Tool bringing its hard metal to Augusta

Rock fans who like their music hard and metal fans who prefer their tunes a bit trippy know who’s coming to Augusta this week.

But everyone else should know that an intriguing little musical outfit known as Tool will bring rock instruments and some visual mysteries to a sold-out show at the Augusta Civic Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26.

Special guest Meshuggah will set the stage for one of the most heralded and creative rock-metal acts to delve into the obscure since Pink Floyd began losing band members. Although listeners are hard-pressed to hear Tool on very many radio programs, the band still has managed to produce platinum and multiplatinum albums that have won critical praise – such as a Best Metal Performance Grammy for 1996’s “Aenima” – as well as a rabid following.

Those who aren’t Tool-tested shouldn’t confuse the band’s metal mentality with the nu-metal of contemporaries such as Korn and Disturbed, who also made a foray into Maine this month. Think the aforementioned Floyd, maybe with a lethal dose of Pantera and a splash of King Crimson. (Tool has paid tribute to King Crimson on its official Web site, and also has performed with the band.) Or, ideally, don’t think at all; just go find the live collection of Tool known as “Salival” and pop in the included DVD, which features music videos from the group’s first three albums. Tool takes the visions that accompany the crescendoing rhythms of its music to a world way beyond MTV, merging the two into a new art form.

At a 2001 concert at Portland’s Cumberland County Civic Center, the band itself was shrouded in darkness so its members appeared merely as silhouettes, while massive screens provided a whole new level of music video. A pair of contortionists added to the “am I really seeing this?” aspect of the show during the second half.

The visual appeal of Tool’s art is nearly as appealing as its sound, proven by the band’s emergence into the mass consciousness in the ’90s with dark, innovative videos for “Sober,” from the band’s groundbreaking “Undertow,” and what MTV politely referred to as “Track 1” (not really the name of the song), from “Aenima.”

And while several Tool tracks bear titles that one wouldn’t bring up in squeamish company, the truly shocking part of its catalog of songs is the mix of primal and orchestral sounds. The frenzied repetition in songs such as “Schism” is brought to a brutal release in “Ticks and Leeches,” which brings lead singer Maynard James Keenan’s tortured vocals to a screaming apex.

Keenan, who also has served as frontman for rock act A Perfect Circle, urged concert-goers at last year’s Portland performance to put the overwhelming emotion from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 to some productive use, such as creating art. Looking at the history of Tool, it can be expected that the group took its own words to heart, and fans and not-yet-fans who attend Saturday’s show can expect a mind-altering musical exploration.