD), then Aenima and Lateralus. In other words, my favorites are the really raw, powerful albums, and if I can’t have those then give me the really rich, complex, and melodic performances, and then after that I’ll take the ones that fall in between.
I’m a fan of both Tool and A Perfect Circle, yet I seem to connect better to APC. This is simply because of the music involved…APC seems to be more melodic and I can relate to it better. I can listen to Mer de Noms or Thirteenth Step on rotation, no sweat. Tool I seem to get a bit tired of after a while.
I, too, am a long time Tool fan. Just now starting to look at A Perfect Circle. Don’t know why I waited so long, but my feelings so far are that maybe I should have kept waiting.
Don’t know what it is really, this stuff just sounds weak. I’ll certainly give it more listening time, too much respect for Maynard to give up on him that quick, but the APC albums sound canned to me.
IMO, Tool got it exactly dead on perfect with Aenima. I love the earlier stuff too, but it can be tiring in its aggression.
I agree with most of what has been said here. Tool is heavier, more straightforward, and more … indignant, if that makes sense, whereas APC is more melodic, harmonious, and nowhere near as angsty. There’s emotion in *Mer De Noms * (I don’t have The Thirteenth Step) but it’s much more subdued than it is in any of Tool’s albums.
That, as well as the aforementioned loyalty, is why I’m more into Tool. *Aenima * is my favorite album, followed by Lateralus, then probably Mer De Noms, Undertow, and then Opiate. Whereas **troub ** prefers the raw emotion and anger of Maynard’s earlier albums, I like the more subdued and less righteous tomes of his later ones.
I love Opiate, think Undertow and Aenima both have their moments, but get too weird at times. A Perfect Circle isn’t bad, but the only songs I really like are the singles wich get/got radio play: Three Libras, The Outsider, Judith, and too a lesser extent Weak and Powerless.
I like em both, but to me, Mer De Noms by APC is one of the most perfect albums I’ve ever heard. I love every song, every track, it sounds great front-to-back and on shuffle.
I’m loyal to Tool, that’s what I started with and I dig on the darkness. Not to say that APC isn’t good but I like Tool more. I got the chance to meet them at a small club and it was very cool. Maynard is a very scary individual .
I really like both bands, but also tend to lean toward Tool, probably just because I’ve been listening to them longer and am more familiar with them. But Thirteenth Step is a fantastic album that has gotten many spins in the player from me.
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