So Maynard James Keenan released a new album under the name Puscifer. It was originally introduced to me in the Underworld Evolutions soundtrack. My little brother told me about it and, being the huge fan of Maynard that I am, I looked into it immediately. So I bought the new album, V is for Vagina and I just have to say I really liked it.

It really isn’t too much like any of his other work with Tool or even A Perfect Circle for that matter. But I always go into new experiences with an open mind and no expectations. It was no different this time and I was very pleased with the ride I took.

If any of you are fans of either Tool or APC, I would say check this out, but keep in mind that it is different. I definitely hear some of Maynard’s singing style he brought from the APC album, eMotive, but other than that I really can’t see too many similarities with anything else he’s done.

With that being said, Maynard worked with a number of other people on this project. Danny Lohner being the name that stuck out the most. As some of you may know, Danny Lohner was involved with a lot of great bands in this area. I know he’s worked with Trent Reznor on multiple albums and even Maynard and Billy Howerdel for APC. So to me, this just kinda shows that Maynard is branching out in his artistic style.

And to be honest, I’m freakin excited Maynard has gone down this path. Let me explain in one word: Tapeworm. Tapeworm was a project that was comprised of mostly NIN band members as well as Maynard and some other people including Phil Anselmo. As far as I understood it, the main reason this project could never come to fruition due to record label contracts and things like that. So, with recent news that Trent Reznor is no longer confined by his record label and Maynard is doing his own thing with Lohner included, I really really hope this means that Tapeworm is going to come back to life (if you could ever say it was alive in the first place).

In conclusion, I say YAY FOR PUSCIFER!!!

BTW, when you heard about this, did you wonder about the name? I sure as hell did. I mean, I guess Puscifer is this creature that Maynard created, but what about the name? If its original, I can only imagine how Maynard came up with that. My thoughts are that its a combination of one of the devil’s names (Lucifer) and a slang term for female pubic hairs (pussy fur). So I guess if you wanted to break it out mathematically (I know, I’m heavy), it would go something like this:

Lucifer + Pussy Fur = Puscifer

But I don’t know, I could be totally off. What do you think? And I’m sorry for anyone offended by some of the word usage here, but in this instance, I really don’t care. If you understand Maynard, then you would understand why it was necessary.

Any thoughts from anyone else?