Puscifer - Donkey Punch the Night

Puscifer's Donkey Punch the Night is a mischievous EP, with Maynard James Keenan and friends having a very good time with other people's songs and a few of their own.

First released in 2013, between full-length albums, it catches the project at its most playful and experimental. Keenan, best known for fronting Tool and A Perfect Circle, built Puscifer as a looser, stranger outlet, and here he is joined by core collaborators Mat Mitchell, who co-produced, and Carina Round, whose voice twines around his.

The headline act is a bold, theatrical run at Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, while their version of Accept's Balls to the Wall reshapes the metal anthem in Puscifer's own skewed image. Dear Brother and Breathe, the EP's originals, round out the first side.

Flip the record over and the songs are handed to a pair of remixers, with Drumcell and Silent Servant pulling Breathe and Balls to the Wall into shadowy, club-ready shapes. It is a reminder that this project has always cared as much about texture and atmosphere as it does about riffs.

Back on vinyl, it is a fun, slightly unhinged detour for Keenan devotees and a sharp snapshot of a band that refuses to sit still or play it straight.