Pros: Bravely executed, Disturbing and powerful yet disgusting and bold,(just how we like em)
Cons: Dark, bleak atmosphere of truth behind the tunes, the religeous and ignorant might raise eyebrows
The Bottom Line: Tool have released an unbelievable sickness into the world, it is dark, murky and disgusting, yet there is truth behind the ramblings of the protoganist. Addictive yet intellectually useful.
bequietnddrive's Full Review: Undertow [PA] by Tool
Well ladies and gentlemen, after extensive lack of sleep, research and getting through the first month of university Im back. A lot has happened so far at uni, been with lasses, acted like a jerk, had my heart thrown all over the place when I didnt have to feel the pain at all because of simple misunderstandings, yeah Im pretty lame with the whole go with the flow c''p, but let me tell you something, this is the human race, We are nowhere near the perfection we like to think we are in. Quite the opposite. We are still animals and have a long way to go in this f***ked up world.
By the way this album was a real b***h to review, I find the Tool Cd's to be so hidden in endless content and as awlays I try to give as much info about bands as possible, so it was a struggle trying to find out what this album was all about, I hope it pays off in my findings, here we go: -
A small Introduction
Tool is: -
Maynard James Keenan-Voice Adam Jones-Strings Paul d'amour-Bass Danny Carey-Drums
Tool have been around for quite a while and nearly around 11 years of professional music has been dispensed by this band, and to be honest Ive only started listeneing to them since Last May, this is because well unlike any other bands, Tool are a complicated beast. They like to give as little away as possible, they will never show any of their faces on the Album covers simply because of the idea of secrecy, which is quite an unusual practice of fans who will be constantly wondering who the hell are these guys. Well, to be honest, and through vigourous research I still have no solid clue as to how these guys tick, Maynard James Keenan is constantly changing his image and his persona which makes it even harder to find out what his residual image will be when he is at home taking care of his kids. He really tends to give out a messiah status to all of the fans that have worshipped the band over the years, so I guess we just have to go with the flow on the weirdness. I dont think Ive seen any live tool videos at all, maybes because they wont record the footage, not any official videos anyway But getting to the point.
Okay, first of all I just want to say this, I bought the Lateralus album in May 2002 and after listening to to the final track....... I thought it was a big pile of smelly old poo. Now lets not hate me just yet, you see, on a first listen it is very very closely impossible to take in everything at once for what this band does to your senses. On a first listen they have basically planted the seeds in your mind that will slowly grow, some people might reject this delivery altogether and not listen to it again, but for most of the people who agree that they will need to listen to albums over and over again to truly appreciate the content, they will listen to it again for a couple of times and eventually those seeds will have matured and suddenly the album will begin to come together and make you think whats actually being said. That was their latest release, for which I will probably go into detail at a later stage but for now where here to talk about where this all started, how did Tool come to be in this world?
This is quite a small lie actually, since Undertow was not their first official release, Opiate which was a kind of small slice was the first release in 1992 of what Tool would come to be a year later, While 2001's Lateralus was more of a transcendant tone from their darker origins as it appears that Undertow is the most soul catching release because of the simple simplciicty and truth to their tunes.
The Album of judgement
The whole idea here seems to explain a complete picture of the inner workings of the human society (maybes from a certain point of view that may be but there is an essence of truth here), how far we have come and how we can use each other in order to get what we want, however, this album concerns itself with the darkest of feelings such as paranoia, fear, pure agression, preservation and of course a very small dose of hope which is embedded just under the skin of the tunes in which their is always a chance of breaking the cycle. Thats right folks, the human race is up for judgement and it appears that out kind is not boding very well in the courtroom as the all powerful and universally judge of morals asks for the evidence to be displayed in front of him, this is what he has found.
Intolerance
At the start of the album there is a form of intro sequence which the Tool fans will be mostly accustomed to, it sounds like some sort of fuel line gurgling away to power some sort of jet engine, in which the fuel line stops, and the destruction begins. In the first track cleverly named Intolerance, the music is played instantly for 40 seconds true which Maynard then kicks in. Many Tool fans will know this but for newcomers, Tool play their music on a mathematical sequence of various time delays and formula for calculating how each section of the track will be played out, this is not just a method among many of constructing the structure of the songs but it is essential, especailly for those 8-minute monsters that Tool have become accustomed to, timing is everything in this business and everything is decided at the start on some sort of plan. order of sequence really is that complicated and this is quite impressive as it shows. Intolerance describes the protoganist as being weary of this someone who is corrupt and hides behind a facade of righteousness.
I DONT WANNA BE HOSTILE/I DONT WANNA DISMAL/AND I DONT WANNA ROT IN A PATHETIC EXISTENCE/I WANT TO BELIEVE YOU/I WANT TO TRUST YOU/PUT AWAY THE DAGGER/
Chorus
BUT YOU LIE, CHEAT AND STEAL I INTOLERATE YOU
There is one thing about Tool I love and it is the percussion, its kind of a jazzy beat yet Danny fits everything together, its pretty amazing when you really listen to how each isntrument has its own voice and its own variable procedure, its kind of like looking at a worlds within worlds within worlds scenario and its truly mesmerising.
Prison Sex
Now this is an interesting one, as I can relate to this one the way many other people can, dont let the title fool you as with all the other crazy titles in the Tool continuum. You see this one is all about a need to purge some sort of emotion, whether it be rage or raw is for people to decide, but this person needs a sort of connection to be made, for them be heard and for that someone on the recieving end to feel what the protoganist is wanting them to feel. Its one of my favourite tracks on the record.
WONT YOU COME HOME/ A BIT CLOSER/SO I CAN SMELL YOU
Chorus
I NEED YOU TO FEEL THIS/I NEED THIS TO MAKE ME WHOLE/ RELEASE INSIDE OF ME
I HAVE FOUND SOME KIND OF THEROPY IN THIS S''T, BLOOD AND C'M ON MY HANDS/
I /COME/ROUND/ FULL CIRCLE
Sober
Now this is where things get very interesting indeed. This seems to be about the emotional transmutation of alcohol and how it effects our personalities, when we drink, we tend to create a false image of ourselves around people, this is very deceiving and can as always lead to damage.
WHY CANT WE NOT BE SOBER/JUST WANT TO START THINGS OVER/WHY CANT WE DRINK FOREVER
The next following lines are the ones that have made tool So damn popular and as a whole these words echo throughout our lives as it is always a reocurrance at some point that sooner or later we will hurt many people.
I AM JUST A WORTHLESS LIAR, I AM JUST AN IMBOCILE, I WILL ONLY COMPLICATE YOU, TRUST IN ME AND FALL AS WELL, I WILL FIND A CENTRE IN YOU, I WILL CHEW IT UP AND LEAVE, TRUST, TRUST ME, TRUST ME
Here is an example scenario to make this more understandable, you see, when you meet someone, lets talk about meeting someone you adore under the influence of alcohol, when you drink you fancy them and you kind of make out together, now picture that same night replayed at a later date, you kind of promise to each other (a hidden promise of course) that you will see each other, and you are actually an item with this person, but once the effect is over and you kind of lose contact with them there will always be one person who thought the promise was authentic, but it wasnt, and they thought you realised that, the problem is, unless the river runs deep, there is nothing there, nothing to bind you, thats when you get hurt by the emptiness, a very good tune indeed.
I WANT WHAT I WANT/I WANT WHAT I WANT
Bottom
Bottom is basically self explanatory really, S''t ends up at the bottom and we all know what happens then. They say only when you have been to the lowest valley, can you truly appreciate the highest peak, and how true that is. Bottom might be described as a sort of tune which is based around someone either getting displaced and moving down society because of them being either weak or out numbered or it is because they just dont fit in, the only way to get back up is to transpose into a different way of thinking, or do exactly the same to them and go trhough them hence displacing them.
S''T ENDS UP AT THE BOTTOM
After the chorus the instruments tone down ready for the speech that Maynard wishes to say to his enemies
IF I LET YOU YOU WOULD MAKE ME DESTROY MYSELF/IN ORDER TO SURVIVE YOU I MUST FIRST SURVIVE MYSLEF/ I CAN SINK NO FURTHER AND I CAN NOT FORGIVE YOU/THERES NO CHOICE BUT TO CONFRONT YOU/TO ENGAGE YOU/TO ERASE YOU/IVE GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS TO EXPAND MY THRESHOLD OF PAIN AND I WILL USE MY MISTAKES AGAINST YOU, THERES NO OTHER CHOICE/IM SHAMELESS NOW/IM NO ONE NOW/BUT MY SOUL MUST BE IRON/CAUSE MY FEAR IS NAKED/IM NAKED AND FEARLESS/AND MY FEAR IS NAKED/DEAD INSIDE
DEAD INSIDE
DEAD INSIDE
DEAD ISNIDE
It truly is a spectacular sequence and kind of gives you the goosebumps, no wonder people are calling Maynard the messiah.
Crawl away
This particlar tune tends to be about a desperate need to get away from from someone, perhaps to rest, to cool off the amount of ways this song as well as the other songs in the LP can be interpreted is infintessimal.
WHAT YOU TRYING TO SAY/IS YOU DONT WANNA PLAY
I CAN SEE YOUR BACK IS TRUNING
The swamp Song
In many ways we are getting to the very meat of the album as the soul searching and intensity gets more sick and dark until it increases and reaches its climax and where wandering through a thick and smelly bog.
The bassline plays away before the guitars kick in with the same riff, I beleive out of all the albums ive heard this is the most impressive song ive listened to.
MY WARNING/MEANT NOTHING/YOUR DANCING/IN QUICKSAND/WHY DONT YOU WATCH WHERE YOUR WANDERING/WHY DONT WATCH YOUR STUMBLING/YOU/AND YOU MAY NEVER COME BACK AGAIN
This track appears to be based on the intensity of human society, realising there is so many places that you could get trapped and lost in as well as the evil that is out there, and instead of wandering about messing with complete strangers, it would be best to stay where things are safe. Hence the why dont you watch where your wandering,
IT ONLY SUCKS YOU DOWN
THIS BOG IS THICK AND/ EASY TO GET LOST IN/CAUSE YOUR A DUMBASS/ BOLIGERANT FU''ER
NO ONE TOLD YOU TO COME
Undertow
Undertow seems to be the dead centre of the album, not just because of its the obvious title track, but it is also a kind of deeper meaning to the rest of the music in this album.
4 degrees
Now this is another interesting song, maybes desribing a voice of hope. Within all of us there is a warm place, a place that offers comfort and rewards, much like a cache of treasure. One of the reasons I also think this track appeals to me is because of the desperate attempts at becoming trully individual and unique, problem is everythings been done billions of times over and you can kind of get lost in it all, the only thing that describes your individuality is maybes physical appearence, the idea here is to completely purge yourself of all the what if's and to just live life as ignorant as ever, maybes it is ignorance that is bliss and the ability to do what you want is essential in order to get what you want.
FREE YOUSELF/FROM YOURSELF
LOCKED UP INSIDE YOU/A COMB BENEATH CASTLES/A CAVERN OF TEASURE/LETS GO DIGGING/BRING IT OUT AND TAKE IT BACK IN/YOU WONT DO WHAT YOU'D LIKE TO DO/LAY BACK AND LET ME SHOW YOU ANOTHER WAY
DO WHAT YOU WANT TO TAKE WHATS NEEDED
Flood
This track was a bit odd to me on a first listen, after about a minute or so I instantly skipped it, its not bad at all I just didnt realise how long it actually went on for, for you see the song is actually in two parts, the first 3 minutes is a slow heart pounding introduction to what comes next, after listening to it all the way through I realise that this is one of my favourite songs. It seems to desribe a mental or physical flood in which belongings become lost, and you must wait until the flood clears or risk your life, this track might be about singifying a change in a situation where you are totally overpowered, believe me it happens and the best choice is to get out, to run and save your skin.
disgustipated
As always the last track is the penultimate with various sound samples played through, this one is a little wierd though, It seems to take place on a farm and if the vegedables had a voice they would think the farmer to be the apocalypse as the vegedables get harvested and taken to be eaten by us, maybes its trying to tell us that one day a superior entity will appear, one that will destroy us for food and that the Apocalaypse can be described in many ways, this emotion would be suitablly classed as fear, fear of being taken. The problem that we have to think about however is that, this might be necessary for the preservation of a species, and eventually we might get harvested in the same way, the morals behind this can change depending on which perspective you look at it.
I think the point that is trying to be taken across is that it may seem disgusting and sick how we get eaten but to everyone else, its just another day of the harvest.
The Undertow is going to be largely ignored by the mainstream and I can understand that, but for those people who do have beliefs, just remember, everybody has their views, and this perspective just appears to be a more truthful and unique approach at explaining the workings of the circle of life and the human prodigy. The judge has indeed passed his vote, and we are guilty as charged, for we are a plague on this planet and we have a lot to learn, this album therefore opens up these ideas that we should not be so ignorant, yet we are stuck in a sort of purgatory, we are the protectors, yet we are also the destroyers and I have a feeling Tool wants us to understand that. "No one is innocent"
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