Disco de The Mars Volta: “Amputechture”

The sheer challenge and inaccessibility of the music makes people either love or hate Mars Volta, and loving them is an increasingly difficult job. The band's reach is so vast and diverse that fans seem to have broken into two camps - De-Loused vs. Frances. I love both those albums, but I fall into the camp that worships the expansive musicianly fury of Frances. Amputechture is considerably quieter and more subdued than Frances, and the renewed focus on Cedric Bixler-Zavala's emotional but twisted vocal melodies make this album more comparable to De-Loused. Also, read the reviews here carefully because many of the unfavorable ones are obviously from people who only listened to the album once or twice, and judged it too quickly. Many of the reviewers who are praising the album implore you to let it sink in slowly. I couldn't agree more, because I was initially disappointed by Amputechture's drowsy slide away from the violent mood swings of Frances. But after a dozen listens, Amputechture has won me over, proving that once again Mars Volta are probably the one band on Earth who are most successful at challenging both themselves and the listener. These guys take the term "progressive" seriously.

The songwriting and directorship of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is astonishing in quantity, knowledge, and ambition, and no mere human should be able to create full new Mars Volta albums every 18 months, plus a solo album and a few other side projects along the way. The top half of Amputechture is musically insistent, but rather quiet and vocal-oriented. The musicianship remains challenging, and the unhinged Latin lullaby "Asilos Magdalena" is a pleasant surprise. The band finally starts rocking out in "Viscera Eyes," and a nearly funky groove pops up in "Day of the Baphomets," and these tracks are reassurance for lovers of Mars Volta's rock side.

However this album shows some signs that Omar might want to take a short break from his hyper-creativity, because the King Crimson-like prog elements are starting to get a little repetitive in places. The focus on constructing the album as a whole, which was a real strength on both the previous albums, has resulted here in some songs that are all middle but lack beginnings or endings ("Vicarious Atonement" and "Meccamputechture" are two very obvious examples). Meanwhile, the musical skills of the band members (including Omar) are frequently getting lost in longwinded noodling. This applies especially to the unsung hero of Frances, drummer Jon Theodore, who recently left the band (fans will soon lament his absence). Fortunately, these issues don't damage the believability of the songs or the overall performances. Mars Volta remain tough to love, but their progression into the outer reaches of rock are still intensely rewarding for the thinking (make that the obsessive) listener. [~doomsdayer520~]

Being a massive progressive rock fan, I have FINALLY gotten around to checking these guys out. I was kind of weary because things get so overhyped these days with people proclaiming "this is the greatest band ever" or "the greatest film ever". But luckily, these gentlemen are fantastic. I wished I had checked out them earlier, because this album is pretty damn amazing. The intensity and musicianship are all there, the equivalent of the 1970's British prog rock bands. The comparisons of The Mars Volta to Floyd, Crimson, Rush, Yes, and ELP are all justified in my opinion. It's really cool to see bands like The Mars Volta with ambition and a touch of insanity to make such cool music like this. I love the mood piece that opens the album, Vicarious Atonement, and the epic, 16 minutes plus slasher Tetragrammaton. I saw them perform this song on youtube, and I knew they were the real thing. Tetragrammaton has become one of my favorite prog rock songs of all time. I also dig Day of the Baphomets a lot. It has a lot of free jazz, Crimson/Coltrane elements in it that make me feel the same way when I listen to Ascenion and later Crimson (the Red album especially). Many have called The Mars Volta self indulgent and over the top, which I feel is way off base. Honestly, after decades of underachieving, mediocre performers, we can use a band like this. I really love this album and am looking forward to buying their first two, Deloused and Frances the Mute.

The signature riffs of the archetypical Mars Volta epic, have a tendency to subdivide time into jagged, angular chunks and phrases which, after being executed with laser-guided precision for three or so repetitions, start to sound not unlike a giant robot dancing. This is not to say that the resultant sound is displeasing; rather, the band has achieved a surprising amount of mainstream success by somehow reconciling the myriad differences between the bombast of 70s psychadelic prog and the urgency of late 90s post-hardcore.

The best moments of their full-length debut, De-Loused In The Comatorium, realized a perfect balance between those two conflicting schools. The songs had enough depth and complexity to warrant repeat listenings, while still managing to steer clear of 12-minute keyboard solos. The band's second album, Frances The Mute, suffered from a greater dose of self-indulgence - there were half as many songs, which meant the ambient noise interludes were twice as long. There were plenty of memorable moments, but it was questionable if the time spent waiting for them was worth it.

This brings us to their latest effort, Amputechture. While their trademark sound remains mostly intact, it's still evident early on that something is missing. Jon Theodore's gymnastic drumming is a less integral part to the songs themselves, instead relegated mostly to superfluous fills (in fact, there are no drums at all in three of the eight songs here). Likewise, the upper extremities of Cedric Bixler-Zavala's soaring falsetto, are reserved for occasional harmonies and octave doubling, instead of taking the main stage where they belong. Still, there's no doubting the band's ability to rock; one just can't help wishing they had restrained themselves a little less.

This time around, they've contained the unnecessary solos and lengthy segues more than on their previous offering, but they still need to learn to edit a bit more. Cutting the first and last songs for instance, would still leave Amputechture with a solid hour of quality material. The most memorable moments are still worth the price of admission, though: the magnificent 16-minute "Tetragrammaton" is equal parts Mahavishnu Orchestra and classic Queen. Likewise, the half-Spanish, half-English "Viscera Eyes" is as close as the Mars Volta comes to a straight rocker, with its sublime chorus saturated in blaring horns, side by side with crisp guitar riffing reminiscent of Rage Against The Machine.

In the end, although the overall arch of the disc is a little lopsided, the good parts still easily outweigh the bad. While it would be pointless in just rehashing the best moments of De-Loused, it would still be nice to see more recognition of the elements that made it such a successful album. It's still a good album from a great band, and if their live set includes a smattering of songs from Amputechture this time around, I won't complain.

Who would have thunk it? The Mars Volta have finally out-"mars volta"-red themselves. Some of the songs on this LP are so far out that they make the previous two albums sound like a dress rehearsal. Cedric out-does himself in the vocal department with impish almost spooky melismatics while the rest of the band take you on a 76 minute roller-coaster ride that speeds up around 'Tetragrammaton' and peaks around 'Day of the Baphomets' (this track is almost danceable at some points and it is so hard to resist). I will risk angering the naysayers by stating that this is TMV's best work to date. Thanks to this album most of the other bands I listen to avidly sound bland and mundane.

BUT, this album ISN'T for everyone. You have to be a veritable nutcase to really get carried away by it (and who wants to be sane anyway).Buy it NOW.

From the languid opening minutes of "Vicarious Atonement" you can feel the newness and energy pulsing from this beautiful beast, but fear not...the harm inflicted on your innocent ears is the sweetest pain you will ever know. Having slightly scaled back the meandering silences and cryptic lyricism of last year's brilliant and trying "Frances The Mute", TMV have created yet another sprawling, head swelling, expansive masterwork that adds new jazz and funk overtones to their already heady, swirling mix of Latin Rock/Metal/&Classical music. Omar and Cedric have outdone themselves in the arranging department this time, showing a penchant for weird, shapeshifting arrangements and careening tempo and time changes that leave most bands and listeners shaking their heads in utter amazement, and shame.

This music will be pored over and dissected ages from now. But it will never yield all its secrets, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.