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The Mars VoltaAlbums ReviewedRelationship of Command (2000)Deloused in the Comatorium (2003) Frances The Mute (2005) At The Drive InRelationship of Command(2000)I'm pretty much completely unfamiliar with this El Paso Texas post-hardcore band, and despite listening to Relationship of Command, more than a dozen times, I still have little to say about it, apart from hauling out clichés like "ass-kicking". The group's sound captures the intensity of something like Rage Against The Machine without sacrificing musical intelligence; the band are eclectically adventurous and feature huge melodic hooks on songs like 'Cosmonaut' and 'Quarantined'. 'Invalid Litter Department' builds from gentle and atmospheric pop, while Iggy Pop guests on background vocals on 'Rolodex Propoganda'. The British (and New Zealand) edition adds an extra track ('Catacombs') at the end, although it's easily one of the weaker pieces here. Relationship of Command was the group's final album before they splintered into two factions; one guitarist and rhythm section formed Sparta, while the guys with Hispanic names formed notorious neo-proggers Mars Volta. I'm not sure what else to say about this, except more clichés like "one of the best albums of the new millennium"; I'm trying to hurry through this so that I can tackle the borrowed Mars Volta catalogue, but hopefully I'll come back and add something more insightful. 
 The Mars VoltaDeloused in the Comatorium(2003)At The Drive-In favoured concise post-punk songs, with clearly defined verse-chorus structures. Although their spin-off band, The Mars Volta, feature the same guitarist and same vocalist, they favour lengthy and intense epics, stretching into eight or twelve minute songs with loosely defined structures and plenty of instrumental sections. Further features of the Mars Volta sound include a more fluid lineup - apart from vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavaka and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the rest of the band is less settled, and Flea is the bassist for this entire record - and a sound that is closer to betraying the group's Hispanic origins with plenty of percussion. It's produced by Rick Rubin, who with eighties rap albums, Johnny Cash and plenty of rock luminaries already under his belt, must be gunning for some sort of eclectic resume award. Deloused in the Comatorium features lots of texture, lots of angst vocals, lots of interesting rhythms, and lots of loud-soft dynamics. To my mind, however, it's somewhat short on diversity, vocal and instrumental melodies and hooks, all things that their parent band had in abundance. The Mars Volta are a love it or hate it band, not surprising since they're not aiming at three minute pop hits, and lines are divided clearly; on one hand a groundswell of popular support that allows them to headline music festivals at the other end of the world, and on the other a wave of critical negativity led by Pitchfork. They're an example of a muso band rather than a critic's darling - like the opposite of the White Stripes. Guitarists and drummers will marvel at the Mars Volta's admittedly awe inducing technique, while critics will be happy to overlook Meg White's distinct lack of virtuosity in light of that group's charisma and conceptual intelligence. This isn't an album where I'm even able to pick out favourite songs - most of them segue together, and if you're like me most of them blend together as well. 'This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed' would have made a decent At The Drive-In song, and the prologue section is pretty cool, but apart from the occasional nice passage this album mostly just leaves me cold. Deloused in the Comatorium is far from worthless - it's certainly not at a Blink-182 level of atrocity - but it doesn't connect with me at all. And I love Yes, King Crimson et al, so I'm not one of those Pitchfork bandwagon hoppers either. Maybe this was just a starting bump - their next record is certainly far more engaging.
Frances The Mute(2005)The Mars Volta's sophomore album was inspired by their sound technician Jeremy Ward, who overdosed shortly after Deloused In The Comatorium was released, and based on a journal he found while working as a repo-man. I complained about Deloused In The Comatorium being over the top, and Frances The Mute is more extreme than its predecessor, with just five songs (the last is irritatingly spread over eight tracks), including the 32 minutes of the epic closing track 'Cassandra Gemini'. And there's still plenty of messing around with effects pedals and dead spaces in the middle of songs, yet this album's more engaging and less monotonous than its predecessor. Mostly because it's more eclectic; there's a more diverse range of instruments, with clavinets, saxophones, trumpet (played by Flea), Tom Waits-like monologues, and orchestration, courtesy of Beck's father David Campbell, all thrown into the mix. While Latin influences were present on Deloused, 'L'Via L'Viaquez' is the group's most explicitly Latin influenced track yet, even going as far as using Spanish lyrics. The guitar work is even more impressive than the debut, with guest John Frusciante contributing some blistering solos to 'L'Via L'Viaquez' and Jon Theodore's drumming is often outstanding. As you may have noticed by the fact that I've already cited it twice, 'L'Via L'Viaquez' is my favourite song here. It may remind me of Robert Christgau's dismissal of Yes' Close To The Edge ("They segue effortlessly from Bach to harpsichord to bluesy rock and roll and don't mean to be funny") but the jumps from aggressive guitar to orchestrated Latin are often captivating. The single 'The Widow' is a nice accessible piece, while the half-hour of 'Cassandra Gemini' all but justifies its length with its diverse instrumentation, coalescing into a surprisingly accessible epic. Countering this, 'Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore' is basically five minutes of ambient orchestral noise, a passable three minute song, and then another five minutes of noodling. The Mars Volta are awesome when they're playing fluently and throwing in diverse influences, but Cedric Bixler doesn't have a great voice for slow ballads and their drawn out soundscapes often lose me. This band has a masterpiece in them somewhere, but they may need an editor to help them find it; there's potentially a terrific 40 minute album on Frances The Mute, but at seventy five minutes it's too diffuse to be effective. Love the cover art though.
Scab Dates (2005) New live album - I have trouble following their studio albums, so my chances of liking this seem pretty infinitesimal. |
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Written 2001-2009, Graham Fyfe
