Artist: The Mars Volta
Album: Octahedron
Year: 2009
Grade: 4 pretzels
After many long years, the Mars Volta have finally returned to recording something that resembles music. Now, of course, that’s far too harsh of a criticism towards their earlier work, but the Volta have certainly been a major source of musical frustration over the years for me. Rising from the ashes of the Texas-based At The Drive-In, the Volta have released five albums over the course of this decade, which have ranged from explosively brilliant (2003’s De-Loused In The Comatorium) to infuriatingly indulgent and dull (2006’s Amputechture). With their thirteen-minute songs, extensive guitar solos and love of concept albums, the Mars Volta have seemingly picked up the mantle of progressive rock, that long-dormant behemoth of a genre that many thought had been buried at the end of the 70s. However, there are many who ask whether the Volta resurrecting prog-rock (which has since become a sort of dirty word in music circles) was a good choice or not. While the boys in the Volta have given us plenty of reasons to be worried in years past, Octahedron is a surprisingly coherent album for them and taps into the promise the band first showed.
The creative partnership of guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala is in full force on Octahedron, meaning lots of pyroclastic guitar soloing from Rodriguez-Lopez, while Bixler-Zavala’s stratospheric falsetto wailing slices through the noise. The Mars Volta have never really been about calmness, but Octahedron succeeds because the boys manage to find ways to be surprisingly subtle in spite of their well-documented tendencies towards explosive sound. They’ve stated that Octahedron is their “acoustic album” of sorts and despite all the rampant electric guitar, you can definitely hear what they’re talking about. Their songs are built on a very solid foundation of chord progressions and guitar riffs this time, instead of monolithic drum patterns and guitar solos. Even Bixler-Zavala, who basically screams non-stop on previous Volta albums, has some impressive moments of vocal restraint, such as the opening “Since We’ve Been Wrong”, which is surprisingly melodic and…well…catchy. The Mars Volta? Catchy? Wha?!
Of course, the fiery rock that fans are expecting to hear is still present all over the album. “Cotopaxi” is a particularly awesome rock song, with a snaking, unusual time signature and ferocious tempo. Remember, these guys are a prog-rock band. You’re gonna get a lot of crazy shit. But it’s a testament to the Volta that they make the aforementioned crazy shit work so well on Octahedron. The ominous guitar effects and Bixler-Zavala’s occasionally deadpan vocal performance make “Teflon” another highlight for the rock-minded listener. Of course, you’re still subjected to bizarre lyrics like “stack the tires to the neck with the body inside,” but that’s what you’re signing up for with a Mars Volta album.
However, the heart of this album definitely lies with the quieter numbers. The beginning of “With Twilight As My Guide” actually resembles Metallica at their most melodic and quiet. However, unlike Metallica and even previous Volta songs, it never reaches that climactic moment where all hell breaks loose, even though you think it’s inevitably heading in that direction. It’s just a genuinely calm ballad and it succeeds completely. The album does begin to stumble a bit in the home stretch, with the limp shimmy of “Desperate Graves” being of substantially lesser quality than the other material on the album. However, the dynamic closing song, “Luciforms”, does a valiant effort trying to balance it out. Octahedron is far from perfect, but it’s a remarkable return to an earlier form for the Mars Volta. I know their more batshit insane albums have plenty of fans, but I’ve never counted myself among their ranks. Octahedron is the Volta’s first album since their debut that I can listen to without rolling my eyes. It also happens to have some pretty fantastic music on it. I’d like to say that I had faith that the Volta would make an album like this, but I’d be lying. Instead, Octahedron is a major surprise from a band I’d written off, perhaps unfairly, long ago. Touché.
The creative partnership of guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala is in full force on Octahedron, meaning lots of pyroclastic guitar soloing from Rodriguez-Lopez, while Bixler-Zavala’s stratospheric falsetto wailing slices through the noise. The Mars Volta have never really been about calmness, but Octahedron succeeds because the boys manage to find ways to be surprisingly subtle in spite of their well-documented tendencies towards explosive sound. They’ve stated that Octahedron is their “acoustic album” of sorts and despite all the rampant electric guitar, you can definitely hear what they’re talking about. Their songs are built on a very solid foundation of chord progressions and guitar riffs this time, instead of monolithic drum patterns and guitar solos. Even Bixler-Zavala, who basically screams non-stop on previous Volta albums, has some impressive moments of vocal restraint, such as the opening “Since We’ve Been Wrong”, which is surprisingly melodic and…well…catchy. The Mars Volta? Catchy? Wha?!
Of course, the fiery rock that fans are expecting to hear is still present all over the album. “Cotopaxi” is a particularly awesome rock song, with a snaking, unusual time signature and ferocious tempo. Remember, these guys are a prog-rock band. You’re gonna get a lot of crazy shit. But it’s a testament to the Volta that they make the aforementioned crazy shit work so well on Octahedron. The ominous guitar effects and Bixler-Zavala’s occasionally deadpan vocal performance make “Teflon” another highlight for the rock-minded listener. Of course, you’re still subjected to bizarre lyrics like “stack the tires to the neck with the body inside,” but that’s what you’re signing up for with a Mars Volta album.
However, the heart of this album definitely lies with the quieter numbers. The beginning of “With Twilight As My Guide” actually resembles Metallica at their most melodic and quiet. However, unlike Metallica and even previous Volta songs, it never reaches that climactic moment where all hell breaks loose, even though you think it’s inevitably heading in that direction. It’s just a genuinely calm ballad and it succeeds completely. The album does begin to stumble a bit in the home stretch, with the limp shimmy of “Desperate Graves” being of substantially lesser quality than the other material on the album. However, the dynamic closing song, “Luciforms”, does a valiant effort trying to balance it out. Octahedron is far from perfect, but it’s a remarkable return to an earlier form for the Mars Volta. I know their more batshit insane albums have plenty of fans, but I’ve never counted myself among their ranks. Octahedron is the Volta’s first album since their debut that I can listen to without rolling my eyes. It also happens to have some pretty fantastic music on it. I’d like to say that I had faith that the Volta would make an album like this, but I’d be lying. Instead, Octahedron is a major surprise from a band I’d written off, perhaps unfairly, long ago. Touché.
Your musical taste fails, Frances The Mute is one of the most important musical masterpieces of this century, along with Deloused In The Comatorium.
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