10 Best Hard Rock Albums Of The 90s

When Tool came out in the mid-90's, a lot of people didn't know what to make of them. Here was a band that had intense moody songs, a ferocious singer, and music videos that were artfully disturbing. In fact, the only thing people could unanimously agree on was that the music kicked ass.

Recorded at the famed Sound City Studios, Undertow shows Tool at their most feral and heavy. Danny Carey's drum patterns are absolute headtrips as he fluctuates between tempo shifts and time signature changes on a whim. Guitarist Adam Jones also provides heavy grit with his downtuned guitars and adventurous use of delay and other effects to put the listener in an unsettling mood. Right in the middle is Maynard James Keenan, whose voice ravages your soul as he floats beautifully over the music on tracks like "Sober" and "Crawl Away."

Though bassist Justin Chancellor hadn't joined the band at this juncture, Paul D'amour's meaty basslines gave the band a punkish aggression that made each song feel like a punch in the gut. Little did we know that these we were witnessing the first steps from one of the greatest metal bands the world had ever seen.