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обзор от Rolling Stone
отсюда:(http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/aperfectcircle...587/review/6067719/mer_de_noms)
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Rush, the mid-seventies titans of stun-gun hard rock and songs about forest gnomes, must have been a formative influence on Billy Howerdel. A guitar tech for Tool, Howerdel began his own group, A Perfect Circle, as a labor of love and a vehicle for writing theatrical instrumental rock for weird imaginary movies. Then the guitarist shortened the songs, imagining them as diva turns. Enter Tool's occasionally dress-wearing singer, Maynard James Keenan, who added an almost operatic angst to Howerdel's songs and who characterizes A Perfect Circle as "a right-brain, feminine result." Eccentric, melodramatic and perpetually yearning for transcendence of some sort, Keenan blesses the strafing, Smashing Pumpkins-damaged riffage of "Judith" with biblical references, including lyrics like, "He did it all for you." Howerdel's trippy atmospherics are compelling in a corny sort of way, and Keenan's howling, swooning style must be an antidote for any boy feeling guilty about being part of the patriarchy. But when the singer is wailing to his audience that he can "heal you" (in the roiling rock fairy tale, "Sleeping Beauty") and the songs rise and fall like the dusty curtain in a high school auditorium, A Perfect Circle return us to the daze of prog rock. Still, Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and even Rush, silly as they were, engaged in an innovative reimagining of what rock music could be. A Perfect Circle sound like a desperate dream of what rock used to be. Maybe that's the point. PAT BLASHILL (RS 842)
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обзор от SputnikMusic
отсюда:(http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=1496)
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Today, names mean nothing except how people address each other. However, back centuries ago, names told much more. My last name of Fisher would have told people I was a fisherman (probably poor). If I spelled my name Fischer, people would know I was probably Jewish. My first name, Tyler, refers to one who lays tiles. My name is perfect proof of how names tell nothing about the person. If you take the meaning into account, you get a layer of tiles who also fishes. Maynard James Keenan takes his side project which temporarily became his main project, A Perfect Circle, and makes the album Mer De Noms, which translates to Sea of Names.

Mer De Noms is the debut album by A Perfect Circle. Just before Tool went on a hiatus, former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel showed Maynard demos of his own written music. Maynard immediately offered himself as a vocalist for the band, and Howerdel eventually accepted. Thus, the band formed, pulling in various members from other bands. Maynard explores a more melancholic way of singing than the metal Tool produced on Aenima. Later, his evolution in singing showed itself in Lateralus, but this album is the birthplace of the evolution. Billy Howerdel makes an innovative guitarist, showing his experience and wisdom after being guitar tech for Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, and Guns N Roses among other bands. Backed by able guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, Howerdel makes plenty of fantastic appearances on the album. The rhythm section also adds to the melancholic aura of the album, with the bass sound tracked very well to create an excellent bottom to the chords built by the band.

To prove the critics wrong, the album opens with The Hollow. Within 30 seconds, A Perfect Circle proves this is no Tool spin-off. A big guitar riff and heavy drums open the album. Howerdel puts all sorts of effects on his guitar and plays an arpeggiated run with the effects, creating an extremely unique sound to his playing. Maynard's voice is noticeably cleaner from his last appearance on Aenima. Maynard brings the band into the chorus with the word "screaming" and the band grows in intensity. Howerdel plays a screaming lead part along with Maynard's melancholic climax. After the second verse, the song enters an instrumental breakdown that builds up to a bridge that would usually come after the second chorus. Howerdel makes vocal harmonies with Keenan, showing his ability to sing and be a lead guitarist. Another build up leads to the final chorus that the song so slyly avoided. The song closes out on a chord with Howerdel on an interval that causes a beautiful resolution, leaving a calming feeling after the song.

The next standout, Judith, is one of the angriest and flat out offensive (to some) songs Maynard has ever sung. The song opens with a few snare hits and a guitar riff opens the song. After two times through it in a heavy feel, one guitar drops out and it feels noticeably lighter and leads into the restrained verse. The verse opens up the Christianity bashing lyrics Maynard has to offer, blatantly stating "F*** your God, your Lord, your Christ." Maynard returns to his angrier Tool voice from Aenima, showing he hasn't forgotten his past. The chorus leads into an instrumental section feature Howerdel's excellent lead playing that harmonizes well with the rest of the band. Throughout the second verse, Howerdel screams high on the fretboard. Maynard accuses Christianity of never asking why, why Jesus left us all "broken down and paralyzed." Following the second chorus leads to a huge scream of "He did it all for you," and is definitely one of the vocal highlights of the album. The song ends on a variation of the main riff and then a surprisingly dissonant chord.

3 Libras, quite the opposite of the angry Judith, is one of the most beautiful songs APC ever released. The song features acoustic guitar and violin. The song opens with a simple acoustic pattern and violin creating a countermelody over that. Freese plays on the rim on every eighth note (the song is in 6/8, along with most of the album). Freese picks up intensity in the prechorus to the chorus, which is somewhat anti-climatic, but it appears intended. Maynard's voice in the entire song is heart-felt and beautiful; showcasing his vocals can be more than one voice. The second chorus reaches the climax that is obviously driven towards in the prechorus. The song comes back down again with Maynard almost sounding like a sigh with "Oh well." Finally, one of the most emotional releases of the album appears. The guitar turns electric and Maynard goes higher in his register to sing "You don't, you don't, you don't see me." The song finishes on a low, dark chord.

Among these brilliant songs, the album has much more to offer, most songs being extremely melodic and beautiful, a sound A Perfect Circle embraces on Thirteenth Step and takes to another level. Billy Howerdel's compositions have their own distinct sound, drawing influences from all the diverse bands he worked with. Later, the band would replace their rhythm guitarist and bassist, dropping the violin option shown in 3 Libras. Maynard has returned to Tool and released 10,000 Days, but hopefully, the career of A Perfect Circle is not over.

Recommended Tracks:
The Hollow
Judith
3 Libras
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обзор от Hellium
отсюда:(http://www.helium.com/tm/149218/people-about-perfect-circle)
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When people talk about A Perfect Circle, they usually immediately think of vocalist Maynard James Keenan. This is mainly because he was the most famous member of the band when this - their debut album - was released by Virgin Records in 2000.
This has given birth to the common misconception that Keenan is the brains behind the band, some often citing it as his "side-project". This couldn't be further from the truth.

A Perfect Circle is the brainchild of guitarist, Billy Howerdel. Beginning his career as a guitar technician for bands such as Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and Tool, Billy spent the majority of his time writing his own music. Following Nine Inch Nails' Robin Finck into the Guns N' Roses camp whilst they began recording their still unreleased Chinese Democracy, Billy's knowledge of computer programs like ProTools impressed Axl enough to promote him to the band's studio engineer. It was at this time that he showed drummer Josh Freese some of the tracks he'd been working on. Josh was so impressed that when Tool frontman and Billy's room mate, Maynard James Keenan suggested they record them, Josh jumped at the chance.

The original line-up consisted of Billy, Maynard, Josh, Nine Inch Nails' Danny Lohner and Argentinian bass player Paz Lenchantin and began playing shows in 1999 amidst a record label scramble to sign this promising new band. With Lohner returning to Nine Inch Nails, Failure guitarist Troy van Leuwen was brought into the fold and recording began.

Released in 2000, Mer de Noms explains exactly why Maynard and Josh were so excited when they heard Billy's potential. The album was recorded primarily by that trio, with Troy only appearing on two tracks, and Paz playing violin on most of the tracks she played on - playing bass on only one, but despite this being one person's project more than a band effort, A Perfect Circle positively soar!

Kicking off with The Hollow - featuring Primus' Tim Alexander on drums - Billy's guitar melodies and programming filling the senses with joy, as Maynard goes about proving once and for all that nobody has a voice like his. In Tool, his singing his harder and more aggressive, but something that becomes evident during the course of this record is that his voice is beautiful. Blending perfectly into the subtle guitar tones and haunting violin motif of the somber 3 Libras - not only a highlight of the album, but amongst this writers favourite songs ever - you will genuinely feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end when the track reaches its crescendo.

After 7 years, Mer de Noms has stood the test of time, sounding just as vital, artistic, exciting and new now as it did back then.
The hard-hitting and scathing attack on blind faith that is Judith reminds us that when they want to this band can rock out like anyone else, but the sheer variety of different emotions Mer de Noms put you through in its 45 minutes - anger, melancholy, downright frisky - proves that this band had a lot of potential. The two albums which followed may not have completely lived up to that potential, but I sincerely hope that eventually they'll give it another try.
In the meantime, Maynard is back in Tool, Josh is currently working with Nine Inch Nails and Billy keeps on promising a solo album. If it's as high quality as this, then there'll be absolutely no complaints here.

9.5/10 - Still my favorite album of the decade so far.
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