The Package Weak And Powerless The Noose Blue Vanishing A Stranger The Outsider Crimes The Nurse Who Loved Me Pet Lullaby Gravity
A natural progression from debut album 'Mer De Noms', 'Thirteenth Step' showcases a slightly modified line up for APC. Paz Lenchantin, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins has been replaced by another ex-Pumpkin in James Iha, guitarist Troy VanLeeuwen was offloaded and Jeordie White (formerly 'Twiggy' of Marilyn Manson) bought into the ranks. Former session drummer Josh Freese and the two central figures of the band; Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howardel, a former guitar technician, remain ever present and so what was penned as a side project on their first outing has recently been termed, more accurately, a super group. Keenan created the band as just that, a side project while his main band; Tool, fought a nasty court battle with their record label over the release of their ground breaking 'Aenima' album.
Thirteenth Step begins quite slowly in the shape of 'The Package', it gently simmers away with strangely timed drum beats throughout before a mini-eruption of sounds
come the four minute mark and eventually fading out in a similar way to which it started. 'Weak & Powerless' is reminiscent of the bands previous release, the trademark sound of the band flowing through in a progressive rock style with gentle atmospheric moods at every corner which encompass the feeling of the lyrics with great aplomb.
The opening two tracks are quite challenging to get into at first, and it is only when 'The Noose' starts that you realise the band have moved forward. In a similar vain to 'Stay' by Dave Gahan (of Depeche Mode fame), or something from the soundtrack to the movie 'Heat', track three starts melodic with gentle soundscapes and quiet choir-like moments coming in and out of the fray, the lyrics are stunning ("And not to pull your halo down, around your neck and tug you to the ground, but I'm more than just a little curious - how you're going to go about making your amends... to the dead") and it just gets stronger and stronger as it progresses, each listen offers more and more from the track as a whole.
'Blue' is very much a similar composition to 'The Noose', a gradual pulse of a verse with a beautifully structured chorus featuring yet more inspiring lyrics ("Call it aftermath, she's turning blue, such a lovely color for you, call it aftermath, she's turning blue, while I just sit and stare at you"). 'The Outsider' is more of the same, with an increasingly darker feel, another track not too dissimilar to that of the previous album, with it's precise drum loops and catchy guitar hooks this is destined to be another hit for the band.
'Crimes' simply acts as a filler, or a break from the main action of the album, there's nothing wrong with it, but the album would be no less of an achievement without it. We get back into the swing of things with a bit of a lullaby in the shape of 'The Nurse Who Loved Me'. it's a bit like a distorted fairytale with pretty odd lyrics (see "I'm taking her home with me, all dressed in white, she's got everything I need - pharmacy keys, she's falling hard for me - I can see it in her eyes, she acts just like a nurse with all the other guys") but it's quite a sweet little jaunt for the band whilst being that little bit different.
Perhaps the most in-your-face moment, and certainly one of the strongest tracks on the album is 'Pet', a hard hitting rocker with excellent guitaring, more of the same from the drum master, exquisite vocals and memorable lyrical content. The stand out moments include "Swayin' to the rhythm of the new world order and count the bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums, the boogeymen are coming, the boogeymen are coming" and "Keep your head down, go to sleep, to the rhythm of the war drums" which work so well with the ever-present siren-esque guitaring and throbbing riff smothered all over the track. The lyrics are as experimental as ever but after so much practice, with both Tool, APC and also Keenans other side project; Tapeworm, the genius behind them is becoming all too clear by now.
The album closes with 'Lullaby', a mellow drum beat carrying a half-in-tune / half-out-of-tune female voice that works surprisingly nicely, and 'Gravity', which revisits the style of tracks 2 and 7, a nice enough track, but these final pieces do seem to crop up in the wrong order, seemingly so because the singing and other main musical components of the music disappear when 'Lullaby' begins, then all of a sudden, albeit gently, they come back into the action for one last hoo-haa.
A Perfect Circle have created another work of art in this, only their second outing, bearing in mind their debut seems light years gone by now, and fans of all rock, alternative, metal and even, at a push, some of the pop community are likely to find at least a few tracks to their liking here. It's a progressive step in all departments by the band who - even though they have chopped and changed slightly in line-up - have clearly all got a knowledge of how they want this so-called 'super group' to sound, and it has to be said that, so far, they're sounding pretty damn good.
Good detailed review. APC are fast becoming my favourite band, though this perhap isn't my favourite by them. 'The Noose' is truly magical, though. Good job.
Chalk 14.04.2005 18:55
They're good but I find this album to be both and improvement and a decline. I love about 5 tracks off here, but the rest kinda disappoints. Still tolerable, and the review was nicely written.
No_name 28.01.2004 19:24
I love Lateralus though not made keen on what went before. As with PC, Mer de Noms is frankly naff, I thought the first four tracks were magnificent and the rest of the album was pretty naff too, sorry. Good op, though.
Advantages: Lyrical/musical complexity, quality of production Disadvantages: Not what fans of the band would have expected, copy protected (i.e. it's a lot of hassle to get it onto your iPod)
Advantages: Lyrical/musical complexity, quality of production Disadvantages: Not what fans of the band would have expected, copy protected (i.e. it's a lot of hassle to get it onto your iPod)
Dec 13th, 2003
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