Mordred's Full Review: Mer de Noms [PA] by A Perfect Circle
Mer de Noms is the first album from A Perfect Circle. The album features Tool frontman Maynard Keenan and therefore comparisons to Mr. Keenan's other band are inevitable and unavoidable so I'll cut right to the chase. I enjoy Mer de Noms better than the majority of Tool's output. I'm sure many will disagree with me but I think Mer succeeds as a coherent whole far better than either Undertow or Aenima.
Few actually realize that this Sea of Names (Mer de Noms) is the brainchild of guitarist Billy Howerdel. He had apparently written a number of songs and showed them to Maynard who loved them and convinced Howerdel that he was the man to have on vocal duties. This is interesting as Howerdel had originally planned for a female vocalist. Keenan doesn’t disappoint and his crooning breathes a great deal of life into these songs.
Those coming in expecting another Tool album may be disappointed. Those who know nothing about the new band may think Tool has softened their sound a little. Personally I think Maynard's influence is all over this record and fans of Tool will enjoy it. The sound is a little softer, but no happier than before. There's a little more breathing room and a lot less overt anger which is good. Gone is the pseudo Satanic jokes(?) thrown in on Tool's first three albums. Mer de Noms is a more mature album and that's definitely a good thing.
The Music:
The album opens with Hollow which is near perfect. Layered with lush atmospheric effects and Keenan's sweeping vocals we have a great song. Hollow doesn't bother to mine dark riffs instead moving up the register allowing the vocals to carry the song completely. Howerdel's guitar work is beautifully textured and fits in wonderfully with the rest of the song.
Magdalena is the first really dark song on the album and it unfortunately suffers from some problems. It's a really slow piece leaving a decent amount of space between it's main themes which may leave the listener wishing that the song would hurry up and get to wherever it's going. Meandering is the appropriate word. When Keenan isn't singing there isn't a whole lot going on to keep you interested. Not a bad song in any respect, but there's no way this could ever be a single.
Howerdel does make Rose a much more enjoyable track by infusing the darkness that was Magdalena with some Indian tones and by picking up the pace just slightly. Maynard's singing here is very reminiscent of his work with Tool, but it fails to carry the same resonance.
By now everybody has heard the first single Judith. This isn't my favorite track on the album, but it is one of the few which manages to succeed in a setting outside the album. Featuring the most Tool like sound on the album with layered guitars and screaming vocals, fans of that band won't be disappointed at all. A definite highlight and worthy of all the airplay it's getting.
Orestes and Three Libras are two songs with very similar sounds. I think both might have been better served by separating them a little on the album, as both are excellent in their own right. Orestes features a very laid back and sparse instrumentation with absolutely haunting vocals, never once delving into the Tool sound. For those who had any doubt, Keenan can really sing when he wants to. Everything said about Orestes applies to Three Libras, except that it has even less going on. These two songs are naked emotion stripped of all layers which might hide it, and that's why they're the best on the album.
After those two tracks we start to move back towards thick production with Sleeping Beauty. This is a good track and Keenan's vocals are superb, it just doesn't have the same emotional heft that the last three songs have had.
Thomas is one of the few songs on the album that reminds me of what I didn't like about Tool. It's dark and brooding, just like everything else here, but it just doesn't have the lyrical or musical hook that it needs. We've got big soupy layers of music here, but they aren't doing a whole lot to enhance the song, and that's not good. I guess Thomas just feels overproduced to me, and while some may dig it, it doesn't do a lot for me.
The next track, Renholdër, is a better example of how to produce a song. It's an instrumental full of hauntingly complex layers and themes which do work together. It's pure emotion and fortunately none of it is getting lost in the mix.
Billy, Billy, Billy. Why did you feel the need to start off Thinking Of You with those cliched industrial sound effects. You may have worked with NIN in the past, but this isn't a NIN record, so don't pretend like the sound of this song fits. Once Thinking Of You starts in earnest it gets much better (and features a very epic sounding chorus) but the stupid industrial sound really ruins what could have been a stand out track.
Fortunately Brena returns to the sound that makes Mer de Noms so good: heavy, atmospheric guitars, slow tempo, and Keenan's plaintive vocals. Brena is heady, depressing sounding stuff and that's what makes it such a great cut.
The final track on the album is Over and I have to admit that it does absolutely nothing for me. Featuring what sounds like a music box winding down (and lots of silence) this seems like filler just to add another song to the back of the CD-case. It's atmospheric I suppose, but few will want to hear this one more than once.
Conclusion:
If you don't get swallowed up by the sheer arty-pretentiousness of the whole thing, you'll most likely love Mer de Noms. Keenan and Howerdel have succeeded in crafting an album where almost every song works well, and those that don't work don’t detract to much from the overlying feel. The only complaint one might have is that the general tone of the album is incredibly similar from start to finish. For those willing to brave it though, Mer de Noms is a real treat.
A Perfect Circle is a new rock band formed by Tool s Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howardel. Also, in the band are Troy Van Leeuwen, Paz Lenchantin, ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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