Lateralus Music Video

Lore & Background

Instead, it highlights the existence of a substantial ten-and-a-half minute music video for the song "Parabola." This specific video is noted as being so long that it presented challenges for both fans and music programming schedules. The text explains that "Parabola," along with "Schism," was later featured in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour. The album's broader thematic content involves the Fibonacci sequence, described by drummer Danny Carey as a pattern of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8... where squares are arranged to create an infinitely expanding spiral. This mathematical concept drives the song "Lateralus," which uses successive time signatures of 9/8, 8/8, and 7/8 to reflect the desire for knowledge and expansion.

In Their Own Story

The document does mention that early pressings of the album contained errors, such as the ninth track being misspelled as "Lateralis," but this refers to the CD tracklist, not a visual narrative. The only explicit mention of a long-form visual component is for "Parabola," which runs ten-and-a-half minutes. The source details how the band intended the album to move toward art rock and progressive territory, with tracks like "Disposition," "Reflection," and "Triad" forming a sequence performed live. However, without descriptive text regarding the animation or plot of the "Lateralus" video itself, no story can be derived strictly from the provided information.

Reader's Guide

The only concrete detail provided regarding visuals is that the album insert is translucent and flips open to reveal layers of the human body, with the word "God" disguised in the brain matter on the final layer. Artist Alex Grey created this artwork and later designed covers for Tool's subsequent albums. Regarding the song "Lateralus," listeners should note its incorporation of the Fibonacci sequence, specifically the number 987 as the sixteenth integer of the series. The lyrics describe a desire to explore and expand, using the phrase "spiral out" to reference both human ambition and the mathematical spiral formed by connecting square corners.

Did You Know?

• The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling over 555,200 copies in its first week.
• A ten-and-a-half minute music video exists for the song "Parabola," which posed a challenge for music programming.
• The title track "Lateralus" uses successive time signatures of 9/8, 8/8, and 7/8 to mirror the Fibonacci sequence.
• Early CD pressings incorrectly spelled the ninth track as "Lateralis."
• The album insert was designed by Alex Grey and features a translucent design that reveals layers of the human body with the word "God" hidden in the brain matter.