Maynard James Keenan is a Renaissance Punk, with Alternative Metal performance artist, AltRock poet laureate, improv stand-up comedian, winery owner, restaurateur and martial artist being just a few the roles he plays. Wedged in amongst all of that is Puscifer, Keenan’s side project where he allows his creative ID even freer rein than in Tool or A Perfect Circle.
Puscifer’s 2007 debut, V is for Vagina , was dinged as being unfocused and dispassionate, critic-speak for “not what we expected from a guy who routinely scares the shit out of us.” Like V, Puscifer’s second album, Conditions of My Parole , is a largely Electronic affair, awash in groovy subtleties even at its most forcefully bombastic. Parole possesses a cinematic atmosphere, vibrating with a certain Angelo Badalamenti-on-meth quality, particularly the Electronic Folk buzz of “Green Valley” and “The Weaver” and the blippy, trippy “Horizons.” Banjo turns to synth pulse on “Tiny Monsters” as Keenan delivers his best Layne Staley-tributes-Dave Gahan croon, a recurring theme in the rumbling drama of “The Rapture” and the Led Zeppelin makeover of “Telling Ghosts.”PUSCIFER plays Saturday, March 3 at Taft Theatre with guests Carina Round. Buy tickets, check out performance times and get venue details here .