UNDERTOW

This is the first Tool album that excites me (Opiate is just Metal with only one good track). This album creates a very dark album of pain, anguish, and hate. The lyrics are really good, and you should pay attention to them. For example, Prison Sex tells a story about abuse. This album is not progressive rock! It is a mixture of Alt.Rock, Heavy Metal, and a new dark sound.

Intolerance begins the album as a solid alternative rock/metal song with good guitar riffing. Prison Sex is an early classic from the band. It contains good guitar riffing, nice bass playing, and a very dark tone. Sober is another solid alt. rock track that anyone can like. Bottom is a longer song, and has a mellow section which of course is amazing (Tool never fails in making interesting mellow sections). This song has a similar style and structure as the better 'Push It'. Crawl Away is not very good unfortunately, and fails to make interesting riffs/melodies. Swamp Song is a typical angry Tool song and it is good. The Title Track is worth of being the song with the name of the album, and in my opinion is the strongest song of the album. The one and only reason is because of that led-zeppelin-like soaring guitar riff. 4 Degrees has brilliant musicianship, and shows hints of mastery on musical compositions. Flood is a long and slightly progressive heavy track, but unfortunately is not very impressive. Disgustipated is interesting but incredibly flawed! It starts promising with the political attack (or religious attack), the mesmerizing drumming, and the repetitive whispering of 'this is necessary' 'life feeds on life ... feeds on life ... feeds on life ... feeds on' 'this is necessary' and so on. I really love that section, but when it finishes, there is about 8 minutes of silence until you hear a recorded message.

1. Intolerance (6/10) 2. Prison Sex (7/10) 3. Sober (6.5/10) 4. Bottom - Henry Rollins (7/10) 5. Crawl Away (3.5/10) 6. Swamp Song (6/10) 7. Undertow (7.5/10) 8. 4° (7/10) 9. Flood (5/10) 10. Disgustipated (8.5/10) 8-minute silence (0/10)

My score : C