Edit: I’m not recommending a band that sounds like tool or is tool adjacent. I’m just recommending one I feel is worth checking out and never gets mentioned here
whenever this topic gets brought up which is every other day here, I see the same bands…
for tool adjacent people say Soen, wheel, karnivool etc
when asked what else do you like people have shocking, out of left field, underground answers like Metallica, deftones, SOAD, and a perfect circle. I love those bands too but it is a bit…”whoa, you like sex and money too!?”
so I want to recommend a band that never gets mentioned here, my second favorite band after Tool is **Brand New**.
i *highly* recommend the last two studio albums, Science Fiction and Daisy, but all of their albums are great. just those last too are gonna be easier for tool fans to get into I think.
same 4 guys every album. every album is great from start to finish. while they aren’t proggy/technical, they’re the only other band that comes close to giving me that frisson, with the atmospheric vibe of the music and the emotional delivery of the vocals.
fun fact, they played before tool at rivers edge in 2012 so I got to see my two favorite bands share the same stage. if you were there it might not have clicked, or you maybe forgot, or maybe it just didn’t translate live but in the studio they are wizards and capture something sonically that few bands ever do.