Puscifer ‘Existential Reckoning’ Review

Puscifer ‘Existential Reckoning’ Review: Maynard James Keenan’s experimental trio perfectly encapsulates the WTFness of 2020.

Maynard James Keenan has been on quite the prolific roll the last two years, releasing long awaited albums from both A Perfect Circle and Tool. And now he’s back with Existential Reckoning, the latest from Puscifer, his experimental multimedia project where he indulges all his eccentricities with aplomb, aided by collaborators Carina Round and Mat Mitchell.

The press release for Existential Reckoning (Oct. 30, Alchemy Recordings) reveals the main concept by the album, which is wonderfully and profoundly bonkers: In the Summer of 2016, Billy D, rumored to have been carrying nothing but a bottle of wine and a mysterious briefcase, disappeared without a trace somewhere in the high deserts of the Southwestern United States.

In a frantic call-to-arms, instigated by Billy D’s loving wife, Hildy Berger, The Agents of Puscifer sprang into action. Rumors of Alien abduction were at the forefront throughout the dark web chatter. And therefore traditional methods of tracking a lost and hopeless drunkard in a dirty leisure suit were not an option. Special Agents Mat Mitchell, Carina Round, and Agent-In-Training Maynard Keenan a.k.a. “Dick Merkin,” hypothesized the only way to locate their subject was to construct traversable bridges between intuition and technology. The agents surmised that by exploring the metaphorical mycelium between Math and Passion, Art and Order, and Hope and Proof, they would be able to pinpoint the exact location of both Billy D and the mysterious briefcase.

As with anything involving Billy D, it would not be easy…

Make of that madness what you will, but from the first notes of opening track Bread and Circus, it’s clear that we’re in for a more understated, somber effort than the trio’s previous album, 2016’s Money Shot.

A pulsing shimmering subdued track that recalls classic Depeche Mode, it brings to mind multimedia fatigue and a distinct sense of unease with how we absorb endless social media madness.

Indeed, Existential Reckoning sounds like a covert political record and a societal snapshot of 2020 life under a pandemic (Keenan is still suffering aftereffects from a Coronavirus infection from February), in particular on the band’s first single, the hypnotic and propulsive Apocalyptical, where he frustratingly muses:

Concrete conclusions be damned
They won’t believe you until it’s far too late
Be damned, dumb
Dumb, be dumb

The Underwhelming draws from both Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie, with a strident beat and post-punk skronk guitar, imagining a world where even the most brainwashed wake up from the walking nightmare of the past four years:

UPGrade’s gloomy synthwave funk traffics in ambivalence, with Keenan casually intoning I don’t know over skittering beats and sinewy synths, but it’s subtle hook will linger in your head long afterwards, while Bullet Train To Iowa and the seven-minute plus Personal Prometheus both emit a noirish Goth charm.

A Singularity is a master class in restraint, utilizing a spare trip hop beat and minimalist electronics and guitar until the chorus erupt in swirling string samples and soaring vocals.

Indeed, highlight of the album are the two part harmonies Keenan and Round employ throughout the album, from the krautrock flavored Postulous to the electronic art rock of Theorem , to the call and response on Fake Affront, a wonderful ode to false internet outrage where Round interjects an angelic shut the fuck up in-between Keenan’s world-weary refrain We’ve heard it all before overly slippery bass and staccato guitar.