Pooge's Album Review #1: Tool - Opiate EP (1992)

Pooge's Album Review #1: Tool - Opiate EP (1992)

Good day fellow web users, and welcome to my revamped, renovated, redone, redefined and restructured music blog series!!!!!!!!

YEEEEEEEAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

As you may or may not know, my name is Ivan AKA Pooge and I am a lover of all things music (except for the drunken syphillus infested groupies) living in the beautiful island nation of Australia (Straya). About 7 months ago I started a blog known as The Pooge's Word about articles relating to music. Notably, between March and April of this year I completed an epic 6 part series on my Top 150 Songs of the 2000s (the entire series can still be viewed in my Archive). The enormity of this series really took a toll on my creative ability, and for a long while I stopped the Word altogether.



Lately I have been thinking about doing a more regular (possibly weekly) blog series on something original, but still featuring music in some way. Two long nights ago, a incandescent non energy saving lightbulb struck me on the head, and after leaving the intensive care unit, I came up with a common industry idea with a strong social and interactive twist: album reviews for albums chosen by you, the readers!

What the hell is it with me and cats today?

I am a lover of all kinds of music, and for the series I do not mind reviewing any album that you choose. If it is rock, pop, reggae or metal, and if it was recorded in 1945 or 2005, I will review it as an impartial person. For some reviews I may not have enough knowledge on a particular album or band, but to satisfy my viewership I will give you a sound opinion.

 I have already had some album suggestions from friends on Facebook, and I had received a very interesting and diverse range of albums that need a non biased and in touch review from such a handsome and educated gentleman as myself. I am not going to bombard you with any review cliches, references to other like material or go on a diatribe about unnecessary facts about the album, I will give you an honest, open and realistic opinion on any album of your choice. And with that, as my comeback blog (hopefully more of an AC/DC Back In Black comeback than a Guns n Roses Chinese Democracy comeback), I now present to you all my first Album Review from a very popular musical group who have sold millions of albums over four decades, so enjoy:

Artist: Tool
Album: Opiate EP
Genre: Alternative Metal/Hard Rock
Year of Release: 1992
Label: Zoo Entertainment

(Ha! Most of you probably thought this was going to be a review about a Barry Manilow (dear god.....) album or something. Anyway, there'll be no trips to Copacabana this time around, so put away those oversized Hawaiian shirts and your hopes of being laid, with or without a wreath of flowers depending on your intentions).

This pioneering alternative metal band's first full length album Undertow was a little over a year away, but vocalist Maynard James Keenan and his band of merry metal/hard rock men set about creating this six track EP based on material written by the band members since their formation in 1990.

Crunching tuned down hard rock riffs, imbalanced time signatures and Keenan's pained and distant vocals all play a large part in the whole EP and as part of Tool's original sound. Themes of loneliness, isolation and anger resonate through the lyrics, and the accompanying rawness of the music reflects this meaning.

The opening track 'Sweat' fades in into a giant calamity of dynamics ranging from demonic drum patterns to domineering bass which would make up the heavy progressive sound that Tool would eventually use as a model to evolve musically for the remainder of their career. Keenan then tells the antagonist in 'Hush' ungracefully to go fuck themselves to a more pre-metalcore esque crunch, with the same generic themes which make up the EP. I found 'Sweat' to be a very good opening track, but 'Hush' has a bit to be desired.

'I know you well, you are part of me/I know you better than myself' lyrically opens the third track 'Part of Me'. It is much of a muchness with what Opiate had provided up until this point in the EP, but the rolling percussion and muted guitar riff gave this a bit more of an edge then the other tracks. The lyrics are nothing really to write home about, and I found this part of the writing process brought this thing down as a whole somewhat. Horses for courses I guess depending on your style.

'Cold and Ugly' and 'Jerk Off' are both average to slightly above average live tracks, with both also inhibiting hefty levels of angst towards the antagonist Keenan and co. are directing their vitriol towards, as well as a guy who looks like Bob Marley (you'll understand when you hear it). The sixth and final eponymous track 'Opiate' is a 5 and a half minute epic (the remaining three or so minutes is a hidden track) about Tool's loss of faith in organised religion and Keenan's struggle to find himself. This was the standout track for me in the whole EP, and I am sure many Tool fans would rate this one highly in their collection as some of their best work, which is a huge call considering how Tool bettered themselves with each subsequent release.

For diehard fans of the band and alternative metal in its entirety, and also for music purists with a strong ear for musical structure, Opiate is a satisfying prelude to what Tool would evolve into over next two or so decades. This EP's style is more hard rock then metal, but eventually they would become more progressive and less fierce in their style in later work.

For general music fans like myself, I found the EP reasonably well crafted for its time, however the lyrics and its themes felt very archaic and unoriginal, and I felt this aspect brought the album down considerably. Although to be fair, Tool only formed two years before this release so they would have improved in that department later on.

For fans of One Direction and other generic pop groups as well as other Top 40 lovers, they will be given confusing nightmares for many weeks to come after just hearing Track 1. Overall, Opiate gives us a fascinating insight into the origins of what would become a masterful progressive metal group, resulting in sensational tracks off their later albums including 'Stink Fist', 'Parabol' and 'Schism'. Opiate is an enjoyable EP to listen to musically, but lyrically I found it to be a work in progress with its tiresome themes and messages.

Standout Tracks: Sweat, Opiate

Recommended For: Those new to the alternative metal genre, secular Tool fans who want to listen to their earlier work, or really angry people who need to vent their rage away from laptops and kittens (here we go with the cats again).

Final Rating: 3 out of 5