Tool: Every Album Ranked From Worst To Best

Best described as harmonic brilliance meets lyrical genius, If there is one album in Tool's catalog that perhaps surpasses Lateralus, it is AEnima, their sophomore LP.

AEnima marked the departure of original bassist Paul D'Amour, who recorded demos of some songs but was not on the final album. He was replaced by current Tool bassist Justin Chancellor, but the band never seemed to miss a step. In fact, they seemed to leap forward onto the next level sonically speaking. Tracks like Forty-Six & 2 (contemplating the next step in human evolution, as theorized by Jung, with human DNA evolving to contain an additional two autosomes), Pushit (addiction and co-dependency), H. (an examination, perhaps, of Maynard James Keenan's relationships with both his father, and his son) take the band to new levels. Hooker with a Penis lashes out at fans claiming the band sold out, while Die Eier von Satan attempts to play with our perception of language and culture by portraying a Nazi-esque rally, with a speech read in German over the roar of a crowd and heavy machinery - which turns out to be an innocuous cookie recipe.

Lead single Stinkfist wound up in trouble with MTV for some silly reason (he wasn't really singing about that was he?), but that didn't stop it from catching on. Meanwhile, it was the deeper tracks that mattered most, including the final cut, Third Eye, an ode to the work of comedian Bill Hicks. For any progressive music fan, this is the band's must-have.