A Perfect Circle is back. Formed almost 20 years ago by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan, the alt-rock/art-metal powerhouse will play The Arlington Theatre on Tuesday, April 17, with brand-new material and a revived lineup. Their newest album, Eat the Elephant, lands on April 20, and S.B. fans will find plenty of gorgeous rock to gorge on days before the wider world gets a listen.
Eat the Elephant finds the group circling back to the goose-bumping guitar intensity and vocal-driven drama that made the band famous, with an added maturity and delicacy, after a hiatus from new works. Howerdel said a “spirit of discovery” prevailed with this album, trying out piano or synth-based songs instead of his usual guitar. “You have less to prove, so give yourself space [to experiment],” he said. “I still hear the foundation of A Perfect Circle, combined with different colors: to be in the same world, but picking a different brush.”
Eat the Elephant paints a portrait of an anxiety-ridden, uncertainly churning world. On songs such as “Disillusioned,” “The Doomed,” and “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish,” lyricist Keenan unleashes apocalyptic poems in tune with the last few years — Internet addiction, celebrity deaths, and the extremism of popular politics all find a harrowing home amid Howerdel's piano-laden soundscape. “I think my whole life I've felt optimistic; this is one of the first times when I feel less,” said Howerdel of our current state of affairs.