THE MARS VOLTA

After some repetetive listening, I caught their music deeper there. No, everything is OK, great musicianship, crazy mixes, melodic, even acoustic pieces. In fact - same Mars Volta. But this time all this is placed not on the surface, but under the skin. So, you just must to try harder to understand this album's music. Then you will find everything you expected from true Mars Volta album.

Knowing great band's potential, I evaluate this album still as one of their worst. Not enough concentrated (for 76 min length), a bit too psychedelic, and the sound is only very average. But it doesn't mean that the album is bad. It just not as great as some other their works. Just 3,5, but rounded till 4 ( for one of the greatest heavy prog band of last decade).

I cant barely notice anything in this album that makes it inferior to its two antecessors De Loused and Frances. Amputechture is still a 5 stars albums for several reasons: very creative melodies, astonishing guitars and soundscapes, nice drumming and vocals, there is no weaker track until the end. Vicarious atonement is an appropiate opening of atmospheric soundscapes, leading the way to Tetragrammaton, one of the powerful and epic tracks, it could be a song from the Frances the mute album! The same for Meccampucthecture, which also presents nice sax compliments. Asilos Magdalena is a beatiful song and the band returns to the spanish language with this one. The progression of a romantic to a space, dark song is awesome. Vocals full of effects. Viscera eyes is very easier to listen to than most of the other songs, but also deserves its merit. The lyrics is in spanish and some parts in english. Day of Baphomets and el ciervo vunerado are simply the examples of what hard prog is.

At last, maybe the concept is not that much. After De Loused, it will be really difficult to a band create another album with such an intelligent and curious concept. This album is still essential and one of the greatest prog albums from 2006.

My introduction to The Mars Volta was their previous album, The Bedlam In Goliath. That was one of the worst albums I've ever experienced in my entire life, and every second of it made me cringe. I was hesitant in buying the new album by The Mars Volta, but since I'd heard that Octhedron showed a softer side to their music, I figured it was worth a shot.

Let me say that I am really glad I gave this a try. This proved to me that The Mars Volta are more than just self-indulgent mindless noise. This showed me that they have a melodic side and that they have talent as songwriters - two things that are impossible to see through the unlistenable mess of The Bedlam In Goliath.

While it is true that some of this album can get boring, and some of it is bland and organic, this is a really good album. This doesn't make me an instant fan of the band, but it shows me that they are very capable musicians. I don't think that Octahedron is a great prog album, or even one of the best of 2009; but it is a solid album from beginning to end. I really like the soft acoustic sound that is played on this album, and I think the band can shine as musicians more this way. They still show their heavier side on a few songs, but this is generally a soft album.

THE MUSIC:

"Since We've Been Wrong"- After an unnecessary one and a half minute period of silence, the first notes of the album enter. It shows a much different side of he band than the previous album. I really like the softer approach to this song, and I like the acoustic instrumentation in contrast to the melodic electric guitar. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I enjoy Cedric's vocals here. This is a really good song from beginning to end. The entrance of drums and mellotron near the end is excellent, and it shows great progression throughout the song. If more Volta songs were like this I would be a fan of the band. "Teflon"- After the solid opener, this opens up with a drum beat. This goes into a fairly annoying verse, but it gets better. This has some good melodies and riffs throughout. I like the overall rhythm of the song. The vocals can get a little annoying later in the song, but this is a solid composition.

"Halo of Nembutals"- The first minute of this song is just noise, but after that this is one of the best songs on the album. This is very melodic with solid riffing. The vocals fit the mood of the song perfectly. I really like the melodies on this song, and it proves how capable these guys are. This is one of the most inspired Mars Volta songs I've heard.

"With Twilight As My Guide"- I like the acoustic feel to this song, and this has really good melodies. This has an atmospheric feel to it, mostly because of the hypnotic acoustic guitar notes. Parts of this song can get a little boring, though.

"Cotopaxi"- The previous song was fairly boring, but this is fast and upbeat. I really like the fast guitar riffing. This is a high quality riff, and it makes for a high quality song. The vocals, drumming, and guitar playing are all great. This proves that all heavier Mars Volta songs aren't just mindless noise. One of my favorites from the album.

"Desperate Graves"- This is an upbeat song with a solid chorus. Not all of this song is that solid, and the verses fail to grab me. The catchy chorus is enough to make this a good song, though.

"Copernicus"- This song is 7 and a half minutes, and it gets pretty repetitive. It never really does anything new, and it can lead to some serious boredom. I like the addition of piano near the end, but the electric drums near the middle don't fit in the context of the song. Overall, this is probably my least favorite from the album.

"Luciforms"- This song is pretty irritating and never gets much accomplished. The vocals are self-indulgent and annoying. This doesn't feature any good riffs like much of the album, and this leads to a disappointing end. This has a weird feeling throughout, and it's decent. They should have ended this with one of the earlier songs, though.

Conclusion:

Octahedron is a really good album by The Mars Volta. This doesn't have the various flaws that killed its predecessor, and this album comes recommended from me. I don't think it's really above average, but it still is an enjoyable album. I'm going to give this a 3 star rating, as I think this is really good, even if I don't consider it an excellent album. This is recommended for people looking to get into The Mars Volta, as I think it's one of their best.

3 stars.

Anyway, it doesn't mean this album can get away un-criticized. A major problem for me is the ear-damaging loud mastering, or over-compression of the sound to be precise. Other reviewers have pointed it out already, this sort of mastering is said to be more successful for an iPod or Radio play onslaught, but actually, on an iPod this even sounds worse. In less then 20 minutes I get completely weary from the lack of dynamism and the harsh sound; especially the drums are downright awful, completely botched. The guitar is deprived of body and the bass lacks oomph. I usually tend to reserve this kind of energetic stuff as car music (yes I'm a road-pirate), but this album doesn't stand a chance there. I'll go bumping into old ladies before me in no time.

It's a shame really, as the songs are very good again and an improvement over the previous album, though that one still might grow on me. This stuff oozes dynamic rhythms, groove, great bass lines and those exquisite cacophonous and dissonant sounds that spice up my roasted steak.

A second critical point is the album's length. Music with this amount of intricacies and intensity is ideally consumed in 40 minute portions. (Yes I'm a sucker for the good old 45 minute album length). 75 minutes of it, even as inspired as they come here are simply too much, even ignoring the awful sound. TMV is a pedantic and overindulgent band indeed, but so are all great Prog bands. Favourite bands of mine like Porcupine Tree and Anekdoten don't have those indulgent leanings but I rather regard those as Rock with progressive elements, rather then true Prog Rock.

Let's try to rate this one mathematically using my 4 rules of thumb for assessing music:

Personality: 5 stars. No arguing about it. These guys swallow in it.

Passion: 3 stars. This is intense music, but doesn't give the thrills I got from the first two albums. Sometimes it feels like posturing.

Song Quality: 4 stars. Only one issue here, lack of self-control

Musicality: 1 star. Sure they play excellently, but this concerns the final product, the production being part of that. As explained it is the worst possible mishmash. I'll rarely listen to this.

13 divided by 4, that's ... let me think ... I need help here!

4(+), to be honest, I came to this album after reading two reviews that dragged this album down with 1-star rating. I though that I'll do the same thing, but instead, I'm praising it.

But come to this album carefully, as it's not for everyone. This is why I rate with 4.

I have heard so many great things about The Mars Volta. They are praised from reviewers here at PA, they're always mentioned on the forums, and I was always being told I needed to hear their music. I was told that if I'm into heavier music (which I most certainly am), I would love The Mars Volta.

The Bedlam In Goliath was my response to this request. I saw it for $8.99 at my local record store, so I figured I'd just give it a shot. What was there to lose? In reality, there was a lot to lose. I might as well have burned that $8.99, rather than having my ears tortured by this disastrous album in addition to wasting my hard-earned cash.

When I first popped this in my CD player I was really wondering what people could possibly see in this sloppy excuse for an album. The lead singer has the most annoying voice I've ever heard. It's constantly in your face and irritating. The songwriting is uninspired, lacking in dynamics, and completely unlistenable. The lack of melody and quality riffs really keeps this from being an intriguing or enjoyable album. I just can't listen to this album from beginning to end. I try, but I fail and put something more listenable on.

The musicianship isn't very good at all either. As I mentioned, the vocals are extremely irritating and annoying. They are overdone and too "in-your-face" to the point where it's not even listenable. The drumming is horrendous as well. I think before each recording session Thomas Pridgen must have had 10 doses of caffeine pills, 12 cups of coffee, energy drinks, and a 2-Liter bottle of Mountain Dew. He is all over the drum kit, hitting everything he can in the course of 5 seconds. While this can usually be a good thing, most times it just doesn't fit the music on this album, and comes off as a sloppy and poorly done job. None of the other musicians do anything memorable, but the singing and drumming is just horrendous.

Up until about one week ago, I put this album away, and never planned on listening to it again. I've listened to it two or three more times recently, trying to be fair with how I would rate this album. I've tried, but I just can't give this disaster more than my lowest recommendations: a one star rating. Even that feels like too much sometimes. If the zero star was still available on our rating system, this would be a perfect contender. I just can't find anything that makes for a rewarding listening experience here. Without sounding too nice, there are a few decent moments. Occasionally there will be a nice chord progression or solo, but these are rare. On an album with a painful 77 minutes in length, this is irrelevant, though. A few minutes of redeemable music can't save this album, especially when no single song is great from start to finish.

It's really a shame that this album is so terrible. I bought their first album De-Loused In The Comatorium, and I thought that was a really good album. It showed me that The Mars Volta is much better than they come across as on this sad excuse for an album. To write the rest of this review (unfortunately), I had to listen to this album from start to finish and state my opinion of each song (which you can guess, are not positive).

THE MUSIC:

"Aberinkula"- The first song opens with a "BANG!" if you will, and it does nothing for me. The vocals are horrendous and annoying, and the rest of the musicians don't do anything special. The main riff is decent and this has a kind of cool instrumental section near the end. I almost enjoy this song at times, but all chances of me enjoying this album are destroyed later in the album.

"Metatron"- The last song ended with some of the best moments of the entire album, but this entire song reminds me why I dislike the album. This is one of the most annoying songs I've ever heard! The vocals are horrendous as usual, and this is irritating musically. This makes me cringe from beginning to end. The fast punk-ish main rhythm is just painful and cheesy. This is absolutely awful.

"Ilyena"- After the pretty terrible first two songs, this is (kind of) like a breath of fresh air. This has interesting rhythms and basslines. The drummer does a surprisingly good job throughout most of the song, though sometimes I wish he'd relax a bit. His drumming does not fit the mood of some of this song. This has a decent melody, which is a rarity on this album.

"Wax Simulacra"- By this point of the album, I'm usually bored out of my mind, and this song doesn't help. Cedric's vocals are irritating, and the music does nothing special. This is a song that strikes me as a waste of time.

"Goliath"- For one of the first times on the album, we are shown a decent riff. The drummer does a good job, though I'm still not even remotely a fan of the vocals. This has a decent melody, and it one of the best songs on the album. This has some awkward transitions, but as a whole this song is actually listenable, which trust me, is a plus on this album.

"Tourniquet Man"- For a change of pace, this is a slower piece of music (with no drumming ? thank God!). This song isn't memorable or noteworthy, but at least it's not quite as annoying as other songs here. Cedric really irritates me in this song, though. I really wish he could tone down the effects, and prove to me that he actually knows how to sing without annoying voice effects.

"Cavalettas"- At almost 10 minutes you might expect this song to do SOMETHING interesting. Well, you would be wrong. This is filled with different riffs and melodies, but none of them ever grab my attention. This is just 10 minutes of pure noise. I know I've said I don't like Cedric's voice at all, but this is one of his worst performances on the whole album. It's really a shame that the songwriting is so bad, though. The guitar playing is pretty good on this song. The effects throughout this song really annoy me, though.

"Agadez"- This has a kind of cool opening after the disastrous previous song. Most of this song sounds like one of those songs that I'd hear on the pop radio station, though. The songwriting is really uninteresting and the vocal melodies are far too predictable. This is really boring.

"Askepios"- This song has a really good instrumental section in it that proves that The Mars Volta know how to write songs. A good amount of this is still uninteresting, but the section beginning around 2:00 in is really good. It's a shame they didn't use a similar formula throughout more of the album. After the short instrumental section, the rest of the song doesn't do anything special. This song is especially disappointing because it has potential.

"Ouroboros"- This opens with a really fast and interesting Latin-tinged riff. I actually like Cedric's vocals here. This song is actually pretty good, though at some points near the middle the transitions seem disjointed. This song is decent from start to finish.

"Soothsayer"- A lot of this song sounds avant influenced, and it's actually really good! Sometimes this can drag on, but this has some good moments. I wish Cedric's vocals wouldn't have been distorted, though. I think it drags down the overall quality of the song.

"Conjugal Burns"- After the short, but good, opening, this song turns for the rest. If the entire song would have built off of the first notes of the album, I would have liked this song. The first minute or so is interesting, but after that it just progresses poorly between riffs, and does nothing worth listening to. A really poor way to end the album.

Conclusion:

The Bedlam In Goliath is a really terrible album, in my opinion. I've tried to be as fair and respectful as I possibly can during this review, but I just can't find any redeemable qualities whatsoever in this entire album. If you're looking for heavier music, there is so much great prog metal out there that you should experience before wasting your time with this disaster. Apparently there are a lot of people here that really enjoy this album. Needless to say, I am not one of them. This is only recommended to people who are die hard fans of The Mars Volta, or if you're looking for an unintelligent assault on your ears.

1 star.

This was my last The Mars Volta-album and I haven't really felt tempted to listen to The Bedlam In Goliath or Octahedron due to the mixed reviews those albums have received. Over the years Amputechture has received a lot more of my attention than Frances The Mute but neither of the two releases can match the times that I've listened to De-loused in the Comatorium. I can't really blame the band for pushing their sound in all these new directions which is something I would have liked to see done by most of the giants of prog-rock. My only complaint is that their products are not working for me and that's why I chose to move on and explore other exciting bands.

***** star songs: Day Of The Baphomets (11:56)

**** star songs: Vicarious Atonement (7:19) Vermicide (4:15) Viscera Eyes (9:23)

*** star songs:Tetragrammaton (16:41) Meccamputechture (11:02) Asilos Magdalena (6:34) El Ciervo Vulnerado (8:50)

This was remark had a neutral tone to it but after reading a couple of extremely positive reviews and listening a couple of more times I started to feel positive about Frances The Mute. In retrospect I guess it's safe for me to say that it was an over-hyped experiment gone wrong. The album features almost 80 minutes of material where about 30 of those minutes are just intros/interplays/outros which I got tired of after just a few spins.

Take for example Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore which is a 13 minute track that starts off with a whooping 4,5 minute intro and puts Pink Floyd to shame! The same track ends with a long outro doesn't make this much of a composition.

Don't get me wrong this album isn't terrible and does feature some great material but as an album experience it's definitely not as enjoyable as The Mars Volta's debut album so I cannot recommend it to anyone but the fans.

**** star songs: Cygnus... Vismund Cygnus (13:02) The Widow (5:50) L'Via L'Viaquez (12:21)

*** Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore (13:09) Cassandra Gemini (32:27)