Category Archives: Mars Volta

The Mars Volta

Overview
In 2003 The Mars Volta waged war on the music world with their debut album “De-loused in the Comatorium” in the same way that King Crimson did in 1969 with “In the Court of the Crimson King.”

Crimson’s “In the Court of the Crimson King” was completely revolutionary when it came out. There was nothing that sounded anything like it, and it pushed the boundaries of music farther than they had ever been pushed. It took almost 35 years for another band to come on the scene with the same level of innovation, transmogrification, and fearlessness, and that band was The Mars Volta. Just listen to the lead off tracks from Crimson’s Debut and Mars Volta’s “Frances the Mute”. They speak for themselves. “21st Century Schizoid Man” kicks in at about 30-seconds into the song, and “Cygnus…Vismund Cygnus” kicks in at about 45-seconds into the song.

Click here to listen to 21st Century Schizoid Man
Click here to listen to Cygnus….Vismund Cygnus

I’m not saying that there weren’t other inventive and creative progressive bands during that 35-year gap; there certainly were. King Crimson launched the progressive rock music movement in the early 70’s, and bands like Yes, Genesis, ELP, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, and Van De Graaf Generator were all cranking out truly groundbreaking and fantastic music, but that scene was really pioneered by Crimson. Then you had Neo-Prog in the 80’s and prog metal in the 90’s, and progressive rock continues today in an almost countless number of incarnations. I’m not knocking Progressive rock. It’s by far my favorite genre of music, but in a way it has become more of a regressive genre, rather than a progressive genre, because the music that these bands are playing are mostly just variations of a style of music that King Crimson invented back in 1969.

In terms of sound, The Mars Volta’s music is progressive rock, but it also combines elements of punk, Latin influenced music, metal, jazz fusion, and every other imaginable genre of music, and they combine all of these styles without sounding regressive or derivative at all; their sound is 100% original and truly groundbreaking.

Styles and Genres
Progressive Rock

Current Band Line-Up (2011)
Omar Rodríguez-López – guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
Cedric Bixler-Zavala – lyrics, vocals (2001–present)
Juan Alderete – bass guitar (2003–present)
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez – percussion, synthesizers, keyboards (2003–present)
Deantoni Parks – drums (September−November 2006, 2010−present)
Lars Stalfors – sound manipulation, keyboards (2009–present)

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The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium- 2002
RMR Album Rating- 9

Wait a minute, I thought progressive rock and punk rock were supposed to be opposites— even enemies, right?

This is not the case with “De-Loused in the Comatorium” or the Mars Volta in general. “Deloused” is absolutely a progressive rock album, and it possesses all the key elements needed for a great one (chaos, crazy time signatures, abstract and ambiguous lyrics—and it’s even a concept album!) But, take all of these critical progressive rock elements and add the aggression and speed of punk rock. Imagine taking the 1980′s sound of Washington DC’s hardcore punk scene and combining it with Yes’ “Close to the Edge”. Then, throw in elements of Latin music, jazz, and improvisational jamming. Stir all this up into a cauldron that is bubbling over with inventiveness and excitement, and the result is “De-Loused in the Comatorium,” the debut album from the Mars Volta.

Let’s start with the concept of this album. I will be the first to admit that I love a good concept album, but I will also be the first to admit that a huge number of concept albums are awful. The worst concept albums are the ones that put the concept (the story) of the album before the music, and these albums normally end up sounding overly cliché. The best concept albums are the ones that are built around a central story or theme but don’t bog the album down with it. In other words, it’s great if there is a concept behind the album, but the album should be able to function independently of the concept, and this is the case with “De-Loused in the Comatorium”. In fact, the lyrics are so abstract and ambiguous, they are virtually impossible to follow even if you know the back story. For those who are interested, here’s the short version of back story as I understand it:

Cerpin Taxt, the central character, goes into a coma because of a drug overdose (or, he may have intentionally drank rat poison; I’ve heard it explained both ways). Anyway, he goes into a coma, and while he’s in the coma, he has wonderful mental experiences and thoughts, which he considers far superior to the life he had outside of the coma. Once he regains consciousness, his real life doesn’t live up to the artificial experiences he was having in the coma, so he commits suicide by jumping off an overpass into oncoming traffic. The songs don’t explain the story like a narrator would, so it’s all very confusing. If you’re interested, you can download the 22-page story, but even it is very dense, which I like because it leaves some interpretation open to the listener or reader.

As for the songs, they all run together into one continuous piece of music. There aren’t really any breaks between the songs, but there are amazing lyrical and instrumental hooks throughout the album, which will help you keep track of where you are in the album. In fact, almost every song has a hook that will completely grab you, if you give the album time. My favorite lyrical section is the “Now I’m Lost” section from the song “Intertiatic E.S.P.”

Click here to listen to Son Et Lumiere>Intertiatic E.S.P.

But, the album is bursting with lyrical hooks, my other favorites are the “exoskeletal” section from the song “Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)” and The “respirator” section from song “Eria Tarka.”

Click here to listen to Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
Click here to listen to Eria Tarka

Lastly, I love the “page of concrete” section from the song “Televators.” “Televators” is the calmest song on the album, but it is also the climax of the album, in that it deals directly with the central character’s suicidal leap off of the bridge. The lyrics and word play that are used in the song are nothing short of amazing, and I would highly recommend reading the lyrics while listening to “Televators.” As I mentioned, the lyrics are amazing and a true work of art.

Click her to listen to Televators

I’ll close by saying that this is not an album for undiscerning ears, and if you’re not willing to invest the time in many, many repeated listens, I wouldn’t waste your time with this album or the Mars Volta for that matter, but if you are willing to invest the time, it will pay off, and I highly recommended the record for those who like challenging music.

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The Mars Volta Noctourniquet- 2012
RMR Album Rating- 9

With the exception of Octahedron, Noctourniquet is The Mars Volta’s most accessible album; however, it is still loaded with complex and experimental music, and untangling each of its songs is equivalent to straightening out each strand of the Gordian Knot.

Noctourniquet, like many The Mars Volta albums, is a concept album. The central concept that runs through many of the songs deals with the unhealthy, and sometimes abusive, relationship between children and their parents, and the concept is maybe best described as the idea that “children should be seen, not heard,” which is also a lyric from the song “Aegis.”

The sound of Noctourniquet is completely unique; however, it does resemble a cross-pollination between their last release (Octahedron), and their first album (De-Loused in the Comatorium). As for the instrumentation and playing, I read somewhere that Omar did everything possible to make his guitar sound like anything and everything except for a guitar, and he definitely succeeded, as in most instrumental sections, it is difficult to discern what instruments are actually creating the sound. There are also loads of new musical elements that The Mars Volta had not incorporated on previous albums. For example, there is a very industrial sound that starts “In Absentia,” which is new musical territory for the band. Plus, there are a lot of unique echoing techniques used throughout the album, which give many of the songs an almost house-music vide— not at all in the hip-hop sense, but just in the way that house-music often creates this kind of pushing and pulling rhythm. The final element of the sound is Cedric’s lyrics and vocals. Cedric is quoted in one of his video interviews saying that he had been “long-winded” and used a lot of “complicated sayings” on previous albums. He went on to say that he wanted to be more lyrically straightforward on Noctourniquet, but to me, his lyrics are as complex and ambiguous as ever, which I like. His lyrical ambiguity also masks the concept of the album, so the story is able to stay behind the scenes and not overpower the album.

As for the songs, the album can really be broken down into three types of songs: aggressive, mellow, and experimental. The aggressive songs like “The Whip Hand,” “Aegis,” “Molochwalker,” and “Zed & 2 Naughts” hold some similarities to past The Mars Volta songs, especially some songs from De-Loused in the Comatorium. The mellow songs like “Empty Vessels Make The Loudest Sound,” “Trinkets of Pale Moon,” “Vedamalady,” and “Noctourniquet” remind me of tracks off Octahedron, but these tracks take that slower mellow sound that the band forged on Octahedron and make it more complex, unconventional, and exciting. The experimental songs like “The Malkin Jewel” and “In Absentia” show The Mars Volta continuing to push their boundaries, especially on “In Absentia,” where the song transitions seamlessly from heavy industrial style rock, to echoing spacy atmospheric rock, to this strange bend of pulsating house-music style rock, and as different as all those sound elements seem, they all fit perfectly together inside the song

My favorite songs on the album are “Aegis,” “Empty Vessels Make The Loudest Sound,” and “In Absentia.” I think each of these songs represents the peak of its respective song group on the album. “Aegis” represents the aggressive song group. “Empty Vessels” represents the more mellow song group, and then “In Absentia” represents the more experimental song group.

Click here to listen to Aegis
Click here to listen to Empty Vessels Make The Loudest Sound
Click here to listen to In Absentia

Overall, Noctourniquet continues to push The Mars Volta’s sound into new and uncharted territories, but it maintains and even improves on many of their past sound elements. In my opening remarks, I commented that this album is one of their most accessible releases to date, but a better description of the album might be that it is their most concise album to date, for it is still complex and experimental— it just experiments with a greater sense of control and vision.

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