''Headspace'' is the only album from the Canadian group Pulse Ultra. The album was released on July 16, 2002, via

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. A music video was made for the single "Build your Cages".

Music and lyrics

The opening track "Acceptance (Phase I)" has lyrics that mirror the aftermath of the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, and it includes the line "don't you see the skyscrapers? They're too big to bring down alone". However, the song was supposedly written before these events occurred, even though the album itself started being recorded shortly after the attacks.

Reception

''CMJ New Music Report'' wrote in 2002, "Founded in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1997, Pulse Ultra is an aggressive, yet melodic rock band that interestingly toys with prog à la

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

, but never loses focus on keeping its songs short and to the point. "Big Brother", the album's first official single, will please anyone who got off on the moody industrial tinges of

A Perfect Circle A Perfect Circle is an American Rock music, rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool (band), Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their ...

's "Thinking of You", while "Glass Door" is a full-throttle rocker in the style of

Ultraspank Ultraspank was an American nu metal band from Santa Barbara, California. They released two albums, a self-titled album in 1998, and a follow-up, ''Progress'', in 2000. The band disbanded shortly after the release of ''Progress'' in 2001 due to ...

."''CMJ New Music Report'', 24 Jun 2002 Brian O'Neill of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a mixed review, stating, "The Montreal-based outfit borrows heavily from the more avant-garde styles of Tool ("Put It Off"), and other moments are more firmly

rap-metal Rap metal is a fusion genre that combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables. History Origins and early development (1980s–early 1990s) ...

in nature ("Void" could be

Incubus An Incubus () is a demon, male demon in human form in folklore that seeks to have Sexuality in Christian demonology, sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. Parallels exist in many c ...

). While there's nothing wrong with drawing from many different sources—to be sure, the best music usually does—you still can't help but think of one thing when listening to ''Headspace'': contrived."

Track listing

# "Acceptance (Phase I)" – 2:55 # "Finding My Place (Phase II)" – 3:47 # "Put It Off" – 3:39 # "Big Brother" (featuring Stephen Richards) – 3:21 # "Never the Culprit" – 4:06 # "Slip in Sin" – 5:02 # "Prelude" – 1:10 # "Void" – 4:01 # "Build Your Cages" – 3:54 # "Tired" – 3:24 # "Interlude" – 1:23 # "Look Closer" – 3:52 # "Glass Door" – 3:38 # "Despot" – 4:49

Personnel

Pulse Ultra

* Zo Vizza – lead vocals * Jeff Feldman – bass guitar * Maxx Zinno – drums * Dominic Cifarelli – lead guitar ;Additional personnel *

Neal Avron Neal Avron (born December 31, 1965) is an American record producer, mixer, audio engineer, and musician. Working predominantly in rock music, Avron began working on records in 1993 and achieved his production breakthrough when he co-produced Ev ...

– producer *

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic range compression for molding mixes that ...

– mixing * Stephen Richards of

Taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...

- Guest vocals in "Big Brother".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Headspace (Album) 2002 debut albums Pulse Ultra albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Neal Avron