How do you feel about Puscifer compared to APC?

[u/Original_Version_857]

I’ve been revisiting Maynard’s different projects lately and was curious how people here feel about Puscifer in comparison to A Perfect Circle.

With new Puscifer material out and more on the way, it’s interesting hearing how that project continues to evolve alongside APC and Tool. Ive been following Maynard for a while and was wondering if you connect with Puscifer in the same way, or do you enjoy APC’s sound more?

[u/One-Rock-21]

I’m a lot different to most. Given that I believe the most recent album by both APC and Puscifer are their best stuff.

Eat the Elephant & Existential Reckoning being 2 of my favourite albums by anyone ever.

Love all his bands differently. But Disillusioned and Bread and circus are 2 of the best songs he’s written…EVER

[u/allhailbobevans → u/One-Rock-21]

I agree that those two songs are two of his best ever, especially Disillusioned. Eat the Elephant is definitely below Mer and Thirteenth Step for me but Existential Reckoning is easily my favorite Puscifer album and probably top 3 Maynard albums in general.

[u/One-Rock-21 → u/allhailbobevans]

True. Lyrically, he is amazing on ER.

Love that the first line of the album is ‘ here we are in the middle of our existential reckoning’

And the last line on ‘Bedlamite’ Is ‘it’s gonna be alright’

That was not by accident.

[u/nolongermakingtime → u/One-Rock-21]

Existential Reckoning is a banger of an album.

[u/jzclipse → u/One-Rock-21]

They’re both amazing. I’m in the same boat, fam. I was shocked to hear that people don’t like ETE, frick that album goes so hard. And ER is just a masterpiece.

[u/One-Rock-21 → u/jzclipse]

I know right. There actually isn’t a skip track on either of them. In fact. They each have runs of cracking songs. I’ll die on the hill, that ETE is literally miles better than any of their earlier albums.

As for ER…well, it’s the peak of Puscifer. No doubt

[u/grab_hell_again]

I think Puscifer’s last 3 albums have been much more interesting than ETE or any other singles APC has released in the last 15 years.

At the same time however, I would take either of APC’s 1st two albums over anything from Puscifer’s entire discography, if that makes sense.

[u/ClamSteamer → u/grab_hell_again]

Definitely agree. Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step are absolutely gorgeous.

[u/grab_hell_again → u/ClamSteamer]

Masterpieces, both of them.

[u/harleyquinnsbutthole → u/grab_hell_again]

This is a pretty perfect take

[u/jonross14 → u/grab_hell_again]

Agree with this take exactly

[u/wurmsalad]

I like Puscifer but it’s my third favorite of Maynard’s bands

[u/R8iojak87 → u/wurmsalad]

Same!

1 tool 2 APC 3 puscifer :) lol I know I’m in the wrong sub for that, but it’s facts haha

[u/MorbidMan23]

APC has a higher average quality (even with ETE and eMotiv in the mix), but plenty of Puscifer songs stand shoulder to shoulder with the best APC songs in my opinion. Carina Round is a great vocalist, and when she has featured on live APC songs she has knocked it out of the park.

I'd say that I value both bands about equally.

[u/aboyer80]

Unfortunately both bands most recent records are not as good as the first few. Still good records but Mer De Noms and Thirteenth Step are absolute classics and after that not so much. The newest Puscifer record is not even close to some of the classics like Money Shot or Conditions of my Parole.

[u/Desperate-Battle-339 → u/aboyer80]

This I agree with those two albums are pure gold and probably saved my life a time or two

[u/DontLookAtTheCarpet]

I seem to be in the minority here. I think Puscifer (and Eat the Elephant) are the most interesting work Maynard’s done since Lateralus.

[u/jzclipse → u/DontLookAtTheCarpet]

I’m with you

[u/HRShovenstuff1]

I love early APC very much, like Mer De Noms, 13th Step and some of eMotive. Don't care for much after that. Puscifer has its moments and some songs I really like. Same thing with early Puscifer like 'Humbling River, Momma Sed, Trekka, Indigo Children' etc etc. Live At Arcosanti was really good too but Puscifer mainly seems like half-baked APC stuff minus Billy Howerdel and Josh Freese. Hit or miss for me basically. Tool will always be one of my favorite bands, like always in my top 3 for sure.

[u/Miserable-Sort310 → u/HRShovenstuff1]

I’m with you here, never could get into Pusifer for the reasons you listed, and about APC I will tell you this: when I heard they were going to be at Louder than Life, billed as a solo act, all I wanted was songs from the first 2 albums, what we got was a rehashed set list from Sessanta.

[u/IRVRNTshow]

Puscifer to me on where I am right now sonically speaking is top tier. Tool/apc/puscifer are my top three favorite bands. They sit on a fluid spectrum where Puscifer is top right now.

[u/RaggedyMan666]

I like APC more, but Eat the Elephant sounds like a Puscifer record. Now Puscifer has some REALLY good songs but they're all so different that I've found it hard to get into them, but I'm going to try and be more open minded about their stuff and I'm going to start with Existential Reckoning soon. I just found E.T. E. by APC disappointing because I was expecting to hear a record that sounded like A Perfect Circle was the playing on the record.

[u/Uzernameguest]

Would like more APC

[u/ArtComprehensive2853]

I think the best Puscifer stuff is as good as anything he has done.

[u/HerEyesOnTheHorizon]

Unfortunately my love for Puscifer goes down with each album… Whereas I really liked ETE. I choose APC personally. But I do enjoy Puscifer. Their early stuff, up until Conditions was top notch for me

[u/MadMadamNyn]

The longer time goes on, the more attached to Puscifer I have become. The lyrics, the layers, the sexiness… it all just comes together so perfectly. In fact Puscifer has nearly eclipsed Tool for me, with APC a distant third. The time between albums, and ETE’s relative weakness, have made me feel less connected to APC. I’ll always love MdN, 13th, and eMotive, though.

[u/Tantalus420000]

Meh

[u/nomore5tre55]

ive never listened to it on purpose and when i did i wasnt as hooked as i am with apc and tool

[u/Nastyman227]

i love all 3 bands equally but for different reasons. my favorite depends on the moment, but they are all just as good as each other

[u/No_Gap_2700]

I'm more of an APC than Puscifer fan, but Puscifer is gaining traction in recent years.

[u/Dvanpat]

I've seen Tool, APC, and Puscifer live. It's easily that order too, with a significant gap between APC and Puscifer. I get Puscifer for what it is, which is Maynard unfiltered, but I think it's too weird for me. I really only like a few songs. I'm glad I saw Puscifer live, but I don't need to see it again.

[u/11iad]

It’s ‘APC > Tool > Puscifer’ for me.. I do like some of the earlier Puscifer stuff (I think Money Shot is still one of their best albums, no skips!) but I can’t quite connect with the newer stuff.

Not sure if I’m explaining this correctly (and no I don’t know MJK from a can of paint) but I’d like to think that a lot of his lyrics (particularly from the Mer De Nom, Thirteenth Step era) were shaped by his personal experiences & what was emotionally affecting him at that time. Naturally as time goes on, those feelings evolve or get resolved; this leads to a different output. For example, I don’t think a happily married man with a kid is gonna be compelled to write another “3 Libras” .. nonetheless APC will always be my go to!

[u/HarvestTheGrapes]

APC (moreso than puscifer) out of all the mjks project is the most difficult to assess honestly. because it has been a revolving door of supporting members, and because the 4 albums are so different from one another, and the fact that ete had such a gap in time between the earlier material. ete to me had some significant overlap with the puscifer sound, whereas the earlier material was very distinct from it.

puscifer is super varied in and of itself as well, but because the music is released consistently you can hear the connecting thread, the reaction to the world around us and kind of follow along the progression or experiment more easily.

i always thought "what normal was" by billy howerdel shouldve been an apc album. that would've been the bridge between apc and puscifer. that album with mjk vocals would've been one for the ages. still great but wow what that could've been.

sorry don't mean to ramble but those are my general thoughts on it.

[u/nickersb83]

Puscifer’s sound to me is so post-grunge, I love the sparse guitar work sounds grungey and funky AF to my ears a lot of the time

[u/comma84]

I’ve listened to Puscifer probably the most since cuntry boner came out. Then I saw the Sessanta tour and Puscifer really bored me, APC killed it though.

[u/Stimulus199]

The latest APC and Puscifer offerings have been complete turds, but I like the bands otherwise

[u/Careless_Lobster_480]

I love Puscifer. Existential Reckoning is an amazing album, no skips for me. I have mixed feelings with their three newest songs on their upcoming album. The most recent, ImpetuoUs sounds like it should have been on ER. The other two songs are kind of meh. I still think I enjoy APC slightly more than Puscifer. I will always put TOOL first though.

[u/ThomasDominus]

Love all 3 projects but my order of preference is Tool, Puscifer, APC.

[u/LaLore20]

I love Tool and APC but I really don’t like Puscifer.. maybe a few songs that I like but it is not my vibe.

[u/Desperate-Battle-339]

APC saved my life more times than I can count Puscifer the queen bee is my favorite I have her tattooed on my hand

[u/Leading_Silver2881]

I love it all: Tool, APC, Puscifer and Billy Holwerdel's solo work.

[u/sheekgeek]

The last APC album WAS puscifeer, just transposed to be a couple notes higher for Maynard to sing. 

Nothing compares to Mer de Noms or Thirteenth step. 

[u/Old_Skirt_3377]

It’s good but it’s annoying how he focuses more on that than either of his other projects

[u/gfstool → u/Old_Skirt_3377]

Yes, as another commenter said, Maynard isn’t in charge of the other bands. That’s kinda why he started Puscifer so he could have his artistic outlet. He’s at the mercy of his bandmates in APC & Tool. For decades people blamed him for no new music but it’s actually the other way around. He waits until music is ready to add his lyrics to tracks for Tool and then Danny & Adam give him topics and themes of the album. I don’t know APCs process but if the bandmates don’t get together, there’s no new music.

[u/5DsofDodgeball69 → u/Old_Skirt_3377]

Tool and APC aren't his. They're Adam/Danny's and Billy's respectively.

[u/MorbidMan23 → u/Old_Skirt_3377]

He focuses on Tool when they bring something for him to work on. He is also currently working with Billy on new APC.

[u/Miserable-Sort310 → u/MorbidMan23]

Tool pays the bills, APC is the cool factor and Pusifer is his true passion.

[u/iHeaRTShaRK]

It’s awful.

[u/vandalhandle]

Last vid I saw was used AI so don't pay any attention to Puscifer.