A Perfect Circle – “Eat the Elephant” Review

A PERFECT CIRCLE
“Eat The Elephant”

01. Eat the Elephant
02. Disillusioned
03. The Contrarian
04. The Doomed
05. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
06. TalkTalk
07. By and Down the River
08. Delicious
09. DLB
10. Hourglass
11. Feathers
12. Get the Lead Out

For many A PERFECT CIRCLE fans, the 14 year wait between the covers album “EMOTIVE” and their new album, “EAT THE ELEPHANT”, was far too long. For a band that has been “away” for so long, they have certainly matured, musically and lyrically.

Having resurfaced a few years ago as a touring entity, many fans were obviously looking forward to the alt-metal crunch that BILLY HOWERDEL brought to the table with his guitarwork. MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN’S infamous, moody croon is still there, although he certainly takes some new approaches with his vocals. In “The Contrarian”, his vocals are surreal, and “Hourglass”, he takes it to a new-wave-esque crescendo.

Although this is not exactly fans expected, it certainly has some incredible high points, and plenty of malice pointed at today’s societal ills. “Disillusioned”, “The Contrarian”, and “The Doomed” seem to point a crooked, gnarled finger at those whom are poisoning the populace with plastic, superficial beauty and not-so-veiled lies.

“So Long, and Thanks for All The Fish” is most peculiar for an APC song, however it contains more pop-sensibility than anything they have done before. Again pointing fingers at the tropes of today’s superficial world, the lyrics cover a wide-ranging array of today’s pop culture, ranging from David Bowie, Willy Wonka and Muhammad Ali, and our never-ending fascination with all popular figures.

Now that the album has finally come to fruition, many people are having a hard time accepting the lack of guitar-driven heaviness. Frankly, this is really a boon to the album, and a huge credit to the two masterminds of KEENAN and HOWERDEL. Instead of giving the same old song and dance as fans wanted, they went above and beyond when writing this. It truly is a masterpiece for the new age.