A Perfect Circle: Thirteenth Step : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

A Perfect Circle are that rare supergroup: A collective of veteran musicians that actually adds up to more, not less, than the sum of its parts -- in this case, Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan, former Nine Inch Nails roadie Billy Howerdel, session drumming ace Josh Freese and former Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White, a.k.a. Twiggy Ramirez. The band's second album, Thirteenth Step, sounds more like the dusky thrum of Disintegration-era Cure than it does any of the members' previous bands. A vague concept album about recovering from recovery or something, Thirteenth Step doesn't bludgeon listeners into submission -- it lulls them with droning guitars, dub-deep bass and simmering vocals. The anticipated shit hammer of thundering guitars doesn't drop until the end of the slow-burning opener, "The Package." Standard chugging metal rhythms appear late in the album, and only for two tracks. The disc's centerpiece is the arch "The Nurse Who Loved Me," a baroque pop number that would make a great comeback single for someone like Nancy Sinatra -- if she were huffing ether. "Clever got me this far," intones Keenan on "The Package." By the end of Thirteenth Step, it's gotten him even further.

ROBERT CHERRY
(RS 932, October 2, 2003)