 |
  
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
|
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
| Home
Subscribe About Us Features News Album
Reviews
|
Thirteenth Step Artist: A Perfect Circle Label: Virgin Length: 12 tracks, 50:36 minutes It’s hard to introduce this band. Do you say it is Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan’s side project? Or is it Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie Orsborne White’s (a.k.a. Twiggy Ramirez) side project? Or maybe ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha’s new band? Or perhaps the band that former Nine Inch Nails associate Billy Howerdel started? Considering all those credentials, do you just say, “supergroup”? However you define it, based on your particular fandom history, it’s hard to listen to A Perfect Circle without making comparisons. For myself, I hear a lite version of Tool, thanks to Keenan. But really, we should only compare Thirteenth Step to the first explosive APC album Mer de Noms. In this regard, it is a brilliantly crafted sophomore effort that eclipses their 2000 debut, displaying growth in the collective work of Keenan and Howerdel’s progressive alternative rock songwriting and lyrical themes. Like Tool, APC’s lyrics are constantly layered with broadly evocative imagery, albeit somewhat less scatological and violent. Explorations of the depths of the human psyche are the norm. In addition to this, Keenan clearly wrestles with theological angels time and again, often to opposite conclusions (compare the seemingly blasphemous song “Judith” against the beautiful reflective “Thomas”, both from Mer de Noms.) Thirteenth Step doesn’t shy away from the existential struggle either, but presents -- perhaps surprisingly -- an ultimate vision of hope, positivity and spiritual fulfillment amidst the tormented soul-searching and angst of the lyrics. Where the songs on the first APC album were distinctively short, brash and more accessible to radio in comparison to the frequently epic Tool compositions, the opening track of _Thirteenth Step), “The Package” takes its time through a full seven minutes of sparse guitar noodling and minimalist drums over a solid, offbeat bass, before the trademark scraping chords kick in to round out the longest track in APC’s catalogue. From there, the album avoids the standard four-minute alternative radio single formula as often as it can, either by interspersing atmospheric non-songs between tracks (“Crimes”, “Lullaby”) or simply by toning the other songs down to the bare bones; acoustic guitars or keyboards with simple vocals (“A Stranger”, “The Nurse Who Loved Me”) or whispered echoing vocals over a luscious mellow jam (“Vanishing”, “Gravity”.) Several exceptionally powerful tracks are interspersed between these moments mentioned above. The first single, “Weak and Powerless” may not have the immediate grab of “The Hollow” or “Judith”, but by the third listen, it solidifies what is so great about APC; the ability to hold a verse and chorus in tension, with the irregular rhythm of the former releasing the full driving melody of the latter. (You’ll hear something very much like it in “3 Libras” from their debut.) Lyrically it also establishes a recurring theme; that being, the process of recovery from pain. Little angel go away, come again some other dayAfter this personal admission, the perspective changes to one of the narrator addressing another person in recovery, who is perceived to be not as healed as they pretend to be. So glad to see you well, overcome and completely silent nowFrom here, through the deathly themes of “Blue” and “Vanishing” to the quieter acoustic reflection of “A Stranger,” the voice of the narrator becomes almost holier-than-thou, especially when it confronts the other about their suicidal tendencies. Lying through your teeth again / Suicidal imbecileAfter the brief lull of “The Nurse Who Loved Me” (again, in which recovery themes are prominent) “Pet” is a satirical, faux lullaby for the post-9/11 world, blasting in with a massive metal riff which proceeds to alternate with mellow moments of ominous tranquility before resolving in a brilliant nightmarish climax. Although the more traditional grunge sound of this track would have easily found its way to the radio in the past, the lyrical content might prevent it doing so in these turbulent times of a perceived “war on terrorism.” Pay no mind what other voices say, they don’t care about you like I doHowever, it is the concluding track which is the real dazzler. “Gravity” strikes me as the clearest evidence yet of Keenan’s belief in a higher power or reality that sustains him. The music could almost be described as worshipful, as the lyrics unfold to the uplifting closing words of the album. Lost again / broken and wearyIs the Thirteenth Step of the album title alluding to a process beyond the often contrived twelve-step programs of our current day? Interestingly, there are twelve songs on this record, perhaps indicating it was deliberately formulated as a concept album for the psychologically damaged and those struggling to regain emotional health. If that is the case, then APC’s latest album will be a good dose of healing medicine. Brendan Boughen 8/29/2003
|
||
|
|
