Customer Reviews

V Is for Vagina

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

So here we are with Maynard James Keenan's third official side project, Puscifer. Not as dense or as challenging as Tool, nor as emotional and cathartic as A Perfect Circle. One look at the album cover, the song titles, heck, even the band name, and it becomes apparent that Maynard had no intentions of creating another side-project that sticks to the tried and true. Coming off of the failed Tapeworm project (spearheaded by Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor), Keenan got together with bassist/producer Danny Lohner, recorded a couple of songs for "Saw II" and the "Underworld" soundtracks, and that was that. The songs were brooding, very Maynard-esque, but with a hint of something different. That something different is what eventually takes over on the band's debut album. Recorded with a slew of collaborators, some obscure, some noteworthy, it is indeed an album that will raise some eyebrows. Sometimes dabbling into trip-hop, industrial, country and salsa, there seem to be no boundaries for this project. Songs like "Rev 22:20," "The Undertaker" and "Trekka" will likely appeal to those already acquainted, while others such as "Momma Sed" and "Queen B" require a grain of salt to be appreciated. Flat out, this is probably the most accessible of Maynard's career, because with one listen, you'll know if you like it or not. Some people will love Puscifer's debut album, some will hate it. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. It's best not to overthink this one. It's quite obvious in interviews that Maynard isn't interested in creating another band with massive appeal and a huge audience. Just think of it as something cool, creative and a bit left of center. If not for anything else, it makes for good background music.

First off, this album does have a couple weak points, but it's certainly not enough to give it one star. Being a Tool/APC fan shouldn't influence your review in one way or another, because this isn't Tool/APC, and you shouldn't treat it like you're listening to Tool/APC. Simple logic, right?

After listening to this album a good (looks at Winamp playcount) nine times, along with a few listens while driving around, I feel like I can describe the overall album rather well. First impact? It's a chill album. One of my favorite kinds, to be honest. Something you can relax and do homework to, something to can take naps to, you can shower and sing along to it (when you can understand the lyrics/mumbling), etc. I wouldn't recommend buying this album in hopes of headbanging to it, because you probably won't even begin to mess up your hair.

It starts off energetically (for Puscifer standards) with the beautifully-catchy "Queen B". I wasn't a big fan of this track when I first heard the single, but now I love it. "Dozo" follows, and it's a lightly-dark moody track. It's not my favorite track, but it's not one that I skip over.

A dark, moody track by the name of "Vagina Mine" follows, and it's one of my favorite tracks, even though I can't really describe why. It's absolutely perfect driving music, it has that groove, yet it's chill and dark at the same time. The trip hop influence is strong, if I'm allowed to put a genre to such a unique sound.

"Mama Sed" is a balancing-out track. Many albums make the mistake (in my opinion) of putting one dark song after another, often putting me into a depressed state of mind, and I don't want to do anything except mope around afterwards. This track is still a small bit dark, but has an uplifting tint to it, kind of like what you feel when you hear APC's "The Outsider" when listening to that album in the proper track order. "Drunk With Power" is a bit annoying and drawly the first couple times, but it grew on me over the listens. It's a mood track.

"Trekka" is probably my favorite part of the album. It's got that exotic/dark/moody feel that Vagina Mine had, but it also possesses a lot of that mesmerizing/epic sound that wakes you up and grabs your attention. Perhaps it's Maynard's ritual-like chanting in the background that makes this track so epic. "Indigo Children" is another one of my favorites. It's a track that is beat-heavy, and catchy right from the first listen. I honestly can't describe this track well, so you'll have to hear it to know what I mean (by all means, listen to it in the proper track order, it'll have a profound impact).

"Sour Grapes" is entertaining and lightly comical on the first listen, but after that, you'll have to try to ignore the irritating preacher and listen to the background music (which is actually pretty cool), otherwise the track becomes annoying, and fast. If you can do that, you'll be rewarded by the far-enhanced mood change of the the last track, "Rev 22:20 (Dry Martini Mix)". This song is great. It's spotlighting Maynard more than anything else, because he's using is trademark style of singing, and the lyrics are pretty fun. The dark, slightly-shocked-yet-sad-and-chill mood of the song makes a great finale.

Overall, it's a great album for anyone who's willing to move past the Tool/APC blanket of expectations, and take in something unique and fresh-sounding. It's certainly a creeper album and gets better over the listens. I recommend picking up the disc sometime when you're going on a long drive somewhere, because that's where I really grew to like this album. Don't stream it off MySpace, because 96Kbps MP3 quality is not cool, and it's too easy to just close the browser window mid-listen, or to leave the room. To Sir Maynard, you have produced a great album, and I look forward to your future releases, if and whenever they happen.

What can I say, this was an album crafted for the Maynard by the Maynard, so what can you expect. Truth is the tracks flow roughly into each other, yes the beats are simple and repetative, but thats whats unique about it, is that its almost one track. Like listening to one of Maynard's thought blurbs.
Doza, the second track on this is amazing. I've had the cd for not even twelve hours and I've heard it thirty times. The only problem I had with the album as a whole is the filter Maynard has his voice cloaked in. Its the one he's used in 10,000 Days (the song) and I came to miss his very melodic voice with the high notes and such that he song in A Perfect Circle.
Worth the buy whether you're a fan of his or not, if you like falling into the music you listen to, than this is it.

Maynard sure knows how to diversify his creative juices. Puscifer is another bold dimension of his musical expression! On VforV, he is unafraid to break artistic conventions and/or appear vulnerable. The result is a genuinely powerful sound which will stand the test of time. Although musically minimalistic, it is in most respects majestic.

Caution: this record may be unaccessible to the bigoted "rock/alt./metal" listener. If you have prejudices of what good music should sound like, then, VforV is not for you.

After having my loyalty tested by Tools latest release, this cd restores my faith in Maynard's musicianship. Although i have always loved Tool, i think they started repeating themselves in the last release. And this is much much different. If anything this album is kind of like an extension of the track Lost Keys on 10 000 days; although that can be the only real comparison drawn between the two music-wise.

This is not music designed to rouse people into aggressive head banging or jumping around. It is darker, brooding lounge music. It seems like the type of thing an ancient Mayan civilisation would chant around a campfire in the middle of the night.

It was developed similarly to Peeping Tom's release, with the artist recruiting different producers for each track to give it sort of a pop quality. But it gives off a more atmospheric sense and not a single laden album like Peeping Tom.

I love how the title has parted the audience and tested public censorship. It pushes away the people who like bands based on face value. While also being an intentional thorn in the music industry's side. Names, labels etc is inconsequential to the music itself - which in this case is incredibly original and dark with a definitely playful chilling groove. It is brilliant and my second favourite release of the year. Behind Anonymous by Tomahawk.

After hearing the movie soundtrack version of Puscifer I was left moist and wanting for a full album. I was a bit let down at first, because this album does not have the full on, in your face song stylings that was heard in the movies. However the more I listen to it the more I like it. It's background music. It has tons of atmosphere and pure emotion. I'm glad the album versions of the familiar tracks are now different because now they better fit the mood of the rest of the album, and I hate to pay twice for the same old thing. As someone else said this could easily be a Maynard album to F**K too! The new Rev 22.20 absolutely screams slow sultry sex.

To tell you guys the truth I've had this CD since release, and at first I didn't really like it much. It didn't have the ambience of Tool and the lyrics weren't very insightful or thought provoking.

Still after about 20 times listening to it, I found that it's ability to get you pumped up is it's defining quality. It wasn't made to be thought provoking, it's a different project and therefore a different style.

Some of the tracks I still don't like at all, and that's fine I will keep listening to them until I find qualities in them that I like. The beauty though is in the track that I really like which are:

Queen B (Totally kicking!!! A new age I Like Big Butts)

Dojo (Simply awesome background concentration music)

Vagina Mine (A beautifully creepy compilation of lyrics and hidden meanings)

Momma Sed (Perhaps my favorite on the whole album, a song hasn't gotten me this pumped up ever)

Indigo Children (Just an awesome techno style song)

The rest I haven't really gotten into yet, I will find things that I love about them though i'm sure.

I think Maynard said it best when he said:

"Check your over inflated expectations at the door."

This album is some of the best background music I've found in years. A quality that Tool lacks in it's all encompassing attention whoring quandries.

So bottom line is it's something different, and it took me a while to get used to that, but it really is a beautiful collection of unique music.

Naturally there are two types of whining about this album. The first is from the Tool and APC fans who expected this to sound similar. To those people I say, open up your mind a little bit. Don't get me wrong...I'm the most die-hard Tool fan you will find. I've bought multiple copies of all their albums, DVD's, etc., and I've spent hundreds of dollars seeing them in concert. I've even drummed for a Tool cover band. But I've also been following the development of Puscifer and I can take it for what it is...a comedy project that Maynard made to mess with everyone's head, while simultaneously making political/religious statements and drawing more people into Tool like he did with APC (that's all APC was... a way for Maynard to introduce people to Tool, whether you want to admit it or not).

The second kind of whining is from those people who say "this album sucks, and none of you would like it if Maynard hadn't made it." Guess what? You're right. If anyone else had made this, it would have sucked. But because of Maynard's musical history, his history with fans, and his weird sense of humor, it's actually a great and entertaining album. But I'd also like to point out that nobody else would ever have thought to make an album like this. Nobody is as ballsy as Maynard when it comes to lyrics and music, so the complaint about people liking Puscifer because of Maynard is completely irrelevant, because no one but Maynard would have ever tried something this crazy.

As far as the music goes, it's just really chill and really fun to listen to. It doesn't have the world class technical brillance of Tool, nor the power of APC. I'd say it's right in between the two in an odd and twisted sort of way. You don't have to think or care when listening to it. You can just listen. Maynard's aggressive and pull-no-punches approach to music is still there, but in a different sense. I would say buy this album if you are a fan of Maynard, and not necessarily of Tool or APC. That's what this album is...it's essentially Maynard's personality and sense of humor recorded onto a CD. I happen to really like it, but be warned it is extremely different from anything you have ever heard, no exceptions.

If you like Revolting Cocks (Ministry Side project that's a joke band) and want to blend that in with tweaker and a bit of Thrill Kill Kult, I think you'll have a deeper appreciation for what Maynard was wanting to do on this project. From reading the other reviews, I think people make the critical mistake of missing that the man is making a joke, (See myspace pictures) and thank you Maynard for being light. The last two albums he'd made, 10,000 days, and emotive, were very heavy albums in light of the issues they were tackling, most notably his mother's death and in opposing the war.

Musically speaking, I like it very much. I can hear all three of those named bands in this, and if you like those (and not alot of people can stand TKK) I totally recommend it.

If you're not a fan of OLD industrial (ca 1989-1993) though, and just like math rock or Goth rock I doubt very much you'll like it. If you like movie-soundtrack like music, stuff that just creates moods, this again is a very good album.

Most importantly though, I can't name anything modern that this thing sounds like. Go to the band's myspace, check out those songs.

As for all the haters, they can revisit Tool's song "Hooker with a [...]," emphasizing the last 7 words of the chorus.

I wish I could have seen the faces of these so called "tool fans" when they found out that Puscifer's "V is for Vagina" is absolutely NOTHING like Tool or A Perfect Circle. I expect that many of them went online to express their grief at being misled; "tool fans" are always thinking that they "know" teh band, that they know Maynard through and through. LOL.

I've already read some scathing reviews that seem to hint that they wish Puscifer sounded just like Tool or something. Well, to enlighten you all, Puscifer is its own entity. The music found on "V is for Vagina" is like nothing you have ever heard before. And by the way, this is NOT just Maynard here, there are other members of this band, many contributors that are equally as talented as he is. For example Tim Alexander, who was the original drummer for Primus does quite a few of the drum Tracks on "V is for Vagina", Lustmord makes an appearance as well.

The sound on "V is for Vagina" is creative, groovy and dark; my kind of stuff. Satire oozes out of every lyric and melody, as does soul and originality. I've heard this album compared to My life with The Thrill Kill Cult, and dark industrial lounge music; I would agree with the latter to an extent, however I do have to say that each song has its own style and is entirely original and different than anything else I have ever heard. Maynard's vocals range from low deep singing to choir and chant style vocals. Guitars play a minor part compared to the synth's, keyboards and drumming; they are still prevalent but not as much as in Manynard's other bands.

As far as lyrical content, who knows. Some of the lyrics seem like a joke, and others seem deep; its really hard to say.
Queen B, the albums first track, features tribal style overdubbed vocals, raunchy lyrics, pounding drums and a trip-hop atmosphere. Great track...I've heard it referred to as the industrial "Baby Got Back".

Dozo (Version 2) features minor twangy guitars and a relentless drum beat; sort of funky, sort of trip-hop adventure. Maynard half raps in a low voice.

Vagina Mine introduces some odd drum and guitar time signatures, more low vocals, overdubbed chanting style vocals, tripped out guitar work and a damn cool vibe; this is definitely one of the best tracks on the album.

Momma Sed is another standout track on "V is for Vagina". Maynard's vocals and lyrics are more akin to his previous work. Clean guitar riffs take the forefront here, laid over a drum machine beat. This song has sort of a Lenard Cohen vibe to it, very cool.

Drunk with power starts off with experimental noise, but quickly turns into a slow, piano driven tune with more of the low sung vocals; a very experimental and avant-garde track.

The Undertaker was a previously released song, on the Underworld Soundtrack I believe, but it still sounds great. Heavy and very electronic, with great vocals by Maynard.

Trekka represents another tribal chanting (almost operatic) sounding song with a very hypnotic melody accompanied by pounding drums.

Indigo Children is another amazing tune with a tight beat, superior vocals and an awesome lyrical concept. If you don't know who the Indigo Children are, I suggest you Google them. Great song..

Sour Grapes comes off as Gospel, but you KNOW that satire is the bases for the song. Get right with Jesus...

Rev 22:20 is another previously released tune, but this is a remixed version, much more laid back and lounge sounding.

Many will be turned off by "V is for Vagina"; its not pop radio stuff but rather post apocalyptic hymnals for the daring. Don't bring any expectations and don't expect Tool or A Perfect Circle; those bands aren't here. What you will get is a totally new and original experience bot musically and emotionally. It may take a few listens, it may not, either way give this album a chance.