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Undertow
Tool
Retail Price (not our price): $18.97
Release Date: 1993-04-06
Manufacturer: Volcano
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1

Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...

Disc 1

Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com
Arguably their finest album, this follow-up to Opiate showcases Tool at their best, assisted by clean, crisp production, without the muddiness of Aenima. Edgy guitar riffs are complemented by spitting, heavy bass, especially on "Sober" and "Crawl Away". Lyrically, Tool are at their vitriolic best, targeting religious hypocrisy ("Intolerance," "Sober"; always a popular theme), the loss of innocence and its consequences ("Prison Sex"), and deliberate ignorance ("Swamp Song"). Henry Rollins makes a guest appearance on "Bottom," which, along with "4 Degrees," deals with questions of identity. Undertow is also Tool's most musically adventurous album, lacking the occasionally numbing sameness of Aenima, and with considerably more sophistication than their previous work. Very highly recommended. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

1) Tool- "Undertow" (1993)   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This is arguably my favorite Tool album. It still holds the anger and heaviness of "Opiate" but the songs are structured much better, not to mention they're longer too (the songs on "Opiate" were pretty much short and to the point). The production is top notch. The music itself is nothing short of amazing. Same with Maynard's lyrics. Absolutly, hands down the best lyrics he's ever written. If your a Tool fan obviously you already own this. If you don't, pick it up. I have owned this album since I was a sophomore in high school and it still holds its own.

2) Second best Tool album   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This CD is like taking a journey forward in time. Tool has the creative ability that lacks in the music Industry. Maynard plays his role well in this awesome CD by Tool.

3) Excellent follow-up album   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Tool's debut album was good, but this follow-up is great. What genre of music does Tool fall into? Nu-metal? Metal? Does it matter? Nope.It's thick, heavy, primitive rhythms and drums. It's African beats on meth meets modern music technology in the form of distorted guitars, with angry yet controlled vocals.Where speed metal and hardcore metal often goes wrong, Tool goes right - which evidently puts them into the nu-metal category. Guitar and drum parts that are played too fast make a song sound tinny and weak, which is what most speed metal suffers from. Tool finds a balance between speed and tone which makes the music sound so much heavier and potent. Secondly, the vocals are not cookie-monster type growls or noises; they're clearly a human voice enraged and full of venom. Death metal and the like often sound silly because singing over a really sweet riff is a guy howling like a barnyard animal. It's just ridiculous because it makes a parody of itself by pushing stupidity to the max. Tool once again stays on track here with human vocals that sound good, are audible, and deliver sometimes disturbing themes.This album is thicker than their debut album but it's more sparse than the albums that came later. One could make the case for one of the albums to come to be their best, but it's a matter of taste. Quite frankly, this album is A+ material from start to finish.

4) Art Punk   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
I miss this sound. These were the scariest punk rockers around at the time. Maynerd Keenan meant every word of what he said, and the lyrics are still more visceral than most anything you'll hear on the radio today. Adam Jones' guitars were scary, strange, and felt like the groan of human body parts. This whole album sounded like the bottom of a soul being scraped; we need more of it.

5) Undertow review   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
The Cd came in a timely fashion, which was great because I got it for my boyfriend's birthday. The CD case did come to us cracked though, this was probably a mistake of the postal service, but the CD could have been wrapped better. The crack didn't effect the CD though, and we didn't feel a need to return the item.