If there was just one word to describe the whole of What Normal Was, the latest from A Perfect Circle co-founder Billy Howerdel, it’d have to be “haunting”. Or maybe “evocative” is more fitting as it conjures up less a Gothic setting and more an expansive one. Which is exactly what WNW is. As massive sounding as What Normal Was is, it isn’t meant to sound like the aforementioned moody Alt of A Perfect Circle nor is it the more straightforward Alternative Rawk of Ashes Divide (Howerdel’s 2008 outfit). What you get with this collection of Electronic/New Wave-tinged sonic soliloquies is just Billy Howerdel being the most Billy Howerdel ever on probably the most (And maybe best?) Billy Howerdel sounding record of all.

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