FRANCES THE MUTE

Allright here we go this is gonna be hard to review for me lol. But ya know there comes a limit in prog for a band's certain style. A couple of examples would be ME the most death metal band i can listen to is well Opeth, the most messed up and dark band i can listen to is Tool, and the most neo-classic stuff i can listen to is Rhapsody. But if there ever was a limit on the most experimental band i can listen to it would be The Mars Volta. I really liked the first album and i was hoping Frances The Mute would turn out just right and well it and it didn't. Its a great album alot of great rocking sections but there were at times where the sound effects REALLY started to bug me. So i just kept listening and listening and the more i did the more it grew on me. I think i've finally been able to used to the weird side of prog cause i swear no one can get as weird as these guys. But still Fraces the Mute does have MV at a nice creative peak as well to me most of the punk is gone as they had in some prog, avant, psychedelic, and even some latin, salsa, and fusion in to the mix making this quite to decide well what genre are you sticking with. But anyway it starts of Cygnus... Vismund cygnus i actually like this song a nice heavy rocker opener with some cool latin stuff, neat solos, and actually pretty cool vocal harmonies. The only complaint i have is the sound effect at the end......What is that by the way lol. Still though its a nice 13 minute opener for this album. Then you have the shortest song on the album The Widow and it did take me some time to get used to it since ya got some electronic stuff happening at the end but not a bad mellow song by MV. L'vi l'viaquez is up next and i love this song 12 minutes of glory in my opinion. The whole song is just rocking with an awesome solos by Omar and plus ya even got some salsa mix into this. It just enough to where you can dance to it. very cool track. Mirand that Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore REALLY took some time for me to used to since it begins with....well yea sound effects but its not a bad mellow track just give it a shot there are some nice stuff in it. But then you have the highlight of this album Cassandra Gemini this track rocks over 30 minutes of craziness progressive stuff with amazing soloing, some fusion stuff, a little bit of ambience, but some moments. I love 30 minute tracks like All of the Above and The Truth Shall Set You Free but this one really does deserves a chance in the epic category cause there are some great moments in this song. So not a bad album there are some flaws but if you just get over them you can realize what a great realease this is from these guys. I would say it could be a masterpiece but at the same time its not for me so its definitely in between.