Review Summary: The grunge-inspired ominous seed of tools discography.
It is without question that Tool are the semi-modern giants of progressive music and the all stars of alternative metal. With constant transcendence into spiritual territory and a constant improvement of the meticulous nature of their music, there almost certainly had to be a foundation. That foundation would be Undertow.
Undertow serves as the formula that Tool would expand upon. Despite being less chock full of mind blowing talent and being somewhat underdeveloped, it has an incredibly charming if eerie demeanor lurking around each corner. Tracks such as "Bottom" and "Sober" are prime examples-both involving murky but groove-driven guitars and drumming with vocals that feel like your entering a void. Maynard Keenan may play less with dynamics off of "Undertow" than off other albums, but here his voice still does an incredibly job of sounding reasonably enraged sometimes while being restrained and eerily calm during other moments. Keenan's vocals are simply chilling, especially during the silent break on "Sober".
This becomes further complemented by the guitar work and to a lesser extent the drumming. Adam Jones creates incredibly driven grooves and has perhaps some of his catchiest riffs off of tracks such as "Swamp Song" and "Prison Sex". During the times where Keenan is seething with aggression the reverb and distortion is pumped up on the guitar and Carey goes from mildly intricate drumming to a rapid pounding of the skins. Tool does an incredible job still of building their songs into aggression-its never shoved onto the listener.
Once you've dug into the meat and potatoes of the album even the bass is absolutely amazing, and sometimes the strongest point of some tracks. The bass guitar is dense and heavy, and adds to the incredible groove on the album. It is treated almost like a normal guitar, with its own riffs and with its own intricacies. When this come together with every other piece of the album it allows you to appreciate how well Tool layers there music.
Although this album isn't quite perfection it's an amazing start for Tool. Still intricate enough to please fans of technical music yet still sombre and unnerving enough to please fans of atmosphere, it works as a perfect stepping stone for a band that would eventually do an even more incredible job of combining the two.
