Tool is a good band IMO - Schism may be one of the "tightest" songs i've ever heard, in that the guitar is in sync with his words so well, as well as the drums at many points, i swear if you listen to it w/ headphones it is unreal, the cymbals sound like they were ran through a flanger. You can go all the way back to the start of them and listen to Opiate, and damn, its not like the newer stuff but still its awesome.
BigRedCat... do you really like Disturbed? Man I agree with you on a lot of that, but disturbed, you can't really point fingers at the explosion of pop-punk when disturbed rode the wave in with the likes of godsmack, saliva, soil, the whole heavy-garbage scene that flooded radio stations for a good year or 2. I went to a godsmack show a year and a half ago because 2 buddies really wanted me to go with them, i'm usually open to something i'm not super fond of, if so many people like it, there must be at least something about it i can like right? It sucked. I know you are in a band and stuff, but face it, all this shit is subjective, if your band was on the radio, do you know how many people would go "Man - this TOTALLY sucks." but then there would be some who like it too. not everybody is into your stuff, they haven't approached music from your angle.
I still agree though that tool is a good band.
Truth