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Amputechture
Released: Sep 12, 2006
Label: N\A

{$The Mars Volta} are continual contenders for the mantle of most experimental high-profile {\metal} group, along with {$System of a Down}, an artist they've toured with but who usually sell 20... Continue[+]

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{$The Mars Volta} are continual contenders for the mantle of most experimental high-profile {\metal} group, along with {$System of a Down}, an artist they've toured with but who usually sell 20 times more records. {$Mars Volta} aren't as popular, not because their riffs are less memorable or innovative but because their cycle of musical buildup and release, although similarly jarring, can last at least 20 minutes instead of {$System}'s two. (It's the difference between having a background in {\acid rock} and having one in {\thrash}.) While the early reports on third album {^Amputechture} commented that the duo of {$Cedric Bixler-Zavala} and {$Omar Rodriguez-Lopez} had learned a few lessons about silence and forsaken the concept album, don't believe it. The album is little different than their two previous atom bombs, {^De-Loused in the Comatorium} and  {^Frances the Mute} -- tense and anxious, continually pushing the boundaries of extreme production, with long periods of dynamics that rise ever higher, followed by an explosion of release (usually screaming {\hard rock} with storms of atonal brass and horns). The album opens with {&"Vicarious Atonement,"} five minutes of spectral effects and piercing guitar that gets a boost at the beginning of the next track, {&"Tetragrammaton,"} and then blooms into full riffing glory after a few more minutes (and they're still nowhere near the end of the 16-minute track). {$John Frusciante}, eccentric genius from {$the Red Hot Chili Peppers}, returns on guitar, but {$Bixler-Zavala} and {$Rodriguez-Lopez} exert so much control over the sound of {$Mars Volta} that {$Frusciante} makes virtually no individual impression on this record, although most of the guitar work is his. (Granted, his presence leaves {$Rodriguez-Lopez} open for more intricate work on production.) {$The Mars Volta} are one of the most intriguing bands in {\rock}, but their huge musical power is often deflected by {$Bixler-Zavala}'s conceptual themes (which are difficult to follow, but also, perversely, impossible to ignore) and blitzkrieg dynamics that are either dialed down to one or up to ten (but rarely in-between). ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

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Amputechture - BONUS TRACK
Released: Aug 7, 2006
Label: N\A

{$The Mars Volta} are continual contenders for the mantle of most experimental high-profile {\metal} group, along with {$System of a Down}, an artist they've toured with but who usually sell 20... Continue[+]

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{$The Mars Volta} are continual contenders for the mantle of most experimental high-profile {\metal} group, along with {$System of a Down}, an artist they've toured with but who usually sell 20 times more records. {$Mars Volta} aren't as popular, not because their riffs are less memorable or innovative but because their cycle of musical buildup and release, although similarly jarring, can last at least 20 minutes instead of {$System}'s two. (It's the difference between having a background in {\acid rock} and having one in {\thrash}.) While the early reports on third album {^Amputechture} commented that the duo of {$Cedric Bixler-Zavala} and {$Omar Rodriguez-Lopez} had learned a few lessons about silence and forsaken the concept album, don't believe it. The album is little different than their two previous atom bombs, {^De-Loused in the Comatorium} and  {^Frances the Mute} -- tense and anxious, continually pushing the boundaries of extreme production, with long periods of dynamics that rise ever higher, followed by an explosion of release (usually screaming {\hard rock} with storms of atonal brass and horns). The album opens with {&"Vicarious Atonement,"} five minutes of spectral effects and piercing guitar that gets a boost at the beginning of the next track, {&"Tetragrammaton,"} and then blooms into full riffing glory after a few more minutes (and they're still nowhere near the end of the 16-minute track). {$John Frusciante}, eccentric genius from {$the Red Hot Chili Peppers}, returns on guitar, but {$Bixler-Zavala} and {$Rodriguez-Lopez} exert so much control over the sound of {$Mars Volta} that {$Frusciante} makes virtually no individual impression on this record, although most of the guitar work is his. (Granted, his presence leaves {$Rodriguez-Lopez} open for more intricate work on production.) {$The Mars Volta} are one of the most intriguing bands in {\rock}, but their huge musical power is often deflected by {$Bixler-Zavala}'s conceptual themes (which are difficult to follow, but also, perversely, impossible to ignore) and blitzkrieg dynamics that are either dialed down to one or up to ten (but rarely in-between). [The Japanese version of {^Amputechture} includes a bonus track.] ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

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Scab Dates
Released: Nov 8, 2005
Label: N\A

{^Scab Dates}' accompanying photography is a frenetic blur of instruments and sweaty hair. Singers stand on amplifiers, and keyboardists stare intently at the veins popping in their hands; drummers... Continue[+]

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{^Scab Dates}' accompanying photography is a frenetic blur of instruments and sweaty hair. Singers stand on amplifiers, and keyboardists stare intently at the veins popping in their hands; drummers reach over snares to tweak guitar strings, and saxophones appear out of the ether. It's an accurate portrayal of {$the Mars Volta}'s collagist sound, their subtitled and bullet-pointed {\avant} {\metal} that increasingly seems like the soundtrack to a film only {$Omar Rodriguez-Lopez} can see. Still, even at their most insular (some would say self-indulgent), {$the Mars Volta} seethe with intensity. {^Scab Dates} proves this. Most of the more wandering elements of {^De-Loused} and {^Frances the Mute} disappear for this live document, replaced by hails of screaming organ, increased thump to the rhythm section, and {$Cedric Bixler-Zavala} showing off the insane volatility in his voice. They still get jammy in places, but the extended guitar solos and softer textures lead to inevitable explosions. As nothing's ever been traditional with {$the Mars Volta}, it's no surprise that their live albums aren't, either. The songs flow seamlessly and take subtitled digressions just like the studio records. In the liners, {$Rodriguez-Lopez} describes how {\field recordings} he made while on tour found their way into the mix, and there are no "How ya doin', Phoenix?!" or "Let me see you <i>jump</i>, San Diego!" from {$Bixler-Zavala} to discern where the songs were recorded. All you get are dates -- "recorded between May 2004 and May 2005" -- and the occasional bit of crowd chatter to tell you this is live. (Well, the sound quality is a little off, too -- sometimes the drums sound terribly flat.) This means that {^Scab Dates} is yet another intriguing window into {$the Mars Volta}'s world, instead of just a live album holdover. Highlights include {&"Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt"} and the {^Comatorium} highlight {&"Cicatriz,"} which becomes {^Scab Dates}' epic closing suite. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

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L' Via l'Viaquez
Released: Aug 2, 2005
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The Widow - CD #1
Released: Jul 12, 2005
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The Widow
Released: May 10, 2005
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Frances the Mute
Released: Mar 1, 2005
Label: N\A

{$The Mars Volta}'s 2003 debut was a dense, experimental run-on sentence of science fiction and musical exploration. But though it ultimately rewarded patience with stretches of unbuckled {\rock &... Continue[+]

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{$The Mars Volta}'s 2003 debut was a dense, experimental run-on sentence of science fiction and musical exploration. But though it ultimately rewarded patience with stretches of unbuckled {\rock & roll} genius, {^De-Loused in the Comatorium} was also a maze-like and obtuse migraine dealer that made people frustrated and crazy. For 2005's {^Frances the Mute}, {$Omar Rodriguez-Lopez} and {$Cedric Bixler-Zavala} worked principally with their touring band, but "joining the band for selected moments" are strings, horns, electronic programming, pals {$Flea} and {$John Frusciante}, and the coqui frogs of Puerto Rico. There are no song breaks, making the track listing more of an outline. But {^Mute}'s printed lyrics are a helpful guide, a map of {$Mars} that's meant to both direct and fascinate. "She was a mink handjob in sarcophagus heels"; "Don't be afraid when all the worms come crawlin out of your head"; "they were scaling through an ice pick of abscess reckoning and when Miranda sang everyone turned away...." -- perhaps the only match for the cerebral weirdness and eventual beauty of {$Mars Volta}'s lyrics is their music itself. The roar of {$Rodriguez-Lopez} and {$Bixler-Zavala}'s {\post-hardcore} past is fully locked away, replaced by an equally powerful flair for expressive percussion, intricate vocal harmonies, and extended solos for electric guitar (as on the initial part of {&"Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus"}). Sure, there are moments on {^Mute} that reach the grandiose heights of heavy music -- {&"L'Via l'Viaquez"}'s ear-splitting changes will blow back your hair. But the same song is sung half in Spanish, half in English, and its flashes of heaviness fall between stretches of Afro-Cuban rhythm. Other portions of {^Frances the Mute} are murky and distant, like {\field recordings} from the ocean floor, while still others shift drastically between brittle acoustics and a stuttering, guitar-led volatility that threatens to crack open the earth. Its constant shifts mean the record is claustrophobic and even dizzying; it demands perseverance. But it's great when a blast of a trumpet cuts through a gloomy moment, and {$Bixler-Zavala}'s vocals are a thread to reality. For example, while his lyrics for {&"Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore"} and {&"Widow"} are mysterious poems, he sings them with a fervor that's immediately identifiable. That passion is evident throughout {^Frances the Mute}; it's the organic fever that was buried on {^Comatorium}. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

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The Mars Volta
Released: Nov 23, 2004
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Televators
Released: Apr 6, 2004
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Intertiatic ESP
Released: Mar 23, 2004
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The Mars Volta

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