The Mars Volta: let us remember them as they were.

I bought my brother a CD for Christmas, but he already owns it. So I kept it. I'm writing a review of it now. I dedicate the review to Scott "Hoffy" Hoffmann, since I suspect nobody else will be interested.

Enjoy!






Artist: The Mars Volta

Album: Amputechture

Label: Universal Records







The Mars Volta. Oh, how the name used the thrill me. The possibilities! The complexities! They stood apart from everyone. They were untouchable. They were...a lot better than Amputechture.

This is their third album, following De-loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute. And, I am very sorry to report, I think it continues their downward slide.

As you know, TMV is the product of one half of At the Drive-In: singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Omar writes the music, Cedric writes the vocals, and off they go. The group also features badass Jon Theodore on drums, Isaiah Ikey Owens on keyboard, someone awesome on bass, and (for some reason) John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But basically it's Cedric and Omar's show.

As for the lyrics on this album: I don't know what they're about. It's a little sad, but the whole Cedric crazy lyrics thing is getting tired. All of it feels old and played-out already. Just the usual creepy techno-babble and body parts strewn around. Probably the worst example is "Day of the Baphomets," one of my favorite songs, because it just reuses words from the B-side "Plague Upon Your Hissing." Cedric receives a C for this album.

The music fares just a little better. Again, the slow, quiet verses and guitar-riff choruses: we've heard them before. When they take a new direction, it's often very bad. Take the first and last tracks, "Vicarious Atonement" and "El Ciervo Vulnerado": they try something different. They try staying quiet, slow and whispery all the way through.

Let me pause here to share Tony Storti's criticism of TMV: often the rocking moments are not worth it when compared to the non-rocking. All we want here is for you to rock. Do not stop and mutter. Do not stop and mellow. Do not stop. Do not give us songs like these. We do not want them.

This brings me to the good parts of the album: "Day of the Baphomets," parts of "Meccamputechture," "Viscera Eyes," a little bit of "Vermicide," and most of "Tetragrammaton." When TMV cuts loose and just rocks, man, it is really cool. I mean, "Day of the Baphomets" is essential 12 minutes of rocking out. It's great. For that reason, I'll give Omar a B on this album. When they want to, they can still bring the rocking. If only they'd make a whole album of it, straight through. Enough with the mellowing out.

So I guess overall the album gets a B-/C+. It's better than most stuff out there, but don't lose your copy of De-loused in the Comatorium.

Coming soon: a review of a superior album that I got for Christmas.

In other news: class has started. This semester looks so, so painfully easy. And I need to write about 1 1/2 monologues by tomorrow, or soon, for UD Monologues. We'll see how that goes.

Love,

Steve