CounterClockWorld
Salival is the first and unfortunately only live album by TOOL. I say unfortunately because this is really, really good and left me wanting more and I'm not even a big TOOL fan. This album is has mostly original material on it and God damm this must've been one hell of a show. The album opens with one of of not my favorite songs by them "Third Eye" it has a new intro and imo it flows better than the studio version, the ambient section always killed the paceing of the song but this version is slightly altered. The next track is a song from their debut EP "Opiate" the song "Part Of Me" and sounds better than the studio version, it's much more aggressive you could say it has more much more room to breathe. The next song is the final track that shows up on any studio album, the rest are originals/covers. This version of the Ænima track "Pushit" is a slower more tribal jam with a slightly longer runtime clocking in at 13 minutes, this is probably an unpopular opinion but I was never the biggest fan of (the studio version) but here I much prefer it. There's a quick interlude "Message To Harry Manback 2" not much to say about it other than it's creepy but an interesting track nonetheless. "You Lied" is a cover of a PEACH song, aka Justin Chancellor's old band and this song is a highlight for me, BUZZ OSBORNE of THE MELVINS shows up as the second guitarist on this track, Maynard's vocals are also really good here. Merkaba is one of the strangest songs by the band, it opens with this percussion sounds like it could be a xylophone or marimba, the song turns into a drum solo that's layered with a repetitive vocal sample and psychedelic effects, the song sounds like the older brother to Chocolate Chip Trip from the Fear Inoculum album. The next song is a cover of the legendary LED ZEPPELIN song "No Quarter", like the "You Lied" cover they remake the song in their style, it's dark and atmospheric the song has an extended instrumental section making it 11 minutes. The album ends with (what I believe was a hidden track on the CD) is L.A.M.C a skit type track with these dare I say creepy sounding repetitive (I think there call hammer strikes but don't quote me on that) the whole atmosphere is just off, for lack of better words. The next song is a personal favorite of mine "Maynard's Dick" it sounds like a parody of the alternative rock at the time and it's hilarious. But overall this is probably my favorite TOOL release, the instrumentation is amazing, the tones on the bass and guitar are phenomenal the drumming (like always) is on point and the vocals are insane Maynard in his prime, this has honestly become my favorite TOOL album I don't understand why both Prog Archives and RYM have this rated sort of low