A Perfect
Circle - Thirteenth Step
By Dan Grote
SUPERGROUP ALERT! A Perfect Circle started
out as “Dude, did you hear Maynard’s new side project?”, a melodic version
of Tool’s prog metal featuring a bunch of then-unknowns such as former
guitar tech Billy Howerdel, former teacher Paz Lenchantin, and session
drummer Josh Freese. After the platinum success of the band’s first album,
Maynard returned to Tool to release both the bits ‘n’ pieces CD/DVD tome
Sylavil and a full-length disc, Lateralus, which fans gobbled up in the
summer of 2001. Paz Lenchantin left the group when Billy Corgan came calling
to form (and later disband) Zwan, guitarist Troy VanLeeuwen became the
guitarist for Queens of the Stone Age, and Freese did some drumming for
top 40 goths Evanescence, turning the Circle into a supergroup after the
fact.
To make the new album and subsequent tour
possible, Maynard and Howerdel traded one Corgan punching bag for another,
replacing Lenchantin with former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, while substituting
Van Leeuwen with Twiggy from Marilyn Manson, now called Jeordie White,
sealing the Supergroup label once and for all.
So, how palpable is the change from side
project to supergroup? Not very, to be quite honest, considering that the
key songwriting team of Howerdel and Maynard is still intact (that and
Van Leeuwen still plays guitar on the album). Songs like “The Package”
and the single “Weak and Powerless” still capture the mood metal of the
first album.
Maynard still gets in awesome lines like,
“Your halo’s slipping down to choke you now” (from “The Noose”). Softer
pieces in the vein of “3 Libras” exist on the new album as well, such as
“A Stranger” and “Lullaby,” a track that’s nothing more than a Freese drum
loop centered around soft female cooing attributed to someone called Jarboe.
There is one song that feels completely
out of step with everything that comes before it. “The Nurse Who Loved
Me,” credited to Greg Edwards and Ken Andrews, quite frankly, sounds like
a Disney song. And not one of those upbeat Disney songs like “Hakuna Matata,”
more like one of those sappy ballads where the star-crossed cartoon lovers
sing to each other from across the divide. It’s not a bad song per se;
it’s actually a great narrative piece, but it’s guaranteed to elicit a
“What the F%$@” response upon first listen, made all the more jarring by
the return-to-rock response track of “Pet.”
VERDICT: A second Circle CD was never absolutely
unfathomable, but with the tenuous supergroup format the group seems to
have taken, don’t expect a third Circle CD with the same lineup. As long
as both Maynard and Howerdel are manning the reins, that shouldn’t really
be a problem, and it certainly takes a lot of guts to branch out and make
sure Maynard sounds as effeminate as possible on the ballad pieces. Expect
a lighter sound than the first CD, a reminder to Tool fans that the Circle
is more than just “Maynard’s side project.”
CD Info
A Perfect
Circle - Thirteenth Step
Label: Virgin
Records
Want More ?
tell
a friend about this article
What Do You Think?
Fan
Speak:
|
