Undertow "Everything" CD
[Indecision]
I don't know the complete details of the Undertow back catalog, but this disc contains all of their recorded output with John Pettibone on vocals, which I'm guessing is the only material that matters since these songs are the only ones I ever owned in the 90's when the band was still active. So, basically what you get here are 28 remastered tracks from this killer Seattle straightedge band's heyday, including the "Control", self-titled, and "Stalemate" EP's (the latter of which was also the band's 1992 demo), the split 7" with Struggle, the "At Both Ends" LP, a couple of tracks that were only released as a bonus on the CD pressing of "Control" (and re-recorded for "At Both Ends"), and a few compilation tracks to boot. Members of Undertow ended up in a few other bands, most notably Himsa and Playing Enemy these days, but for my money I still have a soft spot for their time in Undertow - whose style was basically heavy hardcore that wasn't too geared towards old school but wasn't overly moshy or metal influenced either. There were definitely some creative riffs and uses of light melody or discordance going on, and while I don't particularly view Undertow as an influential band, they were ahead of the pack on appropriating certain riffing styles, and they weren't a generic band by any means. Pettibone's shouting/yelling vocals also had a truly unique rasp that really gave Undertow an immediately recognizable sound of their own - which still stands to this day. Among the 1994 cuts, "Noose" is midpaced and heavy with some dissonant backing guitars adding a darker and more menacing side, the aptly titled "Kill" is another slower and chunkier piece that has the most "mosh" happening, and "Never" is a powerful number that also maintains that midpaced crunch - as opposed to more traditional tracks like "Sixteen Twenty Three" and "Everything". The "At Both Ends" LP was always my preferred offering from these guys, and the title track still stands as my all time favorite Undertow song: Powerful, somehow catchy, killer bass breaks, the works. "Buried" breaks out lots of harmonics and cool rhythmic twists; and "Thrown Back" keeps it short and simple at less than two minutes of straight hardcore, straight feedback, and straight mosh. The demo songs are a touch slower and simpler and have more of that chugga kind of thing going on, but there's still a certain sparse atmosphere going on that keeps things unique. The last track on the disc is their Embrace cover, "Building", from the "Land of Greed, World of Need" compilation, which is actually a pretty damn cool take - of course much heavier than the original, but still recognizable despite fitting in eerily well against Undertow's own material. The recordings sound somewhat dated considering all of this stuff is from the early-90's, but it's still effective in my opinion, and the listen is pretty consistent as well. They tend to have fairly balanced mixes where the vocals lean barely out in front, the guitar tones are heavy but possess some ruggedness and aren't overly distorted or thick, the drums generally sound fine, etc. I love the bass tone on the LP and most of these sessions do have a solid bass presence, so that definitely helps. It's pretty shocking how consistent the sound is from year to year, which helps the continuity big time. The layout looks good and combines shitloads of photos from over the course of the band's existence alongside brief liner notes from Excursion Records owner Dave Larson (who released "At Both Ends" and "Stalemate"); plus all of the lyrics, which are largely personal and definitely cut to the chase: "Love has brought me here but hate makes me turn away. I gave it all I possibly could with every action all that I say as my anger builds inside I explode out in a rage. I never thought things would ever change and I snap..." I'm all for it. This is another awesome retrospective collection from the Indecision camp, and it's great to have all of this material on one handy CD. There are barely any duplicate songs either, which is a huge plus when it comes to these types of collections. Definitely recommended for anyone who missed this band the first time around. (8/10)
Running time - 67:35, Tracks: 28
[Notable tracks: Noose, Kill, Never, At Both Ends, Buried, Thrown Back, Stalemate, Building]
Indecision Records - http://www.indecisionrecords.com

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