In case you missed the latest rock news, Tool released (after a 13 year wait) the most anticipated rock album ever in what is called “Fear Innoculum“.

Read more about this here.

While listening to this breathtaking song almost non-stop we took a quick break and revisited the song “lateralus” and were once again amazed ad what an astounding song this is.

Truly Tool can be seen as a progressive rock spiritual experience.

Did you know that the song Lateralus is infused with the mathematical Fibonacci sequence. A lot of interpretations for Tool’s Lateralus can be found on the internet, and for some this song carries a larger than life meaning.

Maynard James Keenan’s vocals during the first few minutes of Lateralus form a Fibonacci sequence.

The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, … The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it.

In the song, The number of syllables progress to the sixth step, then back down to the first step; up to the seventh step, and then back to the fourth step.

[1] black then
[2] white are
[3] all I see
[5] in my infancy
[8] red and yellow then came to be
[5] reaching out to me
[3] lets me see

[2] there is
[1] so
[1] much
[2] more and
[3] beckons me
[5] to look through to these
[8] infinite possibilities

[13] as below so above and beyond I imagine
[8] drawn outside the lines of reason
[5] push the envelope
[3] watch it bend

The Fibonacci sequence shares a relationship with Phi, the golden ratio. The golden ratio is used to describe spirals, which are mentioned several times in the lyrics:

“Swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be human”, “Spiral out, keep going” twice, and “Spiral out, keep going.” five times. Also, Keenan first begins singing 1 minute and 37 seconds into the song, which equates to 1.617 minutes (the golden ratio = approximately 1.618).

The time signatures of the chorus change from 9/8 to 8/8 to 7/8, symbolizing a spiral. In addition, the number 987 is part of the Fibonacci sequence.

If you want to give it a try, and listen to this song with new found wisdom and enthusiasm then here you go. Tool’s Lateralus and its Fibonacci infused beat and lyrics: