After a wait of nearly five years, Tool's fourth album picked up where the sprawling, careening Lateralus left off: guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Justin Chancellor churning out hypnotic riffs that cycle in improbable meters, drummer Danny Carey taking virtuosic spills across his kit, and the band exploring dark soundworlds via enigmatic interludes. This time, however, vocalist Maynard James Keenan moves somewhat away from the metaphysical and closer to the personal and political under dense, shifting musical tangles.