A Perfect Circle is one of those bands that nobody realized was needed until it happened. A grand claim, perhaps, but there's little question that the addicting combination of Maynard James Keenan's aching voice and Billy Howerdel's accomplished songs and production skills made for one of 2000's best splashes in whatever was left of "modern rock."
- Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Yeah.
Exactly 10 years ago today the band released their debut album Mer de Noms [Interscope], the de facto answer to the musical question What if The Cure went metal? (Truth be told, Deftones may have gone to that well first.)
A platinum seller and one of the bright lights of the otherwise boy band/nü-metal landscape of the late '90s/early 2000s, Mer de Noms is full of anthemic, haunting, yet bone-crunching tunes that greatly reward with repeated listening. It had been a couple of years since we'd heard it and decided to revisit the album for this post. Surprise, surprise: the power and majesty that drew us in a decade ago has not faded one bit. Maynard, Billy, Paz Lechantin, Josh Freese: you did well. Thanks.
Two favorites of ours: first single "Judith" (we could not embed its trés cool video clip, but do check it out); and "Orestes".
