It's interesting to hear people say that songs like Vicarious and The Pot are their favourites, because it's those songs, and the songs that are more 'conventional' Tool that I feel are the weaker points on the record.
Wings for Marie pt. 1 and 2, I really wish they'd build the album off those two tracks, and kept the tone of the album more similar to what they were doing there. Those tracks really embody the album for me, and more than that, they embody the true progression between lateralus and 10000 days, and I feel that everything else that sort of drifts from that guiding concept is less focused and less integrated with the whole of the album.
Songs like The Pot and Vicarious, ironically. I kind of think that they felt they needed to 'plop' a couple more conventional tool songs on the record, and came up with those more as singles. They sound like singles in comparison the rest of the record, which isn't really a negative necessarily, but again, to me they seem less focused lyrically. I'm not complaining that they put some more conventional tool songs on the album, I just haven't been as enamoured with their lyrics.
In terms of the album as a whole, personally, I don't feel it's as good as Aenima or Lateralus. I think part of it for me is that there is a less philosophically driven lyrical focus, and as a result, it feels less 'immediate' than some other tool, that is geared towards pushing you out of your comfort zones and is more 1st person. It feels less coherent and cohesive to me, atleast over the first half of the album, than Aenima or Lateralus.
