Well, Maynard has a very distinctive style. Do you have songs that resemble tool/apc? Melodies?
I guess the people who say not to immitate Maynard too closely have a point, because then you get an empty shell of a song.
I guess it's good to sit down with his lyrics. Look at discussions of lyric meanings (gosh he's a cryptic one) and look at the devises he's using to convey his point. He's a pretty intelligent guy. But also pretty arrogant sounding. You may not want to be acerbic as him...or maybe you do.
Some things I have noticed. He shifts back and forth between 'persons'. say in prison sex...'do unto others what has been done to you (2nd person?)...I'm tredding water (1st person)'. So first person, almost snapshot like description, while 'do unto others....' reads something between a removed observation and the internal ramblings of his narrating character.
And he uses ALOT of symbolism. Say in 46&2, which most people agree points toward some new level of human evolution (46 chromasomes....which are in pairs, so the next stage of evolution is 46 + 2). The whole meaning of the song is pinned on that one line. Is there something kind of complex idea you want to convey? Maybe a simple metaphor could form the core of a song with the rest of lyrics pointing towards its meaning (for the benefit of all us poor saps not inside your head
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He's back catalogue is pretty extensive, and there just some obvious examples. Yeah deconstructing his lyrics is the best way to start: Meaning, and then the devises he uses to convey it. I hope it helps. I love tool (and don't mind apc) so if you ever wanna discuss lyrical content just pm me or whatever.