A Perfect Circle – The Thirteenth Step

Born of what might be the perfect collaboration, A Perfect Circle lives and breaths in an industry driven by profits and evil. In a follow up to their 2000 debut album, Mer De Noms (Sea of Names), Billy Howerdel, Maynard James Keenan (of Tool), Josh Freese, Jeordie White, (of Marilyn Manson), and James Iha (of Smashing Pumpkins) join to bring new life to what has been a dead pool of recent musical releases. I haven’t closed my eyes and listened to an album straight through since the first time I listened, really listened, to Zeppelin IV. The different influences of each artist mesh to make a complex web of sound; one that is so perfect, it is transcendent With closed eyes, it transports the listeners to another world, another time, where gravity has no hold, where troubles are whispers, shadows. Maynard James Keenan cuts through your consciousness. He is hypnotic. The Melody pulls and strains against his vocals, and then all at once, comes together in perfect harmony, and just as quickly, everything falls apart. The listener is transported from one musical conflict to the next. Each song climaxes in perfect unison, but at the same time, leaving you wanting more, more, more. It is easy to say that A Perfect Circle is a spin off or side project for Singer Maynard James Keenan. Having such a strong and distinct front man will drive the destiny of this band. Hopefully, people will not compare A Perfect Circle to Tool. Tool is a great band, but they do not have the spiritual mastery of the music that Keenan’s voice deserves. James Iha adds his often wafty and yet existential guitar styling to the band. It binds you to your primal heartbeat, the primal pulse of the universe. Added to this is Jeordie White on Bass guitar, who refuses to take the back rhythm of each song. He masterfully contradicts the rhythm provided by Josh Frreese. Each member seems to be hand selected for their talents and their style to cumulatively make the Perfect band The Thirteenth Step will most likely be the ONE Cd that I purchase this year Thank you for making such Perfect music!