OCTAHEDRON

I've heard all of the Mars Volta's previous four studio albums countless times and couldn't wait for the release of their fifth, OCTAHEDRON. I'll be honest, the first time I heard it I was quite disappointed. I thought: "Wow! TMV have really stripped back their approach...but it's boring as $#@& !" Well, the more I listened to OCTAHEDRON the better it got! I found myself really rocking-out to the songs "Teflon," "Halo of Nembutals," and "Desperate Graves." Highlights include the tracks mentioned above in addition to "Copernicus" which is MUCH more different than any other TMV song and is certainly my favorite *slow song* of theirs. The only real problem I have with OCTAHEDRON is "Luciforms" which is not only a bad closing number, but it also feels like Omar and Cedric hurried the song and recorded it the minute after they finished writing. Otherwise, I don't see any (immediate) issues in Omar and Cedric's songwriting on this album--I've never had a *bad* experience with Mars Volta CDs, though! :) If you are a fan of TMV, like me, you will probably enjoy many aspects of OCTAHEDRON, but if you are a newcomer or someone who hasn't liked TMV since the beginning, then OCTAHEDRON is not recommended as a good starting point and probably won't *convert* anybody to TMV fandom. GRADE: A- (89%)