TOOL Undertow CD (1993)

Before the labyrinthine prog of Lateralus, before the 13-year wait, before Tool became a religion, there was Undertow, the record that made 1993 deeply uncomfortable for anyone who wasn't paying attention.

Maynard James Keenan was still singing from the floor of whatever psychological basement he'd found himself in, and Adam Jones was carving out riffs that felt like they were diagnosing something. Prison Sex. Intolerance. Sober. These weren't songs you put on at a party. They were songs that made you realise the party was the problem. The production is raw in a way the later records aren't, and that rawness is the point. This is Tool before they got mythological, still bleeding a bit.

Full-length CD. USA, 1993 reissued 2001. Tracklist: Intolerance, Prison Sex, Sober, Bottom, Crawl Away, Swamp Song, Undertow, 4°, Flood, Disgustipated.

Fans of: Failure, Kyuss, Helmet, early Nine Inch Nails.