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Been on a mild SG binge recently and was kinda struck that these 2 bands came the closest to the grandiose and / or mystical vibe of prime Zep in that 90s post-punk / alt rock era, esp via their singers.

Tough call for me as Soundgarden are a more sporadic group, quality-wise, but they covered more ground as a result. Tool are somewhat more monochromatic on each album. Def both bands with flaws that stop me from being a committed fan, but they both reach the peak often enough.

Before the cynics kick in: evidence of both bands summoning the divine can be directly experienced on the Louder Than Live record and the 1998, taken from the soundboard bootleg in Kalamazoo, MI – both top drawer examples of universe curdling raw power.

I think Tool is closer to prog rock than Zeppelin due to the, yeah, lack of variety and melody. Anyway I can enjoy the 2nd and 3rd albums alright, vs. Soundgarden where I struggle to come up with half a dozen songs I enjoy.

Without a doubt Soundgarden. Maybe I'm indicting myself on the charges of having pedestrian tastes, but Tool strikes me as too self-indulgent and overwrought to endure listening to more than 3 or 4 songs at best. I know we're making a Zep comparison, so being self-indulgent and overwrought ought to put a +2 in their column, but I just can't do it. I got turned onto Soundgarden when Louder Than Love came out, and since they were the opening act for Voivod for their Nothingface tour, I took that slot to be a sign that they were cool. I'll admit that it took some time to get my young ears around their vibe, but I eventually got on the snake. I remained an active listener til almost the end.

Louder Than Love and Badmotorfinger are all timers for me. I also like Ultramega OK and Superunknown both okay. Tool has one record and one ep I can put on every couple of years. So it's not even remotely a close call for me.

Also. It took Soundgarden for me to come around to Led Zeppelin. I hated. HATED Robert Plant's voice for a long, long time.

Soundgarden is fine. Some fun guitar stuff in the singer has pretty hair. I fucking hate Tool so much.

Not many Tool fans on the PRF, historically. The Soundgarden poll on the old forum had some good hate posts, too, especially from Faiz if I remember.

I don't associate either of these bands with Zeppelin particularly.

I'm going to pick SG on the strength of Ultramega OK and LTL. The later stuff doesn't interest me anymore. Tool is annoying and uses that same bullshit "polyrhythm" in every song.

As I recall, that last 90's album was basically their In Through the Out Door. I never checked out the reunion record.

Soundgarden vibes more on Black Sabbath. Tool is the equivalent of Rush. Neither of them did the Led Zeppelin signature, horrid mix of Tolkien and the goofy innuendo novelty song subgenre of the blues, lyrically. Neither of them mixed careful composition with acid rock abandon, instrumentally. Neither of them has a horrible caricature creature singing - you want Patton-era Faith No More for that.

"Spoonman" definitely sounds like bad Zeppelin.

I have a dark horse candidate: The Black Crowes.

I'm just gonna vote Soundgarden, sans rationale.