A Perfect Circle pictures from Artist Direct

"Keep Telling Myself It's Alright" by Ashes Divide

With Ashes Divide, A Perfect Circle guitarist Billy Howerdel can step out of the daunting shadow of his APC cohort, Tool's Maynard James Keenan, and truly showcase his vast range of talents. Keep Telling Myself It's Alright opens with "Stripped Away," a dreamy, atmospheric track with a rippling thud of a bassline that'll sucker punch you right in the chest. Howerdel's vocals are high, semi-androgynous, and butter-smooth, and he played guitar, bass, and keyboard on the album, a tightly woven collection of pretty alt-rock numbers that were inspired by the 90s alt-rock explosion yet that aren’t stuck in that era. Howerdel keeps things moving forward, thanks to the elegant touches of keyboards and ambient percussion. Keep Telling Myself It's Alright certainly isn't a happy album, but you can feel Howerdel reaching deep inside his guts to pull out these songs. There's an air of sincerity that permeates every note of songs like the pulsating "Denial Waits" and the slow 'n sexy "Too

Published: 2008-03-07 Provider: Artist Direct

What's Hot: Interview: Puscifer's Maynard James Keenan

The Tool and A Perfect Circle frontman talks about his latest project, the industry and battling censorship ...more

Published: 2007-10-26 Provider: Artist Direct

"V Is for Vagina" by Puscifer

Set in the context of Maynard James Keenan's vast catalog, V Is for Vagina is a bit of a stylistic curveball. For the uninitiated: when the diminutive Arizona native isn't punching the clock for art-metal monolith Tool, he's masterminding his heavy-pop side project, A Perfect Circle. But while the connection between these two outfits seems at least somewhat coherent, Keenan's genre-hopping, eccentric first release as Puscifier is puzzling—and strangely engaging. Here, his subdued vocal tricks and lyrical menace work against the sleepy sonic backdrops in bizarre, even humorous, ways. Case in point: "Rev. 22:20," a loungey stalk down the keys of a baby grand, replete with classic Keenan fare. "Christ is coming, and so am I," he coos. Meanwhile, "Dozo" is an industrial dust bowl of vibrato guitars, aiming for Tarentino-esque suspense-drama stuffing and eerie ambiance. The menace is as palpable here as it is throughout, with Keenan warning a faceless antagonist (or

Published: 2007-10-31 Provider: Artist Direct