A Perfect Circle – Eat The Elephant
(BMG)
Reviewed by Doug Peters.
I’m just going to go ahead and say it, upon first listen I didn’t ‘get’ A Perfect Circle’s Eat The Elephant, their first album of new material in fourteen long years. With both Mer De Noms and Thirteenth Step being the soundtracks to some of my biggest life moments (leaving home and finishing university respectively), the first run through seemed slow, not like the A Perfect Circle I was used to, and dare I say it, boring. Now, after a few more listens this is almost Eat The Elephant’s major selling point. Instead of simply rehashing the same old same old, and steering us through familiar territory it feels like Billy Howerdel and Maynard Keenan have almost evolved somewhat, replacing the traditional big loud rock formula with a more refined, sometimes meloncholy, sometimes orchestral collection of tracks that will reward those who take the time to sit down with headphones plugged in to absorb the album in full.
Of course, there are numerous ties to the A Perfect Circle of old for the fans – both ‘Disillusioned’ and ‘Talk Talk’ being obvious examples, while the track ‘By And Down The River’ was even previously released as a slightly different version (as ‘By And Down’) on their greatest hits album ‘Three Sixty’ back in 2013. But, the standout tracks on Eat The Elephant are the ones where Maynard and Billy have freed themselves from the traditional A Perfect Circle sound and brought in new elements such as japanese strings and violins, lashings of piano and at one point (on the Industrial beat laden ‘Get The Lead Out’ that pays homage to ‘Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums’) even turntable scratching. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore! Special mention must also be made for Maynards vocals on this album – hands down this is the best I have heard him sing over ANY of his projects.
While being an album that should be listened to as a whole, there are a few tracks that are sure to be absolutely huge and stand out on their own when played live – including ‘The Doomed Pt. 2’ (a track that sounds like it could have been co-written by Roger Waters himself) and ‘So Long And Thanks For All The Fish’ (a track that Maynard himself admits he wanted to include because “people would hate him for it”).
Overall, while Eat The Elephant will possibly be a difficult first listen for many A Perfect Circle fans, it rewards those who take the time to indulge and take the whole thing in. To me, this album is to A Perfect Circle as The Fragile was to Nine Inch Nails – a departure from what has come before that will alienate a few, but will ultimately achieve greater recognition in the long run. Welcome back guys, those 14 years between drinks have been worth it.
