TOOL - Opiate (1992/2019) [Hi-Res]

In retrospect, Opiate seems a little haphazard, but it's possible to hear the seeds of Tool's oppressively bleak, cerebral metal in such cuts as "Sweat" and "Opiate." The two live tracks, "Cold and Ugly" and "Jerk-Off," don't sound out of place, since they share the same churning riffs, black noise, and doom that characterize Tool's sound. This is not as developed as either Undertow or Ænima, but it's possible to hear the roots of those albums all over this EP. AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine