A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step (Vinyl LP)

Dark, hypnotic and beautifully unsettling - alternative rock that finds extraordinary beauty in the struggle to start again.

Released in 2003, Thirteenth Step is the second studio album from A Perfect Circle, the alternative rock supergroup founded by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Building on the atmospheric heaviness of their debut, Mer de Noms, the album explores addiction, recovery and the fragile line between self-destruction and redemption.

The sound is instantly recognisable: Howerdel's layered guitars and carefully constructed arrangements create vast, cinematic soundscapes, while Keenan's vocals move between restrained vulnerability and chilling intensity. The Package opens with a slow-building sense of menace, before Weak and Powerless delivers one of the band's most memorable riffs and choruses. The Outsider hits harder still, pairing muscular guitars with lyrics that confront the destructive patterns of addiction.

The album's title references the twelve-step programmes commonly associated with addiction recovery, with the “thirteenth step” used informally to describe an unhealthy dynamic within recovery communities. That idea fits the record's uneasy exploration of dependency, manipulation and the difficulty of escaping destructive cycles.

Despite its heavy subject matter, Thirteenth Step is remarkably melodic. Blue balances a driving rhythm with an almost dreamlike atmosphere, while Gravity offers a quieter, more reflective moment. Throughout, the band's arrangements feel meticulously constructed without losing their emotional force.

A Perfect Circle's lineup also brings together musicians from across the alternative scene, including bassist Jeordie White, formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez, and drummer Josh Freese. Their contributions give the album both technical precision and a powerful sense of momentum.

Thirteenth Step remains one of the standout alternative rock albums of the early 2000s - immersive, intelligent and heavy in ways that go well beyond volume.

Essential for fans of alternative rock, progressive rock, atmospheric metal and the darker side of early-2000s music.