EL GRUPO NUEVO DE OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ - CRYPTOMNESIA

While I appreciate the relentlessly prolific nature of Omar Rodriguez Lopez during his solo career, essentially setting himself up as an artist who just loved to make music and release a ton of it to the world, I cannot deny that it led to a few points in his discography where there were just stretches of mediocrity and unsuccessful experiments. With that said, stuff like Cryptomnesia is what makes those less engaging parts feel all the more worth it, because this is such a bold, exciting album that feels so much more insane than most other things I've heard. Not only have you got the main duo of The Mars Volta, with Cedric being the vocalist here, but you've also got the relentless drumming talents of Zach Hill on top of it all to provide a far more frantic, chaotic energy than even anything Bedlam in Goliath could muster, turning the brutal prog influence of that album into the entire approach and aesthetic surrounding this one. Each song is essentially composed of noisy, bizarre guitar melodies with a wall of abrasive, brickwalled synths and impenetrable drum fills, with some vocals being buried within the mix, occasionally taking centre stage for those moments that want to further solidify the passionate performances on display and even somehow manage to be really fun and catchy on occasion. While it's definitely not a style that everyone can get behind, especially when all the most extreme elements of the genre come into play, feeling closer to a wall of incomprehensible noise as opposed to anything a bit more digestible and coherent, I personally adore it in general and think that Omar's take on the style is admirable with how far he's willing to go with it.

The way the tracklisting plays out here is also really neat, with Tuberculoids immediately setting a precedent by not even having a vocal melody that sticks anywhere close to the rest of the instrumentation most of the time. It feels surreal and disorienting, but works perfectly for being this instant wake up call about this album being A LOT. Following this up with Half Kleptos and the title track is also a very cool idea, bringing in a slightly more accessible take on the genre, especially with the really fun, groovy rhythms of Half Kleptos, before thrusting the listener into the deep end with the unmatched bombardment of intensity with the last few minutes of the title track. Past this point the album completely loses the plot, songs blending together in a mad flurry of drum bashes and whirring sounds with little to no differentiation from one track to the next, just the pure essence of the most uncompromising stuff that Omar has dabbled in for a solid 15 minutes, making the silence to follow this feel deafeningly quiet. Definitely not an album for everyone, but if you like your music to be absolutely off the wall and relentless, then you need to listen to this.

Best tracks: Half Kleptos, Cryptomnesia, Warren Oates