You can almost hear Maynard James Keenan’s creative tank edge
\ntoward ‘E’ on A Perfect Circle’s latest album. The guy has either
\nbeen in the studio with A Perfect Circle or with Tool and touring
\nto support each band since 1999. The results have so far been
\nfantastic with
\nMer de Noms<\/i> and
\nLateralus<\/i> rescuing and moving hard rock and heavy metal into
\nthe new century.<\/p>\n
Though APC has usually been more Billy Howerdel’s project, it’s
\nhard not to bring Keenan to the forefront of the band, especially
\nsince he’s the lead singer and especially since he has one of the
\nmost distinctive voices in rock. The band has always been a more
\nmelodic alternative to the abrasive and sometimes industrial
\ntendencies of Tool. With
\nMer de Noms<\/i>, the band was able to balance their obvious love
\nfor progressive rock with some truly tight songwriting and musical
\nstructure.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately,
\nThirteenth Step<\/i> is a step back for A Perfect Circle. The
\nalbum limps out of the gate with three basic standard rockers. With
\n“The Noose,” APC takes another strike at religious hypocrisy, with
\nKeenan singing, “Your halo slipping down.” I’m all for exposing the
\nflaws in any religion, but A Perfect Circle has done this already
\nwith the beautiful “Judith” and Tool has addressed it in almost all
\nof their albums.<\/p>\n
The band succumbs to the trappings of the worst tendencies of
\nprogressive art rock in songs like “The Nurse Who Loved Me,”
\n“Crimes” and “A Stranger.” These songs plod along with sludgy
\nguitar licks and pretentious lyrics. To add to the progressive rock
\nclich\u00e9s, Keenan keeps mentioning “my precious” in at least
\ntwo songs on
\nThirteenth Step<\/i>, forcing the listener to envision scenes
\nfrom
\nLord of the Rings<\/i> – another favorite topic for progressive
\nrock and heavy metal bands.<\/p>\n
The new additions to the lineup for
\nThirteenth Step<\/i> include ex-Marilyn Manson member Jeordie
\nOrsborne White (Twiggy Ramirez) and ex-Smashing Pumpkins member
\nJames Iha. On paper, it looks like a great addition, but throughout<\/p>\n
Thirteenth Step<\/i>, it sounds like the band never quite gels.
\nOnly on “The Outsider” and “Lullaby” does APC sound like a cohesive
\nunit.<\/p>\n
Only on “Vanishing,” The Outsider” and “Gravity” does
\nThirteenth Step<\/i> sound the slightest bit fresh. The album
\ndoes have some potential to grow on you if given a few spins.
\nHowever, most of it remains a fairly humorless and droning affair.
\nIt’s not a failure. It’s not an album that will likely inspire
\noutrage from fans because of a radical creative departure ala Liz
\nPhair. It’s almost worse; an album that leaves you feeling nothing
\nat the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6931],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-37746","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-a-perfect-circle","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37746"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}