salivation's Full Review: Thirteenth Step by A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle's music works much like a mathematic equation:
You + X = Your experience with their music.
In Thirteenth Step the x variable is addiction, the whole thing swirls itself around a mysterious addiction to something, maybe drugs, or sleep, an addiction to avoiding your problems, or maybe a person, maybe sex in general, or maybe it's a paradox within a paradox and the addiction stands for an addiction to A Perfect Circle. Maybe. Probably not.
As heavy as the theme of addiction can be, this isn't an Alice in Chains take on it, rather, the music here is very light, the album cover featuring soft green and yellow tones, whereas their previous effort Mer de Noms was black and orange, heavy, maybe a little too heavy for its own good at parts.
Here it works just a little bit better, more laid back, cold and relaxed but prepared to bite down where necessary. Given there are three weak and unneccessary tracks and as a whole it feels more disjointed than it should, but that gives it an eclectic feeling, where Mer De Noms melted into itself this album takes every track into its own little niche and fleshes it out to a different mood.
Thirteenth Step (which by the the way is a reference to the twelve step program, although I initially thought it referenced a verse in Salem's Lot) lets you know what it's about from the start with The Package. At 7:40 it's APC's longest track released, but it goes through a few nice transitions to keep itself at a laid back but reflexed pace, ready to snap up at a moment's notice.
Lie to get what I came for, lie to get what I crave, lie and smile to get what's mine
There's a nice falsetto sticking up from the chorus that makes a first listen particularly enjoyable. The most interesting thing here is that "x", the contents of The Package, is never revealed (Kind of like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction). The immediate conclusion you could draw is drugs, but you don't befriend a drug dealer. The overall theme of this song seems to say that it doesn't quite matter what's in there, what you've done to get it is treacherous and inhuman. I'd like to say more but I've already said too much. It's probably just one of Maynard James Keenan's custom made fire red weave wigs anyway.
Weak and Powerless is the standout track on the album, beginning with a rather reptilian and rough sounding guitar and building onto that. This appears to be the most technically complex track on the album, slowing down to a mystic pace only to break into chorus again. The real surprise is at 2 minutes in, with what sounds like a frantic nursery rhyme:
Pale angel go away come again some other day the devil has my ear today I'll never hear a word you say/he promised I would find a little solace and some piece of mind/whatever just as long as I don't feel so desperate and ravenous/so weak and powerless over you.
It's a mouthful that takes a full minute to spit out, and it ends abruptly, not wasting more than a few seconds to linger.
The Noose is incredibly remniscent of Nine Inch Nails. The drums hide in the background while a single note is repeatedly tugged at like a dialtone begging to be noticed. If you want an overindulgently sad and overdramatic song to listen to, this track's for you.
But I'm more than just a little curious how you're planning to go about making your amends...to the dead.
Pretensious, yes, but it is Maynard James Keenan performing the vocals, which, by the way are at the highpoint of his career. There's color and depth to it, at times sounding like a (wig wearing) female and at the other side of the spectrum sounding like a little boy whining for his mother. I mean that in a good way. Seriously.
Blue feels like an ocean, the guitar cascading over itself for the purpose of atmosphere more than melody.
Call it aftermath, she's turning blue while I just sit and stare at you.
The bass here makes vibrations more than an actual noise which gives the whole thing a chemical tilt on the ears. When it does hit the chorus, it does so in full force, synths gliding over the vocals. I think this would be a song that gets better each time you listen to it if I listened to it very often.
Vanishing Takes too long to get started, says nothing and goes nowhere.
But I'm not here, this isn't happening. I float down the liffey.
Actually, that verse is from How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead. Go listen to that instead if you want some real instructions on what it means to disappear completely.
A Stranger describes Maynard James Keenan's desire to have sex with a tornado. Purely acoustic, a little haunting, nonsense lyrics, but entertaining nonetheless.
Run away terrified child you move away you f*** a tornado, I'm better off without you tearing my world down.
The Outsider is a rather intelligent satire on the usual song about suicide. Rather than tell you to hold on it gets better as you go ala Good Charlotte (Which I apologize for referencing) it threatens the listener, calling them a narcissistic drama queen rather than impassioning them with hope. Rather than being introspective it purposely stands on the outside, hence the name.
What'll it take to get it through to you precious, such a mess why would you want to throw it away like this/ Disconnect and self destruct one bullet at a time/ what's your rush now everyone will have his day to die.
It's the heaviest song on the album, remniscent of The Hollow on Mer de Noms, it's pure adrenaline. Guitarist Howerdel sounds to be having fun, the guitarwork here is all style and buildup.
Crimes is the best idea ever. You see, a simple drumbeat is played for 2 and a half minutes while Maynard whispers numbers counting to ten. It looks bad on paper, but I assure you it sounds even worse. It's not just pointless, it's eMOTIVe pointless. If you listen carefully at the end of this track, you can actually hear the whole band grumbling in distaste.
One, two, three, four, five, six seconds of precious running time thrown away, seven, eight nine...
I love this band but they make some poor decisions.
The Nurse Who Loved Me Redeems it tenfold. It's the kind of song that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up if you listen to it carefully. Yes, it's a cover of a band called Failure (I don't recommend them), but it's an excellent cover, feels like a classical music track strung up with some lyrics that are very eerie if you consider the depth of what's being said.
Say hello to all the apples on the ground, they were once in your eyes but you sneezed them out while sleeping.
In contrast, Pet is dark and threatening to its core, generating the imagery of a parent staring out the window with his or her brow furrowed in distaste.
I barely noticed this track until their later album, eMOTIVe, spit on it with a very poor remix. Then I re-examined and it became a masterpiece by comparison.
I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason.
The guitars here push themselves to the limit while partial wardrums crunch against the very dark tones of the song.
Lullaby is like Crimes, save for the fact that it doesn't suck. Someone with a weird name (Jarboe I think) lends her vocals in an weird way, transitioning this quietly into the next track, Gravity.
Gravity has a bizarre time frame to it, here the drums are more notable than usual, having a depth to them not usual with A Perfect Circle. The lyrics speak of giving in which isn't usual with this band. It's a slow, drifting, haunting masterpiece that ties the theme of the album together very well, coming to close at track twelve, just one step away from thirteen.
I am surrendering to gravity and the unknown/ Catch me, heal me, lift me back up to the sun.
I think the last line is very important in an album, it can tie a whole theme together or leave that weird feeling that I'm sure some of you are familiar with when listening to an album all the way through late at night. This one's repeated with a gentle sadness through to the very last second.
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