Be-gone all you post-Comatorium Volta Haters

I mean: They should progress their sound, not completely alter it each album, because after a while, their sound will generally regress and become what it is now, a parody of their older material.  De-Loused was a very unique album, they should have kept that sound because it was their own, albeit, they could make small alterations every album, they should still base those off the original sound.  After De-Loused, they became much more "rehash-from-the-70's" - they actually had something new and original, but they threw it away.  It mixed punk, heavy atmospherics, salsa, funk, and jazz in one whole, coherent sound.  Frances separated all those to their own songs, a kind of watering-down effect. 

Edited by mecca - June 15 2008 at 13:15

Frances the Mute(or Francis the Brute?) is the album I don't have by them, but I really like their other 3, i would not say, that they are flawless, but certainly worth having. 

  I do not understand TMV nay sayers. To just abondoned a group that is putting out some of the most energetic and original music today. I think some people loved the first 3 albums because they were a bit more accesible. I love all there albums and claim Amputechture as my favorite and until the last album was released this album has gotten the worst reviews. I can only suggest to listen to it again and then again and then again. In other words it has what seems like and endless layering of melodies that provide endless replay value. I haven't listened to Bedlam enough to really compare it, but it seems to provide the same complexities without sacrificing melodic music. I think they may be getting better with age.

Yeah, lets kill those b*****ds!!!

Rocktopus wrote: debrewguy wrote: Rocktopus wrote: That's a genre thing that's got very little to do with nationality, PP. Very little american Avant/RIO (or folk, jazz  etc related prog) is cheesy. The cheese just applies to all those pompous/moronic progmetal-bands.  Or to those who apply overgeneralized and opinionated labels to music they don't get/like ? You sound like you think my overgeneralized opinionated label is wrong. Why?

I just want to toss in that I agree with you 100% rocktopus, prog-metal irritates the hell out of me and the only band from that genre I actually like is Dream Theater. But you are not in any way wrong.

Ok, now for the topic...

De-loused is genius, Frances is great, I haven't heard enough songs from Amputechture to make a decision on this album but the tracks I have heard already seem great. I think TBiG is a bit of a disappointment but it's nothing to hate the band for. They took a big step at experimenting with something new and they just failed at it, which has a big chance of happening when experimenting. There are some enjoyable tracks on this album like Goliath, Conjugal Burns, Ilyena, and maybe some others I can't remember at the moment. But there are songs that either completely disgust me (Ouroborous) and songs that just don't interest me.But I'm not giving up hope with this band since all they are doing is experimenting, and odds are that they'll probably experiment with some other sounds and end up turning out a great masterpiece that could actually shadow De-louased. PP made a great point with Pink Floyd with how Dark Side of The Moon being their treasure AND their 8th album, so why not TMV?

PinkPangolin wrote: Thanks Henry - anyone willing to make a bet on their 8th album being a "giant" They're working on it - building from the best elements of the past - and adding new - more of this building will come I guess from their forecast "acoustic" album And they are doing a soundtrack - doesn't this remind you of the Floyd ? - Obscured by Clouds was the one before Dark SIde, remember? Never heard a band play like this band before.....

Don't get me wrong, it's a possibility but I won't get my hopes up with that. Who knows if they'll even last that long. I mean, with all the people dying around them and going suicidal and sh*t, luck should never be a topic of any song they write because it doesn't seem they are familiar with it.

PinkPangolin wrote: 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 actually want progression. I find the debut very interesting (if a bit uneasy at some spots) with lots of potential. Frances The Mute for me was a failed experiment, with unnecessary amounts of non-music (tho I don't mind the dissonant organ in the poppy track) and an almost unlistenable epic. I think the third album is where they made some of their best songs and created a quite varied effort, tho the singer and the guitar soloing was getting a bit more annoying than usual.

It's the last album that is unlistenable. I just can't believe that they would do something like that and that many people would really call it a masterpiece. There are parts in that album that are among the worst, most irritating things I've ever heard. It sounds like they went so much into being 'out there' that they exaggerated most of their elements and as LaPlace put it, it sounds almost like a parody. It doesn't have what makes Telemagratton (spelling?) or eriatarka fantastic pieces of music.

I've just played "Bedlam" to one of my sons, who surprised me by saying (although sounding completely crazy) is some of the most structured music he's ever heard!!!!

Good comment from russellk - with you all the way...

Jealous of this too????....

PinkPangolin wrote: I've just played "Bedlam" to one of my sons, who surprised me by saying (although sounding completely crazy) is some of the most structured music he's ever heard!!!! Good comment from russellk - with you all the way... Jealous of this too????....

I would be but because of my ethnicity that hair is impossible for me to achieve no matter what I do. TMV's hair isn't THAT different from mine, with me having Hispanic origins. I can almost pull off something at least similar but I can't have the actual thing due to my Caucasian heritage. But I am still please with what I have, my hair is pretty juicy also. :)

edit: I should add in case there is any confusion I'm half Mexican and half German with some other random ethnicities tossed in there. I think I'm possibly Black Foot.


Edited by Henry_Hamilton_Smyth - June 21 2008 at 19:33

I don't think people are giving them enough credit for 'Bedlam...'.

Remember that they had a lot of material for that album that got because of studio flooding, stolen and missing tapes. Pretty impressive to still put something like that out in my opinion, considering all the hardships. It's like a band putting out on album when the tensions are rising between members or artistic differences are present.