Mer de Noms Review

On one side of the circle, Mer de Noms, which is A Perfect Circle's first (and at the moment only) record, is perfect. This is taken in one's mind knowing that there is only one side to a circle. A Perfect Circle combines all the great aspects of music, insturments, vocals, and lyrics, into one grand mold which can only be broken by it's creator, their music is that distinctive. The most important member of A.P.C. is Billy Howerdel (Guitar and studio-Bass), who composes A.P.C.'s music to perfection with the lyrics he and Maynard James Keenan (vocals) write. The guitars riffs are incindiary and show the high's, low's, and emotions of the musical piece's lyrics. This goes without saying that Maynard's vocals are incredible and far from that of Tool's, instead he holds a softer, more thoughtful voice to accompany the music. A Perfect Circle is indeed not a side project for Maynard. In fact, comparing Tool and A.P.C. would be very tough, they are extremely diffrent. Maynard just happened to be Tool's vocalist, a small coincidence that helped gain more recognition for this five-star, five claps band. You heard it straight from the horses mouth, five claps is the only rating Mer de Noms deserves and doing so it gains the "Revolving Clap Award". Note to A.P.C.: The award's in the mail.

The Songs Of Mer de Noms:

The Hollow
A great kick-off to a great album. The Hollow is about the human Libido and contains a great solo from Howerdel.

Magdalena
My personal favorite off the album, Magdalena also contains one of the best bass notes off the album. One would wonder if the name and lyrics were inspired by the supermodel.

Rose
This piece kicks off slow, gets faster, and then goes slow again. This one provides a strong showcase of vocals from Maynard and more off the great guita from Howerdel.

Judith
The biggest single off of Mer de Noms. This song is also the most offensive, "FUCK YOUR GOD!" screams Maynard shortly into the song, even though this song is more about blind faith.

Orestes
A truly great epic of desperate emotion, Orestes showcases Paz's (violin and live bass) violin skills for really the first of many to really take notice.

3 Libras
A great song to compliment and follow the footsteps of Orestes. This time more emotion from Maynard's voacals and more violin, overall more intense.
The sound from Sleeping Beauty is in-between that of Magdalena and Brena. It also has a longer intro on the vinyl edition with more violin (that sort peeves me that they didn't put it on the cd which also doesn't get a lyrics booklet like the vinyl or the tape) and Maynard saying "You like that bitch?"

Thomas
Another much liked song with another great guitar piece.

Renholder
A two-and-a-half-minute oddity that if played backwards chants the name of Danny Lohner (a former member). Vocals are done by Howerdel and more great violin from Paz straighten out this odd piece.

Thinking of You
I belive this is Kals favorite song. It's a rap-rock song (done very tastefully) that kicks into high-gear for the chorus and the sound of Maynard's desperate, longing voice

Brena
On the opposite end of the spectrum in which Magdalena and Sleeping Beauty also lay, Brena is the slowest of the three, a nice piece before Over.

Over
the end piece off of Mer de Noms, Over uses a zylophone and piano. A great sound that I wish was longer but it's very nice at length it's at.

This has been Matt-o-Mac, a corrospondet from the Matt-o-Mac site, with this review.

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