Undertow is the heaviest and darkest release from the famous progressive metal band Tool. The band's other releases showed much more progressive influences, but this album was much more straightforward hard rock. Because they aren't very progressive here, their songs are much shorter than we're used to. On Undertow, their songs average about five and a half minutes in length, as opposed to the seven minute average that we see on their other albums. This is Tool's worst album, but is still not a bad one at all.
This album was made before Tool acquired it's regular bassist, Justin Chancellor. Justin Chancellor is one of the defining factors for Tool. His memorable riffs and good use of the effect pedals were a key part of Tool's music. The bassist for this album was Paul D'Amour. While D'Amour is pretty good... well, let's just say he's no Justin.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
+ The Good
+ Sober. Amidst the consensus "worst" album that Tool has ever released, it is funny that we find the song that many fans deem their best. This song was one of the singles off this album. Musically, this song is great. The bass is probably the best part about this song. D'Amour delivers a really good bass line for this song, easily his best on the CD. It is the driving force in this song, and is memorable and very catchy. The chorus on this song is also great. It is insanely catchy, with great riffing by Adam and angry yelling by Maynard. Maynard's lyrics on this song are also great, with poetic lines such as: "There's a shadow just behind me, shrouding every step I take, making every promise empty, pointing every finger at me. Waiting like a stalking butler, who upon the finger rests." Maynard's metaphors are perfect. They are not too hard to decipher, nor too easy. A great song, one of Tool's best.
+ Prison Sex. Easily the second best song on the CD, Prison Sex is the gloomy, disturbing counterpart to Sober. Now, it's not often I say this about a rock song, but: the best part of this song is Maynard's lyrics. Just incredible. The lyrics aren't just Maynard whining about some time he got raped in prison, but so much more. It's about the cycle of brutality. This song starts with a description of Maynard getting raped, saying "I've got my hands bound, my head down, my eyes closed, I'm forced wide open." Maynard then recovers from this, and begins to look for revenge. "Do unto others, what has been done to me." Despite all of the pain that being raped caused him, Maynard rapes another prisoner: "You're breathing so I guess you're still alive, even if signs seem to tell me otherwise. Won't you, won't you come just a bit closer, close enough so I can smell you. I need you to feel this." Not only is this describing Maynard raping someone, but is saying that he enjoys their pain. Really disturbing. After all this, Prison Sex culminates with Maynard saying "I've found some kind of temporary sanity, in this
shit, blood, and cum on my hands." One of the more disturbing songs I've ever heard. What's so weird is that this song would sound upbeat and happy if you didn't listen to the lyrics. The riffs are rather upbeat, and the opening lick from Adam is enjoyable and catchy. Great song, one of Tool's finest.
+ Daney Carey. No matter what else is going on in this album, you know it's Tool. That means that their drummer, Daney Carey, is going to be excellent. Daney Carey is regarded by some as the best hard rock/metal drummer alive, and he shows that on this album. His double bass is very fast, as shown on songs like Flood. More important than his technical skill is his unique, tribal drumming style. That distinctive style is part of what made Tool such a big name in the first place. Easily the most talented member of Tool, he carries Tool on his back in many points. On this album, more than any other, Tool would be lost without him.
+ Maynard's Lyrics. Maynard's lyrics are incredible. Other bands at the time this album came out were smacking you in the face with lyrics that were blunt and entirely metaphor-free (KoRn). Instead of making his points with a sledgehammer, Maynard's lyrics are a bit more abstract. He uses a lot of metaphors in his song, but they are still relevant and relatively understandable lyrics. Some singer's lyrics are way too abstract too mean anything intentionally, so you can only guess what they mean (Serj Tankian). On the other end of the spectrum, some singer's lyrics are far too blunt and crude (Jonathan Davis). Maynard has the perfect balance of subtlety and purpose. His best lyrical performance on this album is Prison Sex, which is a lyrical masterpiece in my opinion. He also does a great job on the title track. The only song in my opinion where he doesn't do excellently is Swamp Song, but he does great besides that.
+ Heaviness. This is Tool's heaviest album. I personally love Tool's heavy songs. They are normally the better ones, as their slow ones (i.e. Triad, Intension) can get a bit boring. Every single song on this album is heavy in points. Adam's riffs are heavier than you'll find in any other Tool album, especially on songs like Bottom. It is fun to hear Tool heavy and raw on this album, as they calmed down later in their career.
- The Bad
- Swamp Song. Swamp Song may be the worst actual song that Tool has made in their careers. Tool are known for their consistency on other albums, every song of theirs has the possibility to be great. This song is just lazy. Lyrically, vocally, and instrumentally. It is very repetitive, and there are some really annoying guitar points, such as that section at about 1:48. The guitar riffs are recycled junk, nothing you haven't heard done better on the other songs. Also, Maynard's lyrics are uncharacteristically lame, with lines such as "I hope it sucks, I hope it sucks you fu
cker." Terrible song.
- Flood. Well, at least it's better than Swamp Song. That is pretty much the only positive about this song. The intro to this song is incredibly long, clocking in at about 4:30. It is incredibly boring, and I find myself fast forwarding through it most of the time. While this song isn't absolutely terrible, it doesn't do much to distinguish itself from the other songs on this album. One thing that this song has going for it is that Daney uses double bass in sections throughout the song. Overall, this song is more boring than terrible.
- Intros. While these aren't a big problem at all, I just thought that I'd mention them. The intros to many songs are odd, and also completely pointless. In Intolerance, the song opens with twenty seconds of someone taking a hit from a bong. On Prison Sex, the song opens with a washing machine being turned on. Crawl Away opens with another song going on in the distance for about 20 seconds. These intros are annoying, and I find myself a little bit mad at Tool for making them. I believe these things became separate "filler" songs on their later albums, such as Eon Blue Apocalypse and Cesaro Summability. While you can just skip over those fillers, these are actually connected to the songs, so you are forced to listen to them. Also, while those fillers actually served somewhat of a purpose, the intros on this album have almost no purpose at all.
- Formulaic. Unlike other Tool albums, all of the songs on this album follow relatively the same formula, which is intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus. Later in their career, Tool would show their progressive nature and break this formula. However, Tool stuck with this formula for the most part on this album. That caused some of the long songs to get tedious, Flood in particular.
- Wasting Time. This is perhaps the most troubling of the cons. For the only time in their career, it sounds like Tool is wasting time on this album. What else is Disgustipated but a 15 minute waste? Also, that long spoken bridge in Bottom seems to be wasting time. The intro to Flood is also seems to be a waste of time. Tool always has had a purpose when making seemingly boring sections, it normally enhances the overall sound of the song. On this album, that purpose never showed. While Tool may in fact had direction with those long sections, it never became clear to the listener. Luckily, this problem was cleared up on their later albums.
The Ugly
Disgustipated. This track is just terrible. In case you don't know, it opens up with some guy talking about religion. Tool plays it in a way that it sounds like he is mocking himself. Then there is a seven minute long section with just Daney playing, and Maynard repeating "This is necessary, life feeds on life." Boring as hell. Then there is an eight minute section that is just the sounds of the night. Reeds rustling, crickets chirping, and the like. Then a phone message plays for the last minute. This track is a bit creepy, but it can't dispel the boredom. It's a filler, except it's the longest Tool track ever made. Really bad.
Liner Art. Might be the worst liner art I've ever seen, it is just totally nonsensical. There are two pictures of naked obese people, then one picture of an obese man apparently raping another man. Then there are about twelve pictures of people with pins stuck in their face, each in different ways. It's just gross and totally unnecessary in my opinion.
Overall, this is a great progressive rock album. While there are some definite negatives, most of them aren't a big deal. There are at least six or seven rock songs on here that you will enjoy. Tool's worst effort, but still a great album.
