When I first saw David Fincher's video for A Perfect Circle's Judith on TV ten years ago my first thought was "There isn't enough explicitly blasphemous music on TV these days". My second thought was "Who are these Tool ripoffs, anyway? Can't they get their own sound? Fuck 'em". Turned out of course there was a reason for the similarities.
And while my appreciation for Tool has been expressed numerous times on this blog I tend to prefer this album over any Tool release, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. Mer De Noms somehow just hits closer to home emotionally, I can relate to it easier although I admit I have no idea what most of these songs mean. Tool feels good, A Perfect Circle feels right.
As I delved deeper into the album I realised there were a lot more to A Perfect Circle than rather obvious Tool-isms. The brainchild of Billy Howerdel, the band drew influences from everything from the alternative rock on the 90s and the post-punk, shoegaze and dream pop of the 80s to Bowie's moodiest moments of the late 70s, Mer De Noms is still very much a unique album.
At first it felt like a bit weird to hear Maynard James Keenan sing quick and to-the-point rock songs with huge choruses (The Hollow, I love you) after years of listening to him wail his way through ten minute prog epics.
By the time the second album Thirteenth Step came out three years later the ever evolving line-up now included Jeordie White of Marilyn Manson and James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins would join the band for the tour that followed.
I initially had a hard time decided which of the two albums to go with, but although Thirteenth Step had their all-time best song (The Noose, the song Trent Reznor has been trying to write for the last 15 years), I had to go with Mer De Noms. It doesn't have the occasional filler Thirteenth Step had (Vanishing, I'm looking at you) and it's just more cohesive, it feels more like a complete album. In fact, I often have a hard time just listening to just one or two songs, it has to be the whole thing or nothing.
Simply one of the most beautiful, shimmering and delicate rock albums ever made, but without ever sounding commercial or obsequious. Though I did once hear a person compare second single 3 Libras to The Dave Matthews Band. That person's body has never been found.
#4 on the list coming up tomorrow. Stay tuned.
PS. One last thing - eMotive is brilliant. Fuck the haters.
(mp3) A Perfect Circle - The hollow
(mp3) A Perfect Circle - Orestes
Buy it @ Amazon.com
1 comments:
Metal Bastard - firstly thank you for your blogs and secondly you have hit the nail on the head. Mer De Noms is absolutely and definitely one of my favourite albums of all time, thirteenth step is also really good.
I am going to have to steel 'The Noose, the song Trent Reznor has been trying to write for the last 15 years' as your are once again right.
Keep up the blogging,
fattmort
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