Conditions of My Parole in Bloomington, MN

A place for
Tool
and
A Perfect Circle
frontman
Maynard James Keenan
's musical explorations,
Puscifer
is a project that, by its very nature, has that free association vibe around it. On his second album under the
moniker,
Conditions of My Parole
,
Keenan
continues to his unfettered explorations, seeing where a sound will take him without being tied down by the expectations that would be present if he released these songs with any of his other projects. A departure from the angst of
and the esoteric darkness of
, the synth-heavy album has a more autumnal feeling about it, combining layers of electronic ambience and programmed drums with the singer's yearning vocals to create a kind of cold loneliness. It's this isolated sound that
thrives in, with his trademark vocals adding just the right amount of drama to the mix and acting as the glue that manages to hold everything together when the mood strikes him to drift into more aggressive territory on songs like "Toma" and "Conditions of My Parole." While the album can, at times, feel unfocused, that's also the point of a project like
, which allows us to take a look inside the mind of one of the most creative frontmen of the last 20 years. It's this kind of access that leaves
with a lot to offer fans of
; they'll not only get a glimpse into the singer's creative process, but a fine piece of cold weather headphone music. ~ Gregory Heaney