Puscifer
V is for Vagina
9/10

Holy shit, man. I always wonder why a recording artist does side projects rather than just do the new style with his regular band. Well, Maynard James Keenan cleared that the fuck up quick. While a lot of the foreboding basslines and epic instrumentations are still Tool-esque, this is not Tool. This isn’t A Perfect Circle. This is a new entity that is ballsier, more masculine. I’m not, in any way, shape or form, saying that Tool is feminine, but what I am saying is that Puscifer makes me want to fuck or fight. One of the two. Not party, not go clubbing, not go to sleep. Fuck or fight. That’s it. And I am pretty sure it makes my car go faster, too.
            With the opening line, “This lady got the thickness, can I get a witness. This lovely lady got the thickness, can I get a hell yeah,” you know it’s going to be a different experience. Track 4 tells you to take it like a man, and thank God that Maynard never became a preacher, because Keenan’s sermon on track 9 is really quite amazing. Like, seriously amazing. It’s some kind of “industrial gospel.” That’s right, I just coined that phrase. Kirk Franklin, if you try to start an industrial gospel genre, I will beat your ass.

-Jonathan Yost