I’m sure most rock fans out there have heard of the band A Perfect Circle. The guitarist, Billy Howerdel currently has a new project out called ASHES dIVIDE. Their debut album, “Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright” was released 2 days ago on April 8th.

I’ve since acquired the album and gave it a few listens. The guitar work, which is great, is very reminiscent of A Perfect Circle, it is heavy yet subtle as well as ethereal and moody. It is definitely alternative rock, but I don’t know if people call anything that anymore.

The album was played almost entirely by Howerdel; guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals. Drum duties were handled by prolific session drummer and also former A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese. So as a whole, I like the album so far, my only minor problems with it are that the vocals seem too produced and have too many effects on them. The other problem in my opnion is the drum sound. You can’t really hear much of what Freese is playing, and the bass drum level seems to be turned down really low.  A Perfect Circle’s debut album, “Mer De Noms” also featured Josh Freese’s drumming, but you could hear everything that was going on with it there…nuances, ghost notes and every part of each fill.

Overall, “Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright” is a good record, I just don’t know if its something I will personally keep listening to for a long time. Time will tell I guess.