Music : Undertow

Rating: - Their most interesting effort.
Many people came to know Tool with the latest releases such as Lateralus and made themsome kind of gods. As a matter of fact Lateralus is a somewhat weak album compared to this masterpiece (and also its followup AEnima). This album is the one that set Tool as one of the best Progressive (with every meaning of the word) metal bands. They brought a fresh sound to an otherwise stale genre and still remained heavy with large compositions which never failed to remain interesting. "4","Sober", "Prison Sex"....so many good songs in here. Listen to this album. It deserves it.

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Rating: - Great Cd
ill admit i almost gave this a four because of the Track Disgustipated, but i got a change of heart becasue Sober is a great song and beautifully written just like every song that they have ever written heres the stuff on it

1. Intolerance 5/5
2. Prison Sex 5/5
3. Sober 5.5/5
4. Bottom 4.5/5
5. Crawl Away 4.5/5
6. Swamp Song 5/5
7. Undertow 5/5
8. 4 Degrees 5/5
9. Flood 5/5
10-68. Nothingness there is didly squatt here 0/5(this dont count for the rating though)
69. Disgustipated 4/5 its just to damn long 15:47, good lyrics though

HINT: if u got parents who judge what u listen to and look for things wrong, remove the little booklet inside cause there are some disturbing pictures in there that will make ur parents say "TAKE THAT BACK NOW!!!"

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Rating: - Eh... it's...kinda okay...
I just don't understand the appeal of this album. When this debuted, I picked it up on a whim, and hated it immensely, causing me to ignore Tool entirely for the next howevermany years. After finally listening to the excellent Aenima and Lateralus, returning to this actually removes the bias I once had, but that doesn't mean this is any good. Almost totally devoid of their later prog sound, I get bored almost instantly with their 'crash and yell' style of alt rock/metal. Somehow, I sat through this whole mess long enough to pick out a few sunspots. The drumming is decent, not on par with their newer sound, and the song Prison Sex, however obvious, isn't too bad of a song. Otherwise, the spoken portion of Bottom is incredibly stupid, and the meandering Disgustipated makes me want to tear my hair out in blood soaked clumps. I can't believe the praise this album recieves when Tool's future was so much brighter. Even Opiate was slightly better than this.

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Rating: - Great effort
On it's own merit, Undertow is a great album. It went places few bands had ever gone. Without rehashing the reasons this album is great, I will say that the unrelenting sound is somewhat numbing by the end of the album. Later releases would incorporate the ambient sounds needed to allow ideas/concepts to fully bloom, disorientation to creep in, and allow the albums to breath more. Still a great album though...

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Rating: - Signs of things to come.
Tool has always been a progressive band right from the get go. Undertow is Tool's first major release and is by no means the "lesser" of the rest. From the start Undertow grabs you and doesn't let go. The sound is angry, dark and mixed with underlying messages towards human nature. All together it creates this atmosphere for its listeners that matches the great music. This album may not be as progressive as later Tool releases, such as the epic Ænima, but shows signs of progressiveness in the final track "Disgustipated". My song ratings are as follows...

1. Intolerance - 10/10
2. Prison Sex - 10/10
3. Sober - 10/10
4. Bottom - 9.5/10
5. Crawl Away - 10/10
6. Swamp Song - 10/10
7. Undertow - 9/10
8. 4 Degrees - 10/10
9. Flood - 8.5/10

69. Disgustipated - 9/10

Overall: 95% A-

All together it is a great listen. Even if it may not be the best release by the band it is still amazing. Like I have said before, each release by Tool is unique and I love each one for many different reasons. If you can, go out and buy this album; it's truly signs of things to come for Tool