DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM

The reason this album is essential is because out of all the bands (I may be sounding general) from the past few years, we've had nothing like The Mars Volta, NOTHING. The way Mr. Bungle was groundbreaking and original in the '90's is like the way The Mars Volta are the saviors of highly original and great music and playing this decade. Cedric and Omar broke up At The Drive-In to start playing what they really wanted to play, what they really wanted to put through their instruments from years of listening to groundbreaking music, they looked back on ATDI and treated it has the past and forged on with The Mars Volta, and they are truly remarkable, even more-so than the extremely solid At The Drive-In.

The first full-length release by The Mars Volta is one of the landmarks of prog, and the only reason to dismisss it is because you are super-glued to your roots and won't check out the culmination of all of the greats packed into one, The Mars Volta.

Son Et Lumiere hits a psychedelic stream of mood like Pink Floyd or Tangerine Dream before fragmenting into Inertiatic ESP, a full blown high octane ride swirling with jazz and fresh keyboards. The entire band has a great sense of melody and song structure and Cedric can hit notes as beautifully as any.

Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of) has one of the most blistering and groovy intros there is. Omar's guitar tone is girtty and clear, and his chords are so nasty and brilliant that they borderline offensive. The guitar as you can tell is used a lot for texture and less for repetitive riffing, much like Robert Fripp (whom Omar is always compared to). Everything swirls together very nicely in this song and it touches a lot of ground, and don't forget to listen to Ikey's keyboards!

Tira Me a las Aranas is a textured guitar piece with electronics in the background. It doesn't hit any real type of mood, but the spiraling nature of it is very moody and mixed. It quickly segues into...

Drunkship of Lanterns proves that Cedric is a highly intelligent writer, not compromising to the listener as he wants to make them think and get that much more out of the song, you can hear his metaphoric structure of his writing, like Beefheart's or Eno's. A very percussive tune, it follows suit of the upbeat and groovy nature of the band. Jon Theodore really shines in here, playing very busy as well as the rest of the band. Omar's Frippy guitar breaks are very dissonant and excellent, while Flea's bass playing is ridiculously well-placed and perfect for every situation in the song. Drunkship of Lanterns swirls in and out of many sounds and touches the most ground on the whole album.

Eriatarka contains some of the most engaging melodies I've heard and the most intense moments as well. An excellent piece with great guitar work and awesome overall sound.

An odd thing about Cicatriz ESP is that it sounds like a really good At The Drive-In song but goes right into the essence of Mars Volta. Which means it's a killer song. The end of it gets really psychedelic and setting heavy and blares right into...

Televators was one of the singles off of the album, it's a very mellow piece with some very high points in it, beautiful melody and songwriting while still capturing the Volta flavor. Does the beginning of this one remind you of Animals by Pink Floyd? Hm...

Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt ends the album on an incredible note. It kind of says "oh if you forgot that we could play here you go". The bass, guitar and keyboard solos are taken in turns and it's phenomenal melodically and playing wise, and the chorus is one of the most engaging melodies I've ever heard by any band. An incredible closer.

Not many albums seriously dropped my jaw songwriting-wise, playing-wise, and melodic-wise as much as this one, I am extremely impressed of the knack these guys have for writing songs, it simply can't be touched.

All in all, it's sad that some of the old prog giants with all of their experience sometimes couldn't pull off anything as good as these new guys, and they'll be here for a while, and I know you'll hear of this landmark of an album and this band for years to come.