A Perfect Circle - The Thirteenth Step

A Perfect Circle - The Thirteenth Step

URL : www.aperfectcircle.com

Tracks:
1. The Package
2. Weak and Powerless
3. The Noose
4. Blue
5. Vanishing
6. A Stranger
7. The Outsider
8. Crimes
9. The Nurse who Loved Me
10. Pet
11. Lullaby
12. Gravity

Why: .. i love apc .. i remember when i first heard Judith a couple of years back, and knew instinctively before the radio dj said that what i had just heard was the one and only maynard james keenan from Tool singing.. as soon as their first album (Mer De Noms) came out i got my hands on it.. and this CD is no exception.. even though initially i was a bit let-down by the single (Weak and Powerless) i wasn’t going to crucify the album til i’d heard it all.. and that’s what i did.

Thoughts: I’ve come to the conclusion that all the cd’s i write about here i love.. so it’s no surprise that my thoughts on this cd are any different. Firstly .. this cd is much more pop-ey than the 1st album. Comparatively speaking… it’s much less dark but just as moody. .. the band seems to have gotten a bit more sub-dued as well, like relaxing a bit more in the energy they put in the songs, possibly as a by-product of already having released their first album they don’t see the point in “hammering” in their style to anyone anymore.
Talking about their style it must also be noted that there are definite changes in the orchestration of many of their songs.. i suppose this is only natural considering they lost Paz, their bass player, to Billy Corgan’s “Zwan” .. who was replaced by Joerdie White from Marilyn Manson’s band .. APC also happened (during this time) to score James Iha (Ex-Guitarist from The Smashing Pumpkins (yup.. Billy Corgan again) ) on Guitar.. so with this new lineup the construction of their peices has gone through quite a mind-fuck process .. scoring a previous electro-synth-shock-rock bassist and an old-schoolish rock-guitarist .. no wonder they get called a Super Group ..

So how do i think that this new lineup has affected their music ? I’m not sure. Like their first album, i’ve found that this album has a couple of tracks that just don’t work for me, and considering the epic-history of all the members (possibly minus Billy himself and the drummer) .. it would seem natural that the tracks that this band would spit out would be longer than they are.. but they aren’t. On average the track length comes in at around 4mins .. which slots it perfectly into “Radio-length” songs which isn’t in itself a bad thing.. just a personal dis-taste i have (so arty farty and crap aren’t i *blech*)..

Another thing which occured to me whilst writing about the new lineup is the fact that the band now has 2 lead-guitarists .. (correct me if I’m wrong) .. but wasn’t Iha the lead guitarist in the pumpkins.. and Howerdel certainly *was* the lead-guitarist earlier (in mer de noms).. so what has this done to them? Increased the melodic intricacies ? Increased the amount of fiddly-guitar-squeals they have? Increased ambient noise levels ?.. or all of the above .. I suppose it leaves one or the other free to act as a lead, almost-vocal, line during one of the few instrumental based songs (most of which didn’t impress me) these being track 5 “Vanishing”, Track 8 “Crimes”, Track 11 “Lullaby” ..

Highlight tracks for me were definately Track 1 “The Package”, Track 4 “Blue”, Track 7 “The Outsider”.. All the rest were okay. I felt the CD ended on a really weak note .. especially the finishing track which i thought lacked any sort of energy or interest at all ..

But trust me.. those highlight tracks definately make up for it.. The Package and The Outsider are a pair of hard-hitting rockin’ songs that i’ll be able to listen to over and over for a while.

okay okay .. i’m finishing.. but it’s funny.. to think that initially i wasn’t going to say anything bad about this CD.. ah well.

Posted by Christian 18 December 2003

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