OPIATE (EP)

Opiate is Tool's debut EP that combines a few short studio and live songs exclusive to this mini album. Here, the band are just starting to develop their noise. The album contains some bone crunching songs such as "Part of Me" and "Hush". These two being the highlights of the record. The live tracks are strong but this album lacks any real attention to detail or hints to the progressive sound that Tool would later develop. Still this is a solid set of songs and does the job of providing a more than satisfactory EP. The live tracks are intense and still manage to display some of Maynard James Keenan's best lyrical and vocal work. The band play strong here and it is nice to see where Tool's sound began to evolve. This may be one for strong tool fans but I would recommend it to be one of the last Tool albums you purchase.