Tool are a band whose influence far outweighs their rate of output. With five albums released since 1993 (and 2019’s Fear Inoculum following a 13-year gap) they could hardly be called prolific, but even that Chinese Democracy-style wait only added to their mystique. No-one else ever really managed to fill that gap, although there are plenty of bands who have taken elements of Tool’s dark, brooding pulse and incorporated it into their own identities.
They’ve been called the thinking person’s metal band – mainly by people who neither like nor understand metal – but there is something distinctly cerebral about Tool’s complex, twisting soundscapes and oblique lyrics. Maynard James Keenan has described the band as ‘research-oriented and esoteric’ compared to the Tool-adjacent supergroup A Perfect Circle who are ‘far more emotional and intuitive’. APC’s more direct and melodic approach would also have a major impact but Tool remain the daddies of fearlessly progressive and atmospheric art-metal.
Here are a dozen bands who might not be here without them…