eMOTIVe

'eMOTIVe' is more a political than musical statement — which, if you’re a musician, can be a bit of a problem. Especially when 10 of the 12 songs on your album are cover versions.

Yet, what saves A Perfect Circle’s new collection of gloom-laden alternative rock, is their choice of those covers. And, mostly, the way the band have tackled the tracks — some more familiar than others.

Opening proceedings, and establishing the album’s overall tone and theme, is the scarcely known 'Annihilation', a morbid nursery rhyme whispered over extremely sparse instrumentation.

Ending with the whispered refrain of "its your choice your choice, peace or annihilation" it — along with the rest of the songs here — was clearly intended as a healthy dose of Bush pummeling before the 2004 US election.

And even though the political aims of the band’s main men Billy Howerdel and Maynard James Keenan weren’t exactly achieved, their take on 'Annihilation' remains creepy and disturbing, with an intensity that contrasts the largely stripped-back approach of the song — and album.

With many tracks featuring only lead singer Keenan and multi-instrumentalist Howerdel, the collection often sounds like a hastily recorded demo rather than a fully-fledged studio recording. It also doesn’t help that when re-arranging the songs, the co-conspirators have often drained the vitality of the originals.

Which means that 'eMOTIVe' sounds a little disappointing — and even bland — when compared to the stellar work found on the band’s two previous albums.

But, unlike John Kerry, the album isn’t a complete lost cause and there are several tracks which match the brilliance of 'Annihilation'.

The completely a capella version of Joni Mitchell’s 'Fiddle and the Drum' is the biggest surprise — simple and effective, it makes you sit up and listen, providing a bigger kick in the teeth than anything else here.

That includes 'Let’s Have a War' — a song with real menace featuring a bizarre blend of ominous vocals and drum n bass beats.

'When the Levee Breaks', popularised by Led Zeppelin, may be virtually unrecognisable but still packs a quiet punch.

More effectively in your face, though, are the two originals that report for service — offerings that sound fully realised with the whole band gatecrashing Keenan and Howerdel’s party. The brawny 'Passive' (featuring a Trent Reznor writing credit) and 'Freedom of Choice' both sound effortless and unlaboured, reveling in their simple guitar, bass, drums approach.

A similarly fleshed-out, but far less energetic, take on John Lennon’s 'Imagine', almost obliterates every trace of the original’s hope and optimism but, by keeping the melody intact, stops short of a funeral dirge.

The same can’t be said of 'Peace, Love and Understanding', made famous by Elvis Costello, which sounds like it’s being sung at a combined wake for Peace, Love and Understanding. Laboured, slow and dreary it’s only beaten in the slash-your-wrists department by Marvin Gaye’s 'What’s Going On'. With the melody completely stripped away it sounds dreamlike, blurry and toothless.

Strangely, the same can be said for some of the songs given the ragged industrial treatment. The grinding 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums' may have lyrics like "I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason…and your choices, son" and be bathed in distortion and screaming, but musically it sounds like Marilyn Manson in his sleep.

'Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie', equally dischordant and even messier, is similarly powerless, but, like many of the other tracks, would have sounded far superior had Howerdel and Keenan spent more time working on the actual songs than trying to make a political statement.