Order Tool's new "Opiate²" Blu-ray, packaged in a 46-page art book, at our shop.
Earlier this month — six years after the band first debuted it onstage at Sacramento's Aftershock festival — TOOL released a studio recording of "Opiate²," the reimagined extended version of the title track off their 1992 debut EP that has become a staple of their live show. The 10-minute-long "director's cut" nearly doubles up on the original's runtime with tweaks throughout but most noticeably in the new rendition's jammy, psychedelic midsection.
What might be even cooler than the track, though, is what arrived today (March 18th): TOOL's first music video in 15 years. The full "Opiate²" short film is available now exclusively on a just-released Blu-ray, but the prog-metal visionaries have been kind enough to gift the masses with a three-minute excerpt of the characteristically eerie and surreal visual. Watch above.
TOOL's jaw-dropping animated clips have always been one of the things that set them apart and above from other bands, and the "Opiate²" short film lives up to that legacy, portraying a Francis Bacon-esque humanoid lifeform as it queasily mutates in an unearthly realm. Visual artist Dominic Hailstone (Alien: Covenant, The Eel) worked with guitarist Adam Jones, himself a former VFX artist, on the epic-length music video. Hailstone and Jones also collaborated on the filmed pieces featured on the band's current Fear Inoculum tour.
The "Opiate²" Blu-ray comes housed in a 46-page art book with behind-the-scenes and making-of photos as well as interviews and insights from special guests. Orders yours now.
