DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM

As I have been frequenting this site, I've been noticing the misinterpretation of five star ratings. As we all can tell, they are only to be used for masterpieces, which means quite sparingly. That being said, De-loused in the Comatorium is one of these few five-star masterpieces.

Being a fan of these guys since De-loused in the Comatorium came out, I was absolutely thrown down the stairs by this album. These guys are the ones who introduced me to prog rock, and I've been building my prog collection since. In fact, I think I have listened to this album, on average, at least twice a week since I've bought it.

Let's break it down nice and easy for you folks:

Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic ESP: 10/10

These tracks are really one song, and an excellent one at that. From the nice synth pads in the beginning to the introduction of the vocals, Son et Lumiere is a pure aural orgasm. And then it rockets you into outer space with Inertiatic ESP. The guitars come fast and heavy as the song switches to a beat of 6/8 after the nice 4/4 of Son et Lumiere. The furious guitar and almost contradictory keyboard melody line during the chorus is absolutely stunning. This is certainly a progressive rock song; you find yourself in a very funky 7/8 beat during the bridge and the song keeps on surprising you with almost ballad-like sensitivity during the end. Wow, what a track!

Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of): 10/10

Another amazing track. The syncopated percussion that offsets the guitar line in the beginning drives you into this insane 6/8 rock beat that is quite difficult on first listen. But the chorus, oh, the chorus! Stunning you with powerchords, something rarely heard in prog rock, Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez gives a beautiful background for Cedric Bixler-Zavalas strong and passionate vocals. The guitar solo in this track is beautifully atonal and is offset by syncopated toms for percussion, rocking you into a bliss often associated with LSD. This track ends with a beautiful guitar solo/jam session that leaves you relaxed and unassuming until...

Tira me a las Aranas/Drunkship of Lanterns: 10/10

Out of the mist comes the strangest sound... a guitar, maybe, but played unlike any other. The fact that this instrument is played acoustic won't throw you... because the scales, good lord, the scales coming out of that thing are out of this world. And then the electronic guitar played over it lulls you back into a sense of melody until you board the Drunkship of Lanterns. This is more exciting than it sounds, because, in a flurry of noise, Rodriguez-Lopez throws us into a sick salsa beat accented by what seems to be a nice yell by Bixler-Zavala. This ain't any old salsa beat, though. This is a salsa beat, Mars Volta style. It's like taking mushrooms while at a rave except the music is better. I have no other word to describe it except for "ill", and I mean it in both literal sense and figurative sense. This track will instill you with the need to dance and if you choose not to, you will feel an odd sense of self-loathing. When everything on this track shines, from the bass to the drums to the guitar, you can't help but realize this masterpiece is what good music is.

Eriatarka: 10/10

And hey, this album just improves and improves. Eriatarka is probably the most melodic track on the album (excluding "Televators") with guitar melodies that soar and vocal lines to die for. The song itself catapults from points of soft, light sound to points of fast-paced and energetic melodic rock, not to mention the break-down in which the bass sounds surprisingly reggae-inspired. It's really not surprising, since a good chunk of the members used to belong to the dub-reggae band, De Facto. However, the vocal lines of this track are probably some of the catchiest throughout the entire album and they are what makes this track. I don't know how many times I've caught myself singing "Evaporated the fur/because it covers them/if you only knew/the plans they had for us". Goodness, it's running through my head right now and probably when you read this review. It's good, man, wicked good.

Cicatriz ESP: 15/10

And this, my friends, is the apex of the album; the highest point of musical genious from The Mars Volta. A spectacular twelve an a half minute track, it is like a journey of its own. Imagine the verse, marked by a beautiful, almost funky bassline, breaking into a chorus of hard rocking and passionate lyrical content ("I've defected" has never been sung so well). Then more verse. Then more chorus. AND THEN... AND THEN! We have the part of the song that is solely jamming. And not your run-of-the-mill uninspired jamming, but structured jams that take you across the world and back with their topsy-turvy hit-you-in-the-face twists of melody. This all continues for quite a while until it fades into a gorgeous ambient wash of synth and tremolo that pulls you from the depths of whatever trance you were in and slams you right back down again. And after that, a dual guitar solo by Rodriguez-Lopez and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante. It's not something to be missed. The final verse and chorus are remarkable for their vocal feeling. By the end of the track, you'll believe God himself has descended upon you and personally given you a massage.

This Apparatus Must be Unearthed: 9/10

My least favorite track on the album is "This Apparatus", and I still love it. How's that for good? What always threw me off were the annoying diminished chords in the chorus and the strange vocal effects that make it sound like two people singing a tritone away from each other (yuck). However, these are easily overlooked because this track is TIGHT. Rodriguez-Lopez pulls off some nice guitar work in this angry track, and the entire band manages to take on the feeling of anger that surrounds the guitar. In the end, we have some nice reverse-effect drumming that is like eating nails, in a good way. The pain is unbelievably real and effective in this track, and I love it just for that.

Televators: 10/10

A ballad. But not typical - in fact, it is quite atypical, with some acoustic (upright?) bass. The track starts off with birdy-noises that bring you into a forest setting, almost. The music fades in after this mood-setting ambience, which is very appropriate for the track, if you ask me. The vocal line is catchy and the guitar line is interesting and not your average ballad guitar line. What really makes this track is the bridge, though. With your lovely, proggy, multiple-voice line, the bridge echoes feelings you can't begin to describe. The singing is some of the most heart-felt on the entire album and melodic until the end.

Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt: 11/10

Another godly track, but this time, it is godly in its complexity. This is definitely the most proggy track on the album, starting out with a very interesting and quite illin' guitar riff that works with tritones and whole steps in ways you wouldn't believe. With a really nice opening melody line, you won't be able to stop listening to this track as it catapults you from verse to verse to chorus to... jam? What is this? A keyboard synth line, marked by strings and pads? Amazingly intelligent... but when it's over, you are thrown into something entirely new to music. Rodriguez-Lopez plays a sickening guitar line seemingly absent of time signature... which is misleading, for the drums come in directly after and seem to be in perfect time with the guitar. What ensues then is not music in your normal sense, but the most technically difficult and mathematical musical line in the history of rock. I read somewhere that it was in 9/8 with an extra sixteenth-note triplet every other measure, but somehow I still can't figure it out. It is indubitably a pleasure to listen to. And it ends with a very melodic bass solo, which I can never get out of my head. This catapults us into a very funky/jazzy straight-eigths jam session, with interesting guitar lines and a beautiful and haunting vocal melody. Which brings us back to the chorus, and an ending that I can't spoil outside of saying it brings the album to the most spectacular close of prog music.

The divine intended this album to be a masterpiece, and from a musical standpoint, the divine was right for once. The fact that it's a concept album makes it even better. In fact, the music is only half the album, but I can't really write about it due to time constraints. Just imagine musical perfection coupled with a concept that is trippy, spacey, and all-out insane.

I give this album a 10/10, undoubtedly. Yoda says: A masterpiece for every prog collection, this is!