DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM

I've owned this album for over a decade now - it is still one of my all time favorites, and the accessibility is undeniable. There really is something special with this mix of dance inducing rhythmic spice we find here. I remember when i used to play this album in the car in high school, this was literally the only album my little sister actually seemed to enjoy that i owned - there is a universal appeal to the energy this album gives off. So well built are the pieces that hold it all together, the bass and drums really carry this jazzy latin punky experience. Like the albums that followed there is some spacey doodling, but unlike the couple to follow, this one stays firmly grounded thanks to ideas that don't over stay their welcome and one again that core of drums and bass. The guitars are free to roam about, as is the sound sampling. and the vocals do ride a fine line between great and just too sharp to be enjoyable. Later on in the bands' career the vocals are a real problem for The Mars Volta see everything from the Bedlam album and beyond.

When i first joined this site i declared myself a Mars Volta fan though this album alone, the first i'd heard from them. I longer consider myself a fan of the band, but i am a huge fan of this particular album. The band really took a nose dive in more recent years and i refuse to listen to the god awful outings that came toward the end of the life of the band, but this one is a land mark of progressive music and i have seen it referenced all over the internet, both in and outside of progressive music enthusiast circles, i'm definitely not the only person to think so.