Album Review: Ashes Divide – “Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright”

Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright

Billy Howerdel began as a guitar tech for tool, which led to his association with Maynard James Keenan, and the formation of A Perfect Circle, a supergroup with music composed by Howerdel, and lyrics and vocals by Keenan. 

 Together, they produced two albums, and one (somewhat mediocre) cover-album of anti-war songs, released to coincide with the 2004 election. With the immanent release of tool’s 10,000 Days MJK had to return to his original band, leaving Billy with the time to write new music for his own solo project called ASHES dIVIDE.

Fans of A Perfect Circle will find more common ground between Ashes Divide’s Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright and APC’s first album Mer de Noms than with their later material. For those who like their alt-metal harder than it is progressive, this will be a positive attribute.

KTMiA (as I shall now refer to it) is strong first solo effort, which is to be expected from the composer behind such classics as the APC tunes “Judith” and “Weak and Powerless.” It is clear that Howerdel’s composition and arrangement are the backbone of all of his musical efforts.

That said, having grown accustomed to MJK’s powerful voice, it is somewhat jarring to be confronted with Howerdel’s somewhat more mainstream style of singing. His dynamics are less apparent, and he leans toward the more awkward tones of popular punk-rock, on what may seem a few too many occasions. This shouldn't be a problem for newcomers, or for those who are willing to take the time to grow into Howerdel’s new musical voice.

Standout Tracks: Defamed, Enemies, The Stone

The album’s opener “Stripped Away” drags a little. Its pace is powerful but slow, and in that sense, it does not immediately grab one's attention. It isn’t until the bridge that the energy of the song is truly conveyed to the extent that it ought to be. The heavy guitars drop out, and Howerdel’s voice wavers with the strength of his vocal performance, recalling Freddie Mercury, in a faint sort of way. Unfortunately, this demonstration of ability is only a brief respite from what is an otherwise drab song.

“Denial Waits” begins in a plaintive lyrical moan by Howerdel, over a quick beat by super-drummer Josh Freese. Before long, the emotional rawness we should have been hearing in the previous track appears somewhat abruptly, but welcome nevertheless amid a powerful blast of music.

“Too Late” is another heavy slow-mover, but its melancholy verses don’t feel draggy like they did in “Stripped Away.” Musically, it's an appropriate mish-mash of the styles found on APC's first two albums. However, in this song, we see a first example of where Howerdel’s composition exceeds his vocal prowess to a detrimental effect. After a typically good Howerdel guitar solo, a great musical bridge emerges, but it's dragged down by poor lyricism and  just as poor singing by Howerdel

“Forever Can Be” is another melancholy slow-mover (there appear to be a lot of these). Its chorus is given some grounding by a piano melody that matches the melancholy tone. As if to make up for the icky bridge in “Too Late” the lyrics of the chorus are more interesting: “Forever can be something to believe in. This was one of those times.” It suggests disappointment, and failure, despite optimism. Interspersed throughout is an intriguing little guitar melody which has east-asian hints, or perhaps medieval elements, which add some flavour to the first real ear-catching track on the album.

“Defamed” almost sounds like a rock cover of The Postal Service. The chord progression is light and minor, but hopeful. The lyrics are a little silly considering the weight of the previous songs’ content. Despite this, the song is cohesive, and catchy. Its upbeat tempo and strong drum-work by Freese make it danceable and contribute to what is ostensibly a great rock song.

When the allmusicguide refers to “Enemies” as overeager, one can see why, given its introductory guitar riffs. However, heavy punk drums and the return of that style of emotion-laden power-vocals mean that “Enemies” is going to be a fast-paced ass-kicker of a song. The key-change in the latter half of the song is particularly engaging.

“A Wish” seems noodly at first, with a simple piano melody and sporadic drums, which build into a cohesive roll. Billy’s close-mic’d vocals are low and wispy. The lyrics are simple and personal, without collapsing too far into purple prose. The groove maintained by the drums, and the piano melody hold the song together for its short duration.

“Ritual” takes a similar approach, vocally, to “A Wish.” A mysterious set of counter-melodies gives this one a little more to chew on for listeners. Without much difference between this and the previous song, musically, it maintains the melancholy mood with some more good music.

At last, the single “The Stone” follows, with a somewhat clichéd intro that bursts into yet more clichéd, but faster riffs (cool dissonance notwithstanding). Freese’s driving beat helps build anticipation of the chorus, which is a dramatic burst of swelling guitars that borrow (if only subconsciously) from film scores. Unfortunately, after hearing the chorus, the following verses make one impatient at having to wade through them before the chorus returns. Despite that, the chorus of "The Stone" carries the song (and perhaps even the the whole album) by it’s sheer might. Yes, might.

“The Prey” feels more electronic than any other track on the album, borrowing some of its melodic style from the mainstream. An interesting feature of the track is a slightly detuned, high-pitched guitar line which plays intriguing little melodic riffs over top of the rhythm tracks and vocals. It works as a strong counter-point to Billy’s vocals. The mood of the song is more of joyous than any of the other tracks.

The final track “Sword” has a dissonant piano melody as its intro, with a subtle cello (which grows to become less subtle) just underneath. The cello switches to the top of the mix, sounding vaguely offkey over the piano’s dissonant tones. The intro gives way to a driving, throbbing bassline which recalls the Tapeworm toss-away “Passive” that was released on APC’s cover-album eMotive. The entire song takes this approach, and hits hard, throbbing and driving until it all drops away about five minutes in revealing a gentle vocal line over top of the same introductory piano melody, which sounds more beautiful the second time around.

Bottom line: This album will require some uncomfortable adjustments for fans of A Perfect Circle, but if given a chance, it will show itself to be the same great song-writing that we have come to expect from Billy Howerdel, despite the lack of MJK’s strong lyrics and vocals. It’s a solid album, with the last eight of its eleven tracks being quite strong (having three mediocre tracks open the album seems to be a tactical error). Still, with one transitional album under his belt, perhaps Mr. Howerdel's future efforts will be more confident vocally and musically.