FRANCES THE MUTE

This album is one of the most interesting releases of this decade. I have never heard a band more experimental or risky in its sound. The music is great, the sound effects are very interesting, if a bit overdone at parts. The only problem I have with the band is its leaning towards Indie rock.

Most of the band came from the indie group At The Drive In. I hate At The Drive In because there are no interesting twists and turns to the music, no change, just the same indie rock with some good guitar solos and terrible singing.

Cedric Zavala is defferantly a unique singer. His high register is a little annoying, but people have the same complaints about Geddy Lee and Jon Anderson. Cedric is a little higher than either of them. However, his interesting delivery and frequent use of vocal effect synthesizers is a deffinate redeption for his high and somewhat EMO voice.

Omar A. Rodriguez Lopez is one of the best guitarists I've ever heard. Take John Mclaughlin, Robert Fripp and Allan Holdsworth, mix them in a blender and speed it up and you have Omar. Simply incredible. He's also a very good composer. He never does solo's in a way that seems like he's saying "Look at my magically fast fingers! Don't you wish you had robot fingers like me?" They all sound good, its not just up and down the scale over and over again like alot of 'fast guitarists'. He uses alot of delay pedal effects in a way that has never been done before. He has a digital delay for a colder, more mechanical sound and an analog delay for a warmer sound. Anyone who plays guitar and uses any of the newer delay pedals knows how hard it is to use those things and make it sound good. I have alot of respect for this guy.

The drummer is very good and reminds me most of the drummer for Mahavishnu Orchestra. They have very similar styles and are both very talented.

I have to give a warning, I'm not sure that this album will be a hit among the older crowd. I would give the band a listen first before buying any albums. The song "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" off of their first album is free to listen to on this site and it is a good sample of what they sound like. If you enjoy the song then by all means get this album. Its very good. The only downfall is the vocals, and with all the other great sounds in the band, its very easy to look past the vocals.