Be-gone all you post-Comatorium Volta Haters

On reading through Mars Volta reviews - there appear to be essentially 3 different views - (1) those who love all their music (dudes!), (2) Those who simply hate all of it (I can understand that - it really is like marmite - all those falsetto vocals and exhausting music is not everyone's cup of tea and I respect that),
BUT (3) Those who say they really like Deloused in the Comatorium, but hate everything after that - this I don't understand - WHY?

Deloused is a really great album (a masterpiece infact).  I guess I was lucky in that I acquired "Frances the Mute" first (which remains my favourite) - and so didn't end up comparing everything else to Deloused.

Why do you want tMV to always sound like their first album - how are they supposed to live up to that?

Aren't bands allowed to progress and experiment with new styles? - I mean other bands on this website would be hideously criticised for not moving on....

Why not try to review each album in it's own righjt - and not compare with Deloused all the time - annoyingly saying each album is never as good!

I reckon a new listener should not start with Deloused - other

I like the first two albums most but I'm not repelled by noise. I'm repelled by the way the singing has gotten so ridiculous and the composition so self-indulgent that it parodies their early, better work.

I do still try to stay up-to-date on their music because I'm sure they'll do something else I like at some point.

well... Deloused is their best, clearly.

Frances is pretty neat and a worthy followup.

Amputechture sucks.  It just does.  It's bad.

And Bedlam is a slight return to form, but it's too much noise, too little songwriting.

I respect and understand your views - though I'm not sure the singing is any more 'ridiculous' than it always has been.  Though I do miss the Spanish used in "Frances the Mute" to be fair.

What about the new drummer though - awesome isn't he?  Beats the heck out of too much bass-pedalling and blast beats that are used in metal.  With the new drummer they have taken a new direction that is more funky and well worth listening to.  High pace funk?  Never really heard that sort of sound before, quite new.

As for the noise in "Frances the Mute" (thanks for your good opinion Moatilliata) - nobody ever moaned when Pink Floyd produced lots of noise!

PF never used so much noise that that you couldn't tell what the actual song is, which is a rampant problem on Bedlam.

Well I like Frances.  A bit overlong, and way self-indulgent (in the not so good way) as all their albums are, but still quite a good album.

And I have to say it, they must have the worst lyrics I've ever heard.

schizoid_man77 wrote: A little off topic, but my friend burntme their first and last album. I've heard the bedlam enough to know that the music and compositions are really cool, but too action packed, and too much going on in order for me to listen to it even half way through. Is De Loused like this? If o I'll probably listen to it eventually, but I cant say that I'll be able to enjoy it s much as the more chilled out/layed back music I love so much.

De-loused is a funny thing. It is just as intense or near enough as Bedlam, but it is intense in such a way that you don't have to turn the volume down throughout the whole thing. It might be something to do with the huge break in the middle of Cicatriz, but i don't know. Any volta fan will tell you this.

And amputechture does not suck at all (referring to above comment). It's got two incredible songs (Tetragrammaton and DOTB) with two brilliant atmospheric pieces (Vicarious Atonement and El Ciervo Vulnerado). The rest, i agree, aren't too good, but that shouldn't bring the whole album down. I think they were just lazier on Amp than in genial work like Frances The Mute.

I'm really looking forward to the next album actually, some really promising stuff there. Omar said that it was acoustic, so we can expect a mellower release. It would be nice to hear this side of the Volta and for christ's sake, bring back the epics! The one thing i disliked on Bedlam is that no song exceeded 10 minutes, which i loved about them because they can 'alf dish out a great epic!

As for post-De-loused material? Frances is fantastic, Amputechture has some utterly untoppable moments and Bedlam is nice in small doses. I think that rances is their magnum opus however, and i even prefer it to De-loused.

schizoid_man77, a piece of advice: before listening to De-loused as a whole, listen to Televators, Take The Veil from about 4:30 onwards and the mellower sections of Eriatarka if you're into chilled out music

Pnoom! wrote: well... Deloused is their best, clearly. Frances is pretty neat and a worthy followup. Amputechture sucks.  It just does.  It's bad. And Bedlam is a slight return to form, but it's too much noise, too little songwriting.

PinkPangolin wrote: As for the noise in "Frances the Mute" (thanks for your good opinion Moatilliata) - nobody ever moaned when Pink Floyd produced lots of noise!

I like everything except the new one, blech!