Q: Please help me, this is driving me crazy. What the hell time signature is Schism by Tool?? I swear to god it's 7/8 9/8 but others disagree. What do you hear? I trust your rhythmic wisdom
A: let me take a listen......... right, so i tend to hear that one as 5+7. so a quick 5 then a quick 7. but surely you might say "but that adds up to 12, isn't it more likely that this is meant to be felt in some 3 based structure", and listening to it further, these things are always anyone's guess but i would certainly venture that the drummer is feeling 5 and 7. the lyrics/vocals mostly seem to be happiest as 5+7, but some of the vocals are likely meant to go 3+3+3+3. i would even venture a step further and say that the writer(s) have thought about all of this, and these sorts of number games might even be what informs some of the lyrical content