Puscifer

Conditions of My Parole

(Puscifer)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

From its inception, Puscifer has caused a sort of miniature civil war within the ranks of the Tool army. Tool and Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan inspire a special kind of devotion – not exclusive to the band, but unique to a rarified breed of bands that have become massively popular while operating outside of the normal boundaries of the mainstream. There are fans who would listen to – and rabidly defend – an eight-hour album of Maynard snoring. There are others who love only Tool Maynard and think that Perfect Circle Maynard, Puscifer Maynard and Winemaker Maynard are depriving them of the new Tool music that the universe owes them! Each set of fan, naturally, tends to resent the other.

In a world increasingly capable of only black-white perspectives, it was pretty easy to write the book on Puscifer: they had “vagina” in their album title, the lead song on said album was a booty jam that tossed around words like “saddlebags,” Maynard wore funny wigs and played characters on stage, and then of course there was the shit-kickin’ single “Cuntry Boner,” a bawdy, juvenile and pretty much all-around awesome country jam with lines like “I fucked the cast of Hee-Haw / I fucked Glen Campbell, I fucked him on a see-saw.”

Of course, Tool isn’t nearly as humorless as casual observers like to imagine – a point that Keenan partly addressed in one of his greatest songs (“Don’t just call me pessimist – try to read between the lines”).

Puscifer, meanwhile, has never been as gimmicky as “Cuntry Boner” suggests. Conditions of My Parole continues the evolution with a new lineup – including several mark-making percussionists and singer/songwriter Carina Round, of whom we’ve been singing praises for years. While Vagina had more kitchen-sink spontaneity, Conditions feels more refined and constructed. He’s pretty clearly not pandering to fans of his previous work; there’s more than enough electronic ambience and desert twang to drive a certain segment of metalheads insane. And yet red meat fans looking for that fast and furious side will find more to latch onto; “Telling Ghosts” and the standout “Toma” are among the tracks with a vicious side.

The opening stretch presents a different (and more dominant) side – the meditative and ambient. Right away, with “Tiny Monsters,” we get a taste of the effective vocal pairing between Keenan and Round, and then the track goes down its home stretch as a moody electro-pop instrumental. In terms of an opening statement, it’s light years removed from Vagina’s “Queen B.” “Green Valley” is even more sparse and restrained; casual fans may be surprised to hear just how adept Keenan is as a vocalist (diehard fans will decidedly not be surprised by that). “Monsoons” returns to the mellow electronic pulse that’s begun right with “Tiny Monsters,” tastefully blending in a string section.

The surprises and stylistic shifts keep coming, without a lot of piss-taking. The magnitude of “The Weaver” sounds almost like a descendent of Depeche Mode, while closer “Tumbleweed” offers an engaging Keenan-Round duet over a light bed of twang. As anyone who has seen Blood Into Wine can attest, Keenan takes pride in breaking ground where others didn’t think to look – and combining old influences in an unforeseen manner. His is a world where “side projects” don’t really exist; there are just projects. Puscifer, as it turns out, may be worthier and more durable than first anticipated.