The premise of the super-group is a always an exciting thought, especially when the members come from some of the most innovative bands in rock music history. However, combined forces don’t always pay off, with some groups failing to deliver collaborative goodness. A Perfect Circle is one of the super-groups to emerge from said crowd that actually have some substance behind their well-known names and with a new album looking unlikely in the near future, the band have decided to keep their name relevant with a box-set release featuring live recordings of all three albums, plus their 2011 performance at Red Rocks.
Whether or not you’re A Perfect Circle fan, listening to the live renditions of Mer de Norms, Thirteenth Step and eMOTIVe does allow you to both appreciate the love the band has from its fans, as well as the quality of their live musical output. On excellent form not twice but thrice, Tool front man Maynard James Keenan is superb for each of the album recordings here, as are Billy Howerdel and co behind him, with their alternative rock noise sounding as relevant today as it did when first recorded. As for their show, their covers of ‘Imagine’, ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ and ‘What’s Goin’ On’ act as major highlights, as impressive new song ‘By and Down’ sees them recalling their more melodic days of recent times.
The question with this box set however still remains: is it a viable purchase? For fans, it’s a yes and for anyone who hasn’t seen the band perhaps it’s another yes but if you did’t enjoy A Perfect Circle before, there really isn’t much here that will sway your opinion or your credit card, regardless of the quality tunes at hand. An indulgence rather than a necessity, Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo features some fantastic music but it also sounds like the actions of a band that are trying to keep their fans, despite the fact that they haven’t offered anything (with the one song exception) new in nearly ten years. There’s a whiff of a distraction technique in the air with this box set and it’s a costly one too.
8.0/10
Emma Quinlan
Having half a million fans chanting your bands name is a fantasy that many aspire too but only few can recall. For Swedish power metallers Sabaton, this dream became a reality last year when the (mostly) fresh-faced quintet headlined the notorious Polish Woodstock Festival in Kostrzyn nad Odrą. Swedish Empire Live (Nuclear Blast) is the bands soon to be released DVD/CD that documents this momentous occasion, amongst other things, and judging by the audio version in this writers humble hands, it was indeed a momentous occasion.
A fitting name for a fitting band, Testament are exactly that to their preferred genre of metal and their hordes of fans would certainly agree. Missing out on the ‘Big Four’ by the skin of their teeth (along with a few others we should add), Chuck Billy and co have been through more testing times than most and yet they still remain to tell their tales of thrash, a story conveyed all the greater when heard live. Dark Roots Of Thrash (Nuclear Blast) is a live 2 side CD (and DVD) that documents one of these moments, their show at Huntington, NY’s Paramount to be exact, and whilst the musical gold still gleams bright, it’s far to shiny to feel real.
Like a cloud of smoke, The Tangent’s line-up has always been a fleeting thing but creator Andy Tillison has never given up on the name no matter how many times he has been forced to dissolve the members. Over the past 11 years he has remained constantly at the helm of his prog-rock ship and it’s thanks to his vision and need to produce music that The Tangent name still lives on. 
In the year 2003 there was a sea of bands falling from grace, most of whose craft lay in the nu-metal scene. Durst, Bennington and Davis all saw their creations take a shift from mainstream love to popular rejection and for many it felt like their and so many others time had gone. Ten years have passed since then and now some of the old faces that were once given the musical cold shoulder are back in favour and doing better than ever.
Releasing a praise-worthy album is never an easy feat but attempting to release two in as many years is even more of a tough challenge. Huntress however, are seemingly not a band to shy away from difficult trials and having delivered a successful debut last year, the critically acclaimed Spell Eater, Huntress are back to try their melodic metal luck again.