| Ænema | |
| Cover: | tool_aenema.png |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Tool |
| Album: | Ænima |
| Released: | August 9, 1997 |
| Genre: | Alternative metal, progressive metal |
| Length: | 6:39 |
| Label: | Zoo |
| Producer: | David Bottrill |
| Prev Title: | H. |
| Prev Year: | 1996 |
| Next Title: | Forty Six & 2 |
| Next Year: | 1997 |
"Ænema" is a song by American rock band Tool, released as the third single from their second major-label release Ænima. Adam Jones made a video for the song using stop-motion animation; it is included in the Salival box set. The song reached number twenty-five on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in August 1997.
The song makes extensive use of hemiola, a musical technique in which the emphasis in a triple meter is changed to give the illusion that both a duple and a triple meter occur in the song.
The song is cast in terminally climactic form,[1] in which two verse/chorus pairs give way to a climactic ending on new material.
Adam Jones directed the video for "Ænema" which features stop-motion animation with art design by Cam de Leon. The video revolves around a humanoid figure with alien-like features. Throughout the video the character ventures through an aquatic room. A hose-like organ (resembling an umbilical cord) which squirts out water protrudes from its abdomen and fills the room in which the figure stands. At one point the figure starts to dress itself as images of embryos are shown briefly. Towards the end of the video a human character wearing a business suit tosses a water-filled box in which the figure is contained.
Tool received the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for "Ænema", at the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998.[2]