A Perfect Circle’s Eat The Elephant

A Perfect Circle has been around since 1999, with their first album, Mer de Noms, released in 2000 making them a popular band (or maybe that had something to do with Maynard James Kennan of Tool fame being in the band). Either way, that first album was great and is still a popular collection of songs that fans always fall back on. With Eat The Elephant, the band has four studio albums available. All of them with the style and sound you’d expect from A Perfect Circle if you’ve ever listened to any of their music (if you haven’t you’re missing out on some amazing tunes).

Released on BMG, this new album is a beautiful, moody, deep, and elegant collection of 12-songs, which was co-produced and mixed by Dave Sardy. Sardy has worked with Slayer and Oasis, among others.The band’s current line-up consists of Billy Howerdel on guitar and piano, Maynard James Keenan on vocals, James Iha on guitar, Jeff Friedl on drums, and Matt McJunkins on bass.

The album opens with the title track, “Eat The Elephant.” The bass in the opening of this song almost sounds like what you’d expect an elephant’s walk to sound like if it was a musical thing. This song has a romantic feel. It’s mellow and tender.

 

The most cleverly and interestingly titled song on the album is “So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish” (If you’ve never read Douglas Adams’ books you should get the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy trilogy- it’s a must-read). This song is energetic. The lyrics are deep; speaking about money, politicians, wasting time, and other things that we deal with, fear, and live through on a daily basis.

“By And Down The River” is one of the songs that stands out the most on this album. It’s very reminiscent of the sound from the band’s first album. It has that epic guitar work that feels almost like a mix of metal and goth, but with such a smooth and mellow groove. Keenan’s vocals are beautiful throughout the entire album, but much more on this particular track. 

 

New and old A Perfect Circle fans will find a glorious new album worth owning in Eat The Elephant. It is exactly what you’d expect from this band. 10-stars, seriously.