The Mars Volta

The Mars Volta were a polarizing band by very conception, springing forth from the imploded shell of At The Drive-In, a band posthumously celebrated for the influence they would have surely had on rock music if they'd only stuck around. Now that the Volta has won over a fanbase rabid enough to make mainstream magazines imagine the band as spiritual leaders, screechy singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and production wiz Omar Rodriguez-Lopez are pretty content to pander to their base. Accordingly, most people who think Mars Volta are the best band around will be thrilled by Amputechture -- the same way that Phish fans and Deadheads would generally go down whatever "epic" rabbit holes their respective bands spent hours leading them into. If you're already on the trip, by all means, stay on it.

For those not sold on the Volta's previous full-lengths, Amputechture may well be more like a houseguest that never leaves. They are an ambitious and accomplished band, but they are not surprising -- not anymore -- and that's where they derived a lot of their early punch. Their default setting remains, "Throw it all in there!" On the new record, they have found an enthusiastic new companion in Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante, who gets to flex his chops, play some towering riffs, and even bring the funk. But even when they make soft forays into Latin-brushed balladry, the inevitable and often insufferable wankery leaps from the shadows by the end.

"Vicarious Atonement" kicks the album off with sharp guitars and ambient gloom, then expands into the bloated "Tetragrammaton," which beaches the album before it ever gets out to sea. Like a lot of its surroundings, it's free-jazzy and oddly timed, and it kicks up a ruckus, so it leaves a general impression, but lacks the specificity to linger. It's an endurance test from there on, but to be fair, there are undeniable flourishes peppered throughout -- whether the oddly admirable magnitude of the self-indulgence on hand, a particular phrase sent zinging through Bixler-Zavala's falsetto blender, or the simple thrills of a stray pedal or effect hitting the perfect mark. For those who enjoy peeling the onion in order to learn its secrets, or walking along the beach with a metal detector, those bits of transcendence may provide enough lure. - Adam McKibbin, The Red Alert

The Mars Volta are continual contenders for the mantle of most experimental high-profile metal group, along with System of a Down, an artist they've toured with but who usually sell 20 times more records. Mars Volta aren't as popular, not because their riffs are less memorable or innovative but because their cycle of musical buildup and release, although similarly jarring, can last at least 20 minutes instead of System's two. (It's the difference between having a background in acid rock and having one in thrash.) While the early reports on third album Amputechture commented that the duo of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez had learned a few lessons about silence and forsaken the concept album, don't believe it. The album is little different than their two previous atom bombs, De-Loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute -- tense and anxious, continually pushing the boundaries of extreme production, with long periods of dynamics that rise ever higher, followed by an explosion of release (usually screaming hard rock with storms of atonal brass and horns). The album opens with "Vicarious Atonement," five minutes of spectral effects and piercing guitar that gets a boost at the beginning of the next track, "Tetragrammaton," and then blooms into full riffing glory after a few more minutes (and they're still nowhere near the end of the 16-minute track). John Frusciante, eccentric genius from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, returns on guitar, but Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez exert so much control over the sound of Mars Volta that Frusciante makes virtually no individual impression on this record, although most of the guitar work is his. (Granted, his presence leaves Rodriguez-Lopez open for more intricate work on production.) The Mars Volta are one of the most intriguing bands in rock, but their huge musical power is often deflected by Bixler-Zavala's conceptual themes (which are difficult to follow, but also, perversely, impossible to ignore) and blitzkrieg dynamics that are either dialed down to one or up to ten (but rarely in-between). ~ John Bush, All Music Guide