Phonebook Eater 8/10

"Mer De Noms" is one of the great Alt Metal albums that will certainly go down in history.

Music snobs are everywhere. Usually, these people snob only a few genres, but they are fiercely coherent and always avoid those, no matter what. Alternative Metal and especially Nu Metal are usually one of those genres; metal-heads especially dislike these for sounding more alternative than metal, so they consider these people "posers". But exceptions are always made; A Perfect Circle is in fact one of the most loved Alternative Metal bands, also by the genre's haters.

It's not hard to understand why, because APC is also one of the most unique sounding bands out there, even though many would recognize Maynard James Keenan's voice, from the universally beloved band Tool. Frankly speaking, APC does have a lot in common with the legendary band; Tool's music core is a darker version of Alternative Metal, but is then covered and perfected with a huge, thick veil of experimentation that makes their sound distinguishable like no other band. APC go just a little further from Tool's core, so basically they are a lot more accessible, but a lot less experimental. However, they are more original than many other bands of their same genre. What makes the band's uniqueness are the guitars and Maynard's voice. While the guitar work is very distinctive because of the wide amount of effects it can have, Maynard's singing abilities are impressive not only for their excellence, but also because they have a very different delivery than the one they had with the other band; Tool's vocals are creepy, warm, present, urgent and of course very haunting, and many times they are used as another instrument, something that only a few vocalists are able to do. But in APC, even though they are always haunting and beautiful, Maynard sounds more distant, almost like a melancholic,remote cry. This of course said in the most complimentary way possible.

"Mer De Noms" means "Sea Of Names" in French, and it can almost be considered a concept album, where most of the songs are dedicated to people that had an impact on Maynard, who wrote all the lyrics. These songs, such as "Madgalena", "Judith", "Orestes", "Thomas", are full of that personality and darkness that the world fell in love with when Tool came on stage, even though the music is, like I said earlier in the review, a lot different and more straight forward than the Progressive band. Songs like "The Hollow", "Madgalena", and the single "Judith" are destined to make history, because of these characteristics that many have been so happy to hear, loving Maynard for his previous work, and listening to something equally as haunting as Tool.

Indeed, "Mer De Noms" is one of the great Alt Metal albums, that will certainly go down in history because of it's profoundness and it's very fragile, human touch. If you're one of those haters of the genre, please put aside your pride and prejudice, and listen to this gem: I'm sure you won't regret it.

ssmarcus Despite being a more commercially viable distilled form of metal with more than its fair share of cash grabbing excesses, alternative metal, as a scene, definitely had a progressive streak to it. While Tool was indeed creating an explicitly progressive form of alternative metal, even more straight forward sounding groups like The Deftones and A Perfect Circle (APC) had embraced a kind of psychedelic and, at times, art-rock approach that set themselves apart from the pack.

This psychedelic and art-rock approach to alt-metal is captured quite well on APC’s first record, Mer De Noms. Every song on this record has its own unique flavor. Some tracks like “Judith” and “Thinking of You” revolve around a fairly standard riff while tracks like “Rose” and “Thomas” are more comfortable taking their time to explore different soundscapes before drawing to a climax of some kind. Still, the strongest song on this record by far is the opener with its futuristic verse riff and explosive chorus.

Not all the tracks on this record work. But APC’s willingness to take chances deserves to be lauded.

Hagbard Celine I have fond memories of A Perfect Circle's debut from a decade ago, a time when metal was returning to the public eye after several years of extreme un-hipness. Unfortunately, the early '00s metal that broke through in the mainstream turned out to be primarily various nu-metal disasters, but A Perfect Circle became one of the rare great breakthroughs of the dawn of the last decade. On this album, Keenan and Howerdel pull off a beautiful blend of traditional metal and traditional goth. Instead of a mistake that brings out the cheesiest of both genres, as "goth metal" unfortunately often does, Mer de Noms becomes something that sounds almost like a 21st century version of The Cult's legendary metal/goth blend "Love" from 1985. It worked, and both mainstream and alternative (whatever THAT meant by 2000) rock radio incorporated "Judith" into their regular playlists for a year or two. Great album that hasn't become stale in the decade since.