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The key songs: “Ænema,” “Stinkfist,” “Forty Six and 2” Still, Undertow is largely a chugging hard-rock album - Alice In Chains is likely the easiest comparison - with inklings that something stranger was lurking in the tall grass. Meanwhile, the nearly 15-minute closer “Disgustipated” not only mocks further organized religion, but includes seven minutes of ambient sound before a final monologue depicts some sort of mental collapse, which may or may not have resulted in murder. The itch for experimental music begins to be scratched on Undertow, as punk stalwart Henry Rollins delivers a spoken-word section on “Bottom” that explores mental fragility. Undertow unleashed Tool’s first two truly sensational singles in the self-depreciating creeper “Sober” and groove-tastic banger “Prison Sex.” Undertow, the band’s propulsive debut LP, was the first Tool release to grab the rock world by its collar and propose a new blueprint for alternative metal, where the music could be at once harrowing, emotional and technically complex, all the while forging a sound its listeners could obsess over and play on loop. The vibe: An imposing, emotional touchstone of modern heavy metal Dive in if you’re a Tool completist, but all others shouldn’t feel guilty passing on Opiate nearly 30 years later. “Opiate” closes on a terrifically frantic drum solo from Carey before revealing the band’s first secret song, “The Gaping Lotus Experience.” Beyond those two tracks, the album hasn’t aged nearly as well as the rest of the Tool discography, as every member of the group was clearly still honing his respective craft. It’s a jagged and uniformly aggressive effort that toes the line between Pearl Jam’s patented crunch and Pantera’s heaving riffage, revealing only glimpses of Tool’s later evolution: Keenan’s breathless verses on “Sweat” and the sonic deconstruction that takes place across the eight-minute title track, which appears to unpack Karl Marx’s dissenting view of religion. Listening now to Opiate, Tool’s first properly recorded album after two years of performing around its native Los Angeles, the six-song EP is nearly indistinguishable from the day’s grunge and metal moments. The vibe: An unrefined, grunge-adjacent introduction from a band with room to grow 7), let us be your guide to the raging, obsidian world of Tool, sharing key songs and cheat sheets for one of modern rock’s most distinguished acts. Where does one even begin with frontman Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor?Īs fans gear up for the new album, and absorb the explosive new title track that just dropped Wednesday (Aug. Tool by the Numbers: 10 Things to Know About the Band's Chart HistoryĮven though Tool have only released four LPs and one EP over the band’s 30-year existence, their body of work is still overwhelming in its sonic density and challenging themes.