Variety is the spice of life! I don't know if I like any other band that sounds like NIN. There are one or two Dillinger Escape Plan songs in my collection that probably come closest to sounding like NIN, I guess.Originally Posted by Exocet
For me, it's the orchestration and complexity of the music. It's different enough to be interesting without playing "count out loud to follow along" (unlike a lot of Dillinger Escape Plan, for example). I like the production, and thematically, the lyrics generally express disappointment, in both self and other - something very much in common with Nine Inch Nails. Aenima in particular has a pretty strong "fuck everything" theme. Both have vague reflections on personal relationships. Both have put in more-than-usual effort at packaging their music, whether through physical packaging, or through the medium of video - although both also peaked in the late 90s on that front. Both bands produce music that benefits greatly from listening on a fantastic pair of headphones, and from playing through loudspeakers, loudly.
10,000 Days fell flat for me. Didn't like the production, I didn't connect with the lyrics, the stoner humor felt forced, the "heavy" bits felt forced, the pseudo-mystic "Lipan conjuring" is tonedeaf appropriative exoticism, but worst of all, worst of all... there's that dubbed-in thunderstorm. I can't get over that, I'm sorry. And some songs just went on for too long IMHO. When it first came out, I made an edit that I dubbed "8,000 Days", which I burned to CD and listened to, but never ended up ripping to MP3.
But I still listen to Lateralus, Aenima, Undertow, and parts of Salival, and I'm still looking forward to hearing new stuff. From a production standpoint, I think Lateralus sits at the top of the pile. Overall, for me, it's a tie between Lateralus and Aenima. I like that Aenima is less self-serious, but I also like that Lateralus isn't jokey until the very end. Unlike NIN, Tool seems to iterate on the same sound, rather than pushing new boundaries in their sound. They spend more time on virtuosity than sonic repertoire. Same ingredients, new recipes - and that's fine. I listened to a lot of Cake for similar reasons, and they're even less like NIN.
They are good live! It's a shame about having to interact with the fanbase though.
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