Review Summary: Mer De Noms lacks consistency and tries too hard to be epic, but is overall an enjoyable album.
I must profess to only picking up this album because I was aware that Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan was involved. Both his lyrics and vocals are stunning in regards to his work with Tool, so I figured if he is involved it has got to be a fairly good album. I was right and wrong on about equal parts.
As mentioned before this album suffers from a lack of consistency. The opener,
The Hollow is a simple but quite brilliant track which has several layers of guitar and vocals. At only 2:58 minutes long, it sets out to achieve its point by making the most of every lasting second.
Magdalena is equally good, if not better. The lyrics left me pleasantly surprised as they seem to deal with a loved one who may have left Maynard. They are both very hard rocking songs that are easy listening and good fun.
Rose is an interesting number which took me quite a while to understand and enjoy it. It is dominated by heavy, distorted bass, and a terrific violin section at the end. At this stage I became more and more aware that this was no Tool album – less heavy, less insane drumming, and the more passionate side of Maynard’s voice is portrayed here. That is what I thought however, until
Judith smacked me in the face with its guitar and drums.
Orestes would have to be the strongest song on the album however. It is beautifully melodic, has excellent drumming, and the multi layered vocals from MJK and Billy Howerdel tie the song together so well and pushes it to the end. Unfortunately the bass doesn’t really stand out at all but it still gets the job done without being too glamorous.
3 Libras is another quite beautiful song with acoustic guitar and violins. It does end quite abruptly, but it shows why MJK is praised by fans everywhere. He manages to use the higher end of his voice while still maintaining perfect control. The lyrics are also well suited to the music and can best be described as typical Maynard.
So far I have given you insight into the strongest songs on the album. What do you notice when you look at them all? They dominate the whole first half of the album, leaving a gaping hole in the second half.
The second half of the album can best be described as a mess and a waste of time.
Sleeping Beauty is the first indicator of that. I have listened to this track upwards of six times, trying to find something interesting about it but I just cannot. Boring drums, boring vocals, and annoying guitar effects is "Sleeping Beauty".
Thomas is possibly even worse. Maynard tries to process his voice for whatever reason, and it just does not sound good. It also has a plain irritating chorus which generally forces me to press the skip button on my CD player.
Renholder, Over and Brena are all also very underwhelming and are basically fillers. It seems APC were running short on ideas at that point. So after such a solid start to the album, it is very sad to see it go down hill like this and never pick up.
Thinking Of You does at least see us getting somewhere again, at track 10. Its humorous lyrics of jerking-off, and its awesome guitar solo courtesy of Billy Howerdel all work well to create a good contrast of sounds. Bassist Paz Lenchantin is particularly noteworthy here. Compliments once again ending, the album basically ends on "Over" which can best be described as Maynard repeating the same lyrics over and over again, over a boring piano section. Joyous. Well, at least you have to give APC points for their sense of humor.
So overall, Mer De Noms severely lacks consistency, and tries too hard to be epic. It really did seem that by the end of "3 Libras", with the exception of "Thinking of You" the band had run out of ideas, and thus the music shows. However in saying that, the first half does make up for it, and is very worth listening to. Go ahead and buy it however, criticisms aside, as the good does outweigh the bad; but just buy it knowing it is not as good as people say it is.
