Billy Howerdel began as a guitar tech for tool, which led to his association with Maynard James Keenan, and the formation of A Perfect Circle, a supergroup with music composed by Howerdel, and lyrics and vocals by Keenan. Together, they produced two albums, and one (somewhat mediocre) cover-album of anti-war songs, released to coincide with the 2004 election. With the immanent release of tool’s “10,000 Days” MJK had to return to his original band, leaving Billy with the time to write new music for his own solo project called ‘Ashes Divide.”
Fans of A Perfect Circle will find more common ground between Ashes Divide’s “Keep telling myself it’s alright” and APC’s first album “Mer de Noms” than with their later material. For those who like their alt-metal harder than it is progressive, this will be a positive attribute.
“KTMIA” (as I shall now refer to it) is strong first solo effort, which is to be expected from the composer behind such classics as “Judith” and “Weak and Powerless,” (APC tunes). It is clear that Howerdel’s composition and arrangement will be the backbone of all of his musical efforts.
That said, having grown accustomed to MJK’s powerful voice, it is somewhat jarring to be confronted with Howerdel’s slightly more mainstream style of singing. His dynamics are less apparent, and he leans toward the more awkward tones of pop-punk-rock, on perhaps a few too many occasions. This is not a problem for newcomers, or for those who are willing to take an extra listen or two to grow into Howerdel’s new musical outlet.
Standout Tracks: Defamed, Enemies, The Stone
The album’s opener “Stripped Away” drags a little. It’s pace is slow, but powerful. In that sense, it does not immediately grab attention. It isn’t until the bridge that the energy of the song is truly conveyed to the extent that it ought to be. The heavy guitars drop out, and Howerdel’s voice wavers with the strength of his vocal performance, recalling Freddie Mercury, in a faint sort of way. Unfortunately, this demonstration of ability is only a brief interlude in a somewhat drab song.
“Denial Waits” begins in a plaintive lyrical moan by Howerdel, over a quick beat by Josh Freese. Before long, the emotional rawness and the powerful blast of music that should have been present in the first track comes out, somewhat abruptly, but welcome nevertheless.
“Too Late” is another heavy slow-mover, but its melancholy verses don’t feel draggy like in “Stripped Away.” The music seems like an appropriate mish-mash of the two prevailing styles on the first two albums by APC. However, in this song, we see a first example of where Howerdel’s music exceeds his vocals to a detrimental effect. After a typical Howerdel guitar solo, a great musical bridge emerges, but is dragged down by some poor lyricism and poor singing by Howerdel. The bridge segues back into the chorus, and drifts out.
“Forever Can Be” is another melancholy slow-mover (there appear to be a lot of these). Its chorus is given some grounding by a piano melody that matches the melancholy tone. As if to make up for the icky bridge in “Too Late” the lyrics of the chorus are more interesting: “Forever can be something to believe in. This was one of those times.” It suggests disappointment, and failure, despite optimism. Interspersed throughout is an intriguing little guitar melody which has east-asian hints, as well as medieval elements, which adds some flavour to the first real stand-out track on the album.
“Defamed” almost sounds like a rock cover of The Postal Service. The chord progression is light and minor, but hopeful. The lyrics are a little silly considering the weight of the previous songs’ content. Despite this, the song is cohesive, and catchy. Its upbeat tempo and strong drum-work by Freese (who also drummed for APC, I might add) make it danceable and contribute to an overall good song.
When the allmusicguide refers to “Enemies” as overeager, one might get that impression from its introductory guitar riffs. However, heavy punk drums and the return of that Freddie Mercury style of emotion-laden power-vocals (which we saw in “Stripped Away”) mean that “Enemies” is going to be a fast-paced ass-kicker of a song. The key-change in the latter half of the song is particularly engaging.
“A Wish” seems noodly at first, with a simple piano melody and sporadic drums, which build into a cohesive roll. Billy’s close-mic’d vocals are low and whispy (ssssssss). The lyrics are simple, and personal, without collapsing into purple prose (too much). The groove maintained by the drums, and the piano melody hold the song together for its short duration.
“Ritual” takes a similar approach, vocally, to “A Wish.” A mysterious set of counter-melodies gives this one a little more to listen to. Without much difference between this and the previous song, musically, it’s maintains a melancholy mood with and some good music.
At last, the single “The Stone” follows, with a somewhat predictable intro that bursts into yet more predictable, but faster riffs (cool dissonance excepted). Freese’s driving beat helps build anticipation of the chorus, which is a dramatic burst of music and swelling guitars that borrows (probably subconsciously) from film scores. Unfortunately, after hearing the chorus, the following verses make one impatient, having to wait through it for the chorus to return. Fortunately, the chorus carries the song by it’s sheer might. Yes, might.
“The Prey” feels a little more electronic than any other track on the album, borrowing its melodic style from more mainstream areas. An interesting feature of the track is a slightly detuned, high-pitched guitar line, which plays neat (yes, neat) little melodic riffs over top of the rhythm tracks and vocals. It works as a strong counter-point to Billy’s vocals. The mood of the song tends more toward one of joy than any of the other tracks.
The final track “Sword” has a dissonant piano melody as its intro, with a subtle cello (which becomes less subtle) just underneath. The Cello switches to the top of the mix, sounding vaguely offkey over the piano’s “wrong-notes on purpose” tones. The intro gives way to a driving, throbbing bassline which recalls the Tapeworm tossaway “Passive” that was released on APC’s cover-album “eMotive”. The entire song takes this approach, and hits hard, throbbing and driving until it all drops away about five minutes in, to a gentle vocal line over top of the same introductory piano melody, which sounds much more beautiful the second time around. There are several seconds of silence following the end of the track. Lord knows why.
Bottom line: This album will require some uncomfortable adjustments for fans of A Perfect Circle, but if given a chance, it will show itself to be the same great song-writing that we have come to expect from Billy Howerdel, despite the lack of MJK’s strong lyrics and vocals. It’s a solid album, with the last eight of its eleven tracks being quite strong (having three mediocre tracks open the album seems to be a tactical error).
Leave a Reply