1-Sweat: my second favorite track here, the chorus is incredible. 5/5.

2-Hush: an interesting vocal topic and a really cool riff. the bridge is also really good. 4/5.

3-Part Of Me: a great song accompanied by great drumming and bass work. 5/5.

4-Cold & Ugly: the best TOOL song written. simply incredible. 10/5.

5-Jerk-Off: another awesome song, the ending's the best part. 5/5.

6-Opiate: this is the "famous" song about how could people blindly follow their religion without questioning it. great song with exceptional lyrics. 5/5.

Overall, this is an awesome effort by Tool, who is by far one of my favorite bands (them, along with Incubus, Metallica and KoRn) out there.


An underrated masterpiece   January 1, 2001
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Opiate, though only a 7 song EP, remains one of my favorite CDs of all time as well as a great masterpiece of music that few people know about. This album is able to show all of Tool's raw power through only a few songs. The overall theme of the CD seems to be focused on a religious viewpoint, discussing individuals who use religion as a crutch and blindly follow it with no question, allowing others to interpret the religion for them.

The CD begins with "Sweat", which reflects Tool's power in a significant way and is on the level with all of their singles. It then moves into "Hush", a song discussing censorship of music, and the singer's views on the subject. It's a song that manages humor and seriousness all at once. Track 3 "Part Of Me" takes hard rock to a completely new level that only Tool can do, as the song is great and full of energy.

This EP also contains 2 live tracks; "Cold And Ugly" and "Jerk-Off". Both display Tool's awesome live performance skills. The band is so on-key and tuned in both performances that both sound as if they were recorded in a studio. Both are full of power and emotion and keep the album flowing. The album's closing track "Opiate" brings the religious theme of the album into full perspective, from both a sarcastic and serious point of view. Following is the hidden track "The Gaping Lotus Experience", a humorous song about experience with drugs.

To sum it all up, if you're a fan of very hard rock with a meaning behind it, and are open-minded and thoughtful about your music, check this out. This is an album not to be missed. Also be sure to look into Tool's other 2 releases "Undertow" and "AEnima", both equally amazing.


MJK's lyrics seem misguided , ignorant and self-serving."Opiate's" music suffers as well.   October 20, 2005
 9 out of 22 found this review helpful

One primary thing I have learned from MJK from interviews and topics he discusses is that he is uniformly as ignorant as the "mindless sheep" he bashes.He constitutes and alludes that astrology and magik are the primal truths in the universe and explain the nature of everything in perfect absolutes.Doesn't it take a marked degree of faith to believe that eternal truths are spelled out in the stars above?Is he one of the mindless herds who are brainwashed into believeing that Alestier Crowley, alchemy and necromancy have the awnsers for mankind's questions?Could it be possible that he has pigenoholed and restricted his perception of truth as well?It takes a strong ammount of personal assent any way to believe that magik and witchcraft are redemptive wellsprings for illuminating the pathways of the universe.The music on this CD is equally as muddled and uncertain.MJK's bandmates show some considerable skill but don't come close to the effective and affecting powerhouse of "Lateralus" or even "aENIMA".Ideologically,while those discs invite direct confrontations with God through their misguided and one dimensional bitter and overt blasphemy and point towards magik as the ideal truism,the music is still more in the forfront, particuarly "Lateralus", so that the lyrical agenda doesn't suffocate the musical means.MJK's personal fallout with Christians I find a bit hypocritical, especially for a lead singer who thinks religion is for fools.Isn't magik a type of religion and doesn't MJK support that wholeheartedly?The songs on here are pretty narrow minded lyrically and musically fall short.I was impressed by "Lateralus" as their definitive musical statement and by and by that CD is less a Christ/God bashing soapbox and more an enigmatic sonic journey.The expression of the latter might be this band's redeeming strength.They should let the music and not MJK's hateful rhetoric do more of the talkin'.


Short but sweet   November 1, 2005
 9 out of 12 found this review helpful

With song titles like "J - rk Off" and "Cold And Ugly," one could guess that this C.D.--Tool's debut EP--is very pissed off and full of testosterone. That would be a safe and accurate assumption, because frontman Maynard James Keenan rages throughout pretty much every song on here.

"Opiate" isn't as complex as Tool's later works. It is actually more of a real, straightforward metal album than a math metal one.

The album opener, "Sweat," ties fast drumming with Maynard's catchy, staccato vocals. "Hush" has several big, very Maynard-esque yells of "F - ck you!" Maynard later murmurs things like "go f - ck yourself" and "piece of sh - t." "Part Of Me," opens with the type of prog-ish sounding guitar noodling that Tool would later become famous for. Track four, "Cold And Ugly," is the first of two live songs on here, and its fast riffs, pounding drums, and very aggressive vocals make it a personal favorite of mine. The other live track, "J - rk Off," is highlighted by a couple of tempo changes. I also enjoy how Maynard builds to a big, violent yell, here. Lastly, the title track kind of sounds like a "Lateralus" b-side. And, with lyrics like "Jesus Christ, come save my life," and an extended yell of "we both want to rape you," this song is clearly the first (out of many Tool songs to come) to deal with religion and hypocrisy.

The only problem with this EP is that it is quite short. There are only six songs on it--two of them are live recordings--and the songs' lengths are generally shorter than Tool's later works, too. But it's still a very good, promising debut with flashes of brilliance, and it also showcases Maynard at his angriest. Essential for all Tool collections.