A Perfect Circle: Thirteenth Step

Released: 2003 (virgin)

Track List:

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1. The Package
2. Weak and Powerless
3. The Noose
4. Blue
5. Vanishing
6. A Stranger
7. The Outsider
8. Crimes
9. The Nurse Who Loved Me
10. Pet
11. Lullaby
12. Gravity

Track by Track Analysis

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This is the second full album realease from Maynard James Keenan's other band A Perfect Circle. This album is much more focused then Mer De Noms I think, and sounds much better. I'll go through all the songs, since that's more helpful and may help you decide wether to purchase.

The Package

This is the longest song on the album, clocking in at about 7 minutes. The song doesn't drag on at all and actually goes by pretty quick. It starts out with very minimal guitar and drum work, then comes in a tiny bit stronger with bass being very upfront. It's very light and Maynard's voice works very well in this song. Soon loud distorted guitars come in and really propel the song at a much higher level. This is one of the best songs on the album - 4/5

Weak and Powerless

This was the first single from the album, and is a pretty average song. Not the best on the album, but pretty good. It's pretty diverse and works well - 3/5

The Noose

This is probably one of my personal favorites. This song probably has the most emotion in it. It starts off very quiet with the loudest thing being Maynard's voice, which isn't very loud at all. Soon everything comes together slowly and has a nice groove to it. Soon, near the end of the song, loud distorted guitar and orchestra come in and make the song go to another level - 5/5

Blue

This used to be one of my personal favorites. This song is probably one of the fastest. In tempo, not in heaviness or anything. But it's just faster moving then the others on the album. The bass and the guitars mix very well together and Maynard's and Billy's voices mix well too. This song is very good the first few times you hear it. But after a few times, it gets old. The chorus is pretty good though. - 3.5/5

Vanishing

This song probably will take a while to grow on you. I disliked it at first, but have learned to like it. It starts with a quiet kind of chanting backed by quiet instrumentation where no instrument is the lead. Then it just gets a little louder with the same kind of music as the intro. Then it just kind of goes instrumental for a while. The song eventually wraps up with not much singing done, but the song is very effective. - 4/5

A Stranger

There really isn't anything wrong with this song but I'm generally just not fond of it. It consists of acoustic guitar, ambient noise, and Maynard singing. Some may like this song, but you'll have to hear it and judge for yourself. But for me I'll give it a rating of - 2.5/5

The Outsider

This may be my favorite song on the album, along with The Noose. This is probably the heaviest, and the one that you could probably just call rock. It's the second single off the album and hasn't gotten old no matter how much I listen to. The song doesn't get boring, because it never repeats the exact same thing, except the chours, which gets heavier as the song goes along. The song starts out moderately heavy, and by the end the song goes to the heaviest point the album goes to. - 5/5

Crimes

Kind of just a filler track. It's basically drum beats with effects on them. I usually hit the skip button. - 1.5/5

The Nurse Who Loved Me

This is very light, probably the lightest on the album. It's basically just a keyboard track and Maynard's voice. I find it kind of boring, but alot of people say they like it. In terms from the original (it's a cover of a Failure song) it's better. But nothing special, kind of repetitive. - 2.5/5

Pet

This is one of the best songs on the album. It's closely related with "Judith." It's heavy and has a lot of rhythm. It's a very good song and is one of the heaviest as well. I personally like this one alot and it stood out to me the first time I heard it. - 5/5

Lullaby

Another filler track, kind of like "Crimes". But this one is better, because it atleast has more in the song. It's just Maynard repeating "Go back to sleep" over and over. With drums w/ effects and a woman's voice singing " la la" with the melody to "Pet". Not really a good song, but an improvement from "Crimes" - 2/5

Gravity

Once again, when I first heard this I didn't really like it too much. But once again this song has grown on me. At first it's not too good, but keep your finger from the eject or skip button because it grows into a different song which is much better then the first part. Overall this is a good way to close an album. The last line of the album is "I choose to live." Which is a good way to close since many people say this song is about drugs. And that Thriteenth Step refers to a kind of twelve step program. - 4/5

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This album was at first an okay album to me. Then it grew on me very strongly and is constantly in my stereo. Many people think just because Maynard's in it, it sound like Tool. But this is completely different then Tool. This band is more melodic and more of a "feeling" music. And it's not as intense and metalish as Tool. This is a better album then Mer De Noms in my opinion. I strongly suggest you pick this up.