Last year, a nine-year-old guitar prodigy named Maya Neelakantan went viral with video of a flawless cover of TOOL's "7empest" posted on her YouTube channel. The elementary school-age kid totally shredded the 15-minute Fear Inoculum sidewinder — and even won praise from Adam Jones himself. The TOOL titan showed his appreciation for Maya's precocious craft by gifting her a signed copy of one of his signature Gibson Les Paul guitars.
Neelakantan has since shared many more covers of her favorite band's intricate compositions, but recently she took her tributes next level with a 22-song, 20-minute-plus medley of her heroes' work. The nine-year-old plays through riffs from TOOL's entire discography — from the Opiate EP to Fear Inoculum — and for completists, she even throws in the re-imagined "Opiate 2," released as a single in 2022.
"By playing these songs in order, I was really able to experience the changes and see how Tool evolved musically over the years which is a very special experience," Maya wrote in the description to the YouTube video. "It's even more thrilling than listening to the songs. And it's a different experience hearing the songs through the guitar perspective!"
Watch above. TOOL have a few live dates scheduled for 2023 so far including the Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals.
