Home > Music > CD Review > Puscifer, 'V Is for Viagra: The Remixes'

Puscifer, 'V Is for Viagra: The Remixes'

Tool frontman’s bawdy side project gets sliced and diced

By Adam McKibbin

Special to Metromix
April 28, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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Backstory: Maynard James Keenan makes thinking man’s heavy music as the frontman of Tool and a Perfect Circle. With his largely solo project Puscifer (whose debut, “V Is for Vagina,” was released late last year), he focuses on industrial grooves and deliberately skin-deep lyrics about guns, boners and thick booty.
 
Why you should care: Keenan has an underrated sense of humor, and for all its sophomoric surface, “Vagina” actually resonated longer than expected. Among the cast of motley characters invited out for the remix efforts: Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), Aaron Turner (Isis), Joey Jordison (Slipknot) and sinister ambience guru Lustmord.

Verdict: Like the bulk of remix albums, “Viagra” serves mostly as a curiosity, offering little (if any) improvement on the source material. Keenan made the album that he wanted to make people feel good, but a lot of remixers seek to darken up the material or make it more inaccessible. Jordison and Lohner offer interesting embellishments, while Michael Patterson’s pulsating “Queen B” remix is one of the bigger departures—and yet seems truest to the original, body-moving aim of Puscifer.

X-Factor: The “Viagra” release date also brings the release of an iTunes deluxe edition and a 12-inch vinyl version of “Vagina,” as well as a seven-inch single featuring “DoZo” and “Queen B.” As Maynard himself once sang: “Shut up and buy!”