FRANCES THE MUTE

Four and a half, really - so I rounded it to five. Just got the album and only listened to it twice, so I can only offer my overall impressions. One main thing that I noticed, it that the album is conceived as one long track - one is never too sure where one track ends and other begins, and more importantly, where the album ends and where it begins - you can run it continuously on your CD player, and it'll play seamlessly, because the beginning and ending are the same - I haven't tried that yet. In the light of that, the individual tracks are less important, less identifiable, and sometimes seem to be somewhat stretched out. However when one considers the whole work, it all fits in well. Overall, the sound is dark, sometimes dissonant and heavily layered, using a real orchestra in a few places. However the band seems to have a good sense of melody, which saves the album from being an "unfathomable mess", like one reviewer has put it. The influences range from Zeppelin and Crimson at their most experimental - without losing the contemporary feel - to Latin salsa! There are plenty of experimental, almost cinematic interludes between vocal tracks giving one a chance to rest from the sonic assault and reflect on what's going on. The harmony is sometimes simple and at other times sophisticated, but the complex arrangements keep things interesting. The lyrics are nightmarish and abstract, like images in a nightmare, flowing without punctuation. The whole thing is 76+ minutes long. Very impressive, but I still think the previous album was a bit better - tighter, less experimental. But this is still an amazing, if mind-boggling, piece of work with plenty of sophistication and artistic vision. It seems to me like a highly evolved form of alternative/prog-metal/art- rock/hard-rock. The Mars Volta compares favorably against bands like Dream Theater and Radiohead or The Tea Party who are either hopelessly lost in anachronisms or too desperate to sound radio-friendly. This is a band to watch out for - they breathe life back into the brain-dead rock music scene.