DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM

First, some background; The first time I ever heard At The Drive-In's 'Relationship of Command' I was hooked. Then they split up; Sparta took the pop-punk-hardcore side, and TMV took the psychedelic-jazz-blues side. Both bands have their ups and downs...

But enough of that, let's cut to the chase.

The album opens off in a traditional ATDI style; a mellow riff overset with psychedelic sounds. 1 minute 30 seconds later it takes off, Cosmonaut style. Explosion after explosion as the guitars and bass pound the main riff. It's like wave after wave of energy, that same thunderous sound that was ATDI's specialty. It's definitely refreshing to hear that Omar and Cedric could keep true to their old band's style without ripping it off entirely.

The songs with the most value are Inertiatic ESP, Drunkship of Lanterns, Eriatarka, Televators, and Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt; surprisingly, most of the album can be considered 'good'. The other songs are fine, except for their lack of creativity. If you've heard their EP 'Tremulant' you'll immediately see that a lot of the music is re-hashed for De-Loused. I really did expect more from such a hyped band.

This album is where TMV takes a stand and shows off who they are; part Hawkwind, part ATDI, and a dash of Pink Floyd here and there, all over Latin-American beats. Not that TMV is anywhere near Pink Floyd in its talents or artistic expression...

The thing that strikes me again and again listening to this album is the ATMOSPHERES it makes. I haven't had a band paint images like this in my head since I first heard Hawkwind's Warrior on the Edge of Time. Sparta touched on it with 'Collapse', but TMV does it better, and in a much deeper way.

What irks me is that TMV purposely tried to be obscure in their lyrics. If you don't know that the album is about the suicide of Julio Venegas, there is NO way you will ever figure it out on your own. I can understand, yeah, if you ODd your thoughts would be pretty messed up, but... TMV really over-did it. When ATDI did it, it was cool. Now it's been played out. They could have tried to be less artsy.

All in all, TMV is trying to portray itself as a godly, unearthly band of extremely deep artists. To me it translates to one thing; TMV is trying too hard. They take themselves too seriously, and anybody who has seen them in concert will know what I am talking about.

Bottom line: De-Loused is TMV's only good recording so far. Let's hope they can one-up themselves and make something to make up for their atrocity known as 'Frances the Mute'.

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