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 it's 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.

UNDERTOW is an example of nimble heavy metal in the angtsy/artsy tradition of Jane's Addiction. Tool favors medium tempos, which gives several of the group's songs a modern-day Black Sabbath feel, but fortunately lead singer Maynard James mostly steers clear of the usual quasi-operatic yowling favored by most metal frontmen--he's a remarkably expressive singer in a genre not usually so noted. As for the band's world-view, it's pretty much summed up in the unsentimentally named "Prison Sex": "Do unto others, what has been done to you."

Tool: Danny Carey, Paul D'Amour, Maynard James, Adam Jones.
Additional personnel: Henry Rollins (vocals).
Recorded at Grand Master Studios, Hollywood, California.

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Rock
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Tracklist