50,000 Tool Fans Can't be Wrong

That pounding, heavy, riffing sound you just heard was the juggernaut force known as pop music getting completely knocked over. That, or it was almost the 50,000 Tool CDs (replete with cool black slipcase cover) being scanned at music stores throughout the country.

Either way, the band just pulled off one of the biggest music industry smackdowns of the year. Not because the new Tool disc is good (it is) and not because critics are completely raving over its brilliance (they are), but for the fact that they just sold a hell of a lot of records.

Debuting at #1 on the Canadian Soundscan chart, Tool not only managed to grab the top spot in Canada for the first time, but they also achieved the highest number of units scanned for a debut this year. They nearly doubled the sales of Canada's next-highest debut disc (Weezer's so-called "Green" album), Lateralus also debuted at #1 in the U.S. and Australia and made the Top Ten in six other countries.

The first disc of completely new material since 1996's Aenima, Lateralus clocks in at an astonishing 78.58 minutes and boasts a hit lead-off single in "Schism," itself almost seven minutes in length. With plans to play Europe and the U.S. (in addition to the already completed sold-out shows over the last few weeks), Tool will be making a stop in Barrie, Ontario, headlining EdgeFest on Canada Day.