The Mars Volta isn't for the lighthearted. Dubbed progressive rock by most critics, the band constantly pushes the genre's limits, and their new studio album, Amputechture (Universal) stays true to their experimental, artistic nature. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez once again produced the music, weaving ambient noises and tempo variations together with exploratory guitar solos.
While featuring their signature incorporation of, well, a bit of everything from Latin flavor to psychedelic jamming, this record differs from the previous two albums by lacking a definitive unifying story. Instead, Amputechture--with lyrics by vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala--is a compilation of different stories loosely centered on the idea of people's fear of God.
All in all, Amputechture is a hit-and-miss album. "Vicarious Atonement" and "Asilos Magdalena" (Spanish for Magdalen Asylums, 19th-century asylums for "fallen women") are very strong individual pieces. However, "Tetragrammation," spanning the longest 16:41 I've experienced since last year's Friday-morning seminar, loses itself in too many tempo changes and experimental sound mixes, and "El Ciervo Vulnerado" lacks substance as a stand-alone track. This album will take a few listens before you can really pick out the artistic bits among the bouts of excessive experimentation. Even then, it is not for everyone.
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