Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums

The Making of Worship Music – Anthrax’s Resurgence

Neil Johnson 24 October 2024

"Worship Music," released on September 12, 2011, revitalized Anthrax with the return of vocalist Joey Belladonna. It...

Death Magnetic: Metallica’s Thrash Metal Revival

Neil Johnson 22 October 2024

Death Magnetic, released on September 12, 2008, is Metallica's ninth studio album, marking a return to their...

Nirvana’s Unplugged Legacy: Behind the Acoustic Icon MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana’s Unplugged Legacy: Behind the Acoustic Icon

Neil Johnson 22 October 2024

Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged in New York," released on November 1, 1994, exemplifies the band's raw emotion and...

Paul Di’Anno – a life in music paul-di-anno-1980s

Paul Di’Anno – a life in music

Neil Johnson 22 October 2024

Introduction to Paul Di’Anno Few voices have left such a lasting mark on heavy metal as Paul...

POST HUMAN: NeX GEn by Bring Me The Horizon – album review

POST HUMAN: NeX GEn by Bring Me The Horizon – album review

Neil Johnson 22 October 2024

Bring Me The Horizon's latest album, POST HUMAN: NeX GEn, scores 84/100, showcasing their evolution through a...

Inside ‘Jar of Flies’: Alice In Chains’ Acoustic Triumph

Neil Johnson 22 October 2024

Alice In Chains' "Jar of Flies," released on January 25, 1994, is a groundbreaking acoustic EP that...

Orgy of the Damned by Slash – album review

Neil Johnson 21 October 2024

Orgy of the Damned is Slash's bold blues album, departing from his hard rock roots. Released on...

One Night Only Live at the Leadmill Sheffield by Def Leppard – album review

One Night Only Live at the Leadmill Sheffield by Def Leppard – album review

Neil Johnson 21 October 2024

Def Leppard's "One Night Only Live at the Leadmill Sheffield" scores 88/100, capturing their live performance's raw...

Like an Ever Flowing Stream: Dismember’s Iconic Debut

Neil Johnson 21 October 2024

Dismember's debut album, Like an Ever Flowing Stream, released on 28 May 1991, is a landmark in...

Podcast Episodes

Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast

Welcome to Riffology, where a GenX and a Millennial talk about the albums from their youth. It’s more fun than it sounds…

Two nerds, a laminator, and an extremely long “warm worm” somehow lead to a deep dive into one of the darkest, driest, and most hypnotic debut albums of the ‘90s. Undertow wasn’t just Tool’s arrival — it was a statement: no gloss, no funk, no flannel. Just tight, menacing precision and the kind of sonic control that made everything else in ’93 sound like it was recorded in a gym hall.

Neil and Chris get into Sylvia Massy’s production magic, the infamous piano-and-shotgun session that birthed “Disgustipated,” and why Undertow still feels so unsettlingly alive today. They unpack the censored artwork, the Lollapalooza breakthrough, and what makes this record sound dangerous even three decades later.

If you like your riffs dry, your rhythm sections ritualistic, and your frontmen just a little terrifying — this one’s for you.

Timestamps

00:00 — Warm-up chaos: “warm worm,” laminator drama, and remembering to actually start the show.
00:04 — Why Undertow and not Lateralus (yet). Tool’s shift from soundscapes to surgical precision.
00:07 — Setting the scene: 1993’s heavy landscape and why Tool went against the grain.
00:10 — Comparing Undertow’s live-band energy to A Perfect Circle’s layered polish.
00:14 — The dry, claustrophobic mix and why it works.
00:15–00:19 — Who is Sylvia Massy and why her production mattered.
00:19–00:22 — The piano + shotgun recording session and how it became “Disgustipated.”
01:05 — CD quirks, hidden tracks, and Flood’s strange indexing.
01:08 — “Turn it up”: why the album rewards volume.
01:11 — The censored cover art and mail-in reveal.
01:14 — Lollapalooza ’93: the moment Tool broke through.

Listen & follow
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