Thirteenth Step

1	The Package 7:40
2	Weak and Powerless 3:15
3	The Noose 4:53
4	Blue 4:13
5	Vanishing 4:51
6	A Stranger 3:12
7	The Outsider 4:06
8	Crimes 2:34
9	The Nurse Who Loved Me 4:04
10	Pet 4:34
11	Lullaby 2:01
12	Gravity 5:08

Barnes & Noble

This new-generation supergroup, while prone to some of the excesses of the all-star bands of generations past, has managed to carve itself a niche that none of the participants can fill on their own -- and that's quite a significant accomplishment. Frontman Maynard James Keenan, who consistently insists that neither APC nor Tool can be considered "side projects," whispers not-so-sweet nothings into the baroque constructs that his bandmates erect on dark pieces like "The Package" and "Weak and Powerless," both of which seem to be rooted in the 12-step concepts alluded to in the album's title. Keenan doesn't try to steal the show, however: He tones down his stylized delivery considerably for much of Thirteenth Step, allowing the spacious, angular guitar of co-writer Billy Howerdel to prod listeners into fugue-state journeys, most successfully on "Blue" and "A Stranger." The latter tune conjures up images of early post-punk Britain, an era when the Cure and Joy Division were first starting down roads dank and dusky. It's on these more atmospheric tracks, as opposed to the more conventionally gnashing metallic tones that creep in toward disc's end, that APC are most convincing, thanks in large part to the surprisingly deft bass playing of Jeordie White (the artist formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez, from Marilyn Manson). There's not a lot of room to breathe in these grooves, but claustrophobia has rarely felt so good. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Three years after the release of its debut Mer de Noms, A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step sees the light of day. By that time, Troy van Leeuwen and Paz Lenchantin had left and been replaced by bassist Jeordie Osborne White, formerly of Marilyn Manson, and guitarist James Iha, formerly of the Smashing Pumpkins (though he doe not appear on the album). While van Leeuwen appear on part of the set, guitarist Danny Lohner helped out after he departed. Amazingly, despite the changes, the sound is still very much the creation of Billy Howerdel with the unmistakable vocal of Maynard Keenan from Tool. Produced by Howerdel and mixed by the inimitable Andy Wallace, Thirteenth Step is a moodier, tenser, and more atmospheric (if that is possible) recording than its predecessor. Written mostly by Howerdel and Keenan, the songs traverse a particular associated with surrender, loss, having the nature of a person stripped away, and turning in the twilight of those feelings toward a kind of slow transformation into something that can only be called "other." There are no easy outs and no easy answers, only hard questions throughout "Weak and Powerless," where surrender is necessary but far from desired. The title bitingly refers to the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, but this is not your average recovery outing. Tracks like "Blue," "Vanishing," and "Lullaby" (one of two tracks featuring the amazing Jarboe on vocals) feature a kind of barely restrained menace caught in a trap by rock & roll vulnerability. The wide dynamic swathes that were so prominent on the band's debut are all but absent here. The squalling guitars have taken a backseat to carefully crafted melodies where atmospherics are maximized and pulled taut over the listener. While not a radical departure from Mer de Noms, there is a real progression here. However, the explosive, heavier-than-heavy rock-ism of A Perfect Circle is so well known for it is readily evidenced on cuts such as "The Outsider" and "Pet." As moods shapeshift from the sepia-toned murk of "The Package" and "The Noose," the over the top hard rock to the Baroquely scaled "The Nurse Who Loved Me" and "Gravity," with its beautiful guitar effects and crystalline bassline, the listener becomes aware of just how much water has traveled under A Perfect Circle's bridge. The Thirteenth Step is the sound of a musical and lyrical maturity that normally doesn't occur until a band's third or fourth albums. Lyrically, musically, sonically, the Thirteenth Step is proof positive that mainstream rock has plenty of life and vision left in it. Thom Jurek

Entertainment Weekly

[The] band's winding, off-kilter rhythms and contrapuntal guitar riffs create an ominous atmosphere. (B) Jim Greer