All right. I once read a review of this CD which described it as a "Nightmare." That is probably the most apt way of putting the content of this album. The songs have a dark, dreamlike complexity that is hard to put across in any way except by a small demonstration. Intermission is a jokey, goofy break in the action. The band has just played a raucous number with a disturbing title (Hooker With A Penis) and we are enjoying a short, relaxing song. Suddenly, the riff we have come to enjoy mutates from a dippy organ piece into deep, throaty, distorted guitar. It is as if, while at a Playground, a psychotic murderer stepped up to the swingset and decapitated a kid while you weren't looking. And yet, there is something gentle and kind about the album too, as if...as if hope is not forever gone...and yet we never really glimpse what the hope is...I find this to be the best rock album I heard during all of the 90s, the best rock album I have ever heard, the best CONCEPT rock album ever put on display, and the best collection of stand-alone metal songs ever put to CD. Each song is a total gem, and the album is an inspirational goldmine. As a songwriter myself I find all the music held within the depths of this dreamscape to be entirely worthwhile, and insanely beautiful. Tool has inspired legions of bands that have no idea what they are doing to try and rip them off, and, in the process, have made themselves unique as the only metal band of the late 90s to truly try something new. And they succeeded masterfully. nema is the best way you can spend 10-20 dollars, and, if you aren't afraid of the nightmare, you may even wake up from it eventually.