A PERFECT CIRCLE

A Perfect Circle are, I guess, to all extents and purposes, a super group. Meant not in terms of evaluation but in that they are only a temporary incarnation consisting of musicians from other bands. The only really super member, though, is Tool's Maynard James Keenan on vocals. The others are in various other bands but none match the prestige of pretentious metallers Tool or indeed the clout that Keenan carries in the American music scene. In fact, a guitar techie, Billy Howerdel, wrote a few tunes and persuaded Keenan to provide the vocals and lyrics. The other members aren't really that important. Sorry, but it's true. I don't know if they'll ever reform and neither do I greatly care. It is an obvious point to make but A Perfect Circle do not come up all too well compared to Keenan's day job (ie. Tool). I'm not Tool's biggest fan and I don't own any of their records but from what I've heard they are a significantly better outfit than this one. That's not to say this is a bad album and there are certainly some very definitive positives. Firstly, due to being a bit of a guitar nerd, Howerdel is a very accomplished guitarist and thus the playing on here is superior to most other metal albums released in recent years. Secondly, Keenan is a good and distinctive vocalist and provides a professional foil to Howerdel's gothic riffs. This album also has a decent sized handful of good and even commercial rock songs on it. It also has a fair whack of filler on it which neatly brings us to my complaints. Obviously there's the filler but most annoying is the cloying seriousness of it all. At times it just sounds a little bit too close to the sort of industrial gothic metal that the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson churn out. I guess I'm not really the target audience for this album and I probably wouldn't have bought it all if I wasn't desperate for a bit of contemporary rock at the time. Again due to Howerdel's nerdness the production job is absolutely immaculate which again proves a double-edged conundrum as whilst for this sort of genre that is a crucial aspect in my case I like my rock'n'roll to be a bit raw. And this ain't really rock'n'roll at all. Still, overall it weighs up as a good album so let's look at a few songs, eh? The opening "The Hollow" instantly proves my case as it is privy to great, interesting guitar work, immaculate production and depressingly angsty seriousness. It is, though, and unlike much of Tool's material, eminently commercial, weighing in at just under the three minute landmark and with standard verse-chorus-middle-eight structure. Subsequent singles "Judith" and "3 Libras", if anything, are even more commercial. "Judith" certainly is an excellent commercial rock song. Sure it's not to everyone's taste (it's barely to mine) but you can't deny the strength of the songwriting. My guess was that Howerdel was sitting on that little nest-egg for a while. "3 Libras" is almost a power ballad but again I'm struggling to complain. After all I like Bon Jovi so how can I, safe from hypocrisy, criticise this? Obviously it suffers from post-grunge angst (when will they ever stop whining?) but, you know, it still rocks. A Perfect Circle weren't a great UK success, although by no means a failure, but you can really see why the American market lapped them up. I believe this album is the fastest selling debut rock album ever. Or some similar statistic. I guess Tool are much more popular in America which would have given this album a head start. "Magdalena" has a good rumble to it, and one of the more successfully inventive tracks on here and I'll also give an honourable mention to "Thomas" which has a good Sabbath-esque riff. "Thinking of You" is pretty good as well. The rest of the material is a bit hit and miss. I can't really think of the worst although I can't even recall the likes of "Orestes" or "Sleeping Beauty" which can't be a good sign. I think the songwriting just isn't very consistently good. It is clear Howerdel lacks any real strength as a songwriter. Judging by the production he should probably stick to production and engineering. Anyway, an album by a band like Tool but less arty and less good.

From: Peter Burnand

You cleary have no idea what your talking about in regards to songwriting. You should stick to reviewing 'real' musicians like Britany Spears etc.

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Email me at: jackfeeny@yahoo.co.uk