Thirteenth Step

It may lack the aggression of their debut, but A Perfect Circle’s second album is no less intense. Dark and foreboding, ‘Thirteenth Step’ is, if anything, a more demanding listen than 2000’s ‘Mer de Noms’. But it is also more compelling.

Rather than hitting you over the head with a consistent barrage of screamed vocals and buzzing guitars, this album embraces a restrained, atmospheric, but overwhelmingly ominous, sound. The approach ensures that when the moments of aggression do reappear, they’re more effective – if not entirely unexpected.

Slow burning opener ‘The package’ is a case in point. After building up for more than four minutes, the restrained vocals, sparse electric guitar melody and complex percussion suddenly transform into an onslaught of churning guitars, booming drums and a vocal roar.

Nevertheless, when listening to ‘Thirteenth step’ it’s very easy to forget that vocalist Maynard James Keenan’s day job is fronting hardcore industrial band Tool. Here his voice carefully matches Billy Howerdel’s music, which is as subtle, melodic and beautiful as it is brooding.

Although ‘Pet’ features some particularly industrial style choruses, the trippy ‘Vanishing’, the acoustic guitars and spacey keyboards of ‘A stranger’, jangling six string bass of the similarly styled ‘Blue’ and ‘The noose’ owe more to The Cure than Nine Inch Nails.

Somewhat unsurprisingly then, new bassist Jeordie White (formerly Twiggy Ramirez to Marilyn Manson fans) acknowledges that much of ‘Thirteenth step’ was influenced by The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ – an album that (no surprises here) is as subtle, melodic and beautiful as it is brooding.

Which is not to say that A Perfect Circle’s new effort is derivative. While some of Howerdel’s songs may be a little short on structure (the instrumentals ‘Crimes’ and ‘Lullaby’ are little more than monotonous drum patterns and eerie noises) he is a talented writer who has taken the brave step of incorporating new, somewhat unanticipated, influences into his band’s unique sound.

Lead single ‘Weak and powerless’ combines a catchy pop chorus with dark lyrics and stripped-back verses, while the album’s most aggressive outing, ‘The Outsider’, boasts something usually lacking from this type of rant – a melody.

And by not overdoing this sledgehammer approach, Howerdel and company have created an album that, despite its dark undertones, is highly listenable. Gripping, in fact.