It sure seems like a long time ago that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala were in At the Drive-In, much longer than the six years that it’s been since that band’s break-up. While it’s possible, especially if you squint and tilt your head a little, to hear bits of that band’s post-hardcore sound in Rodriguez-Lopez’s and Bixler-Zavala’s current project, The Mars Volta, TMV draws much more heavily on a sound that’s not much in fashion now: late ’60s and early ’70s prog- and acid-rock. Think Close to the Edge-era Yes, mixed with a heavy dose of the Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd, and you’ve got a basic idea of where TMV are coming from.
Amputechture is not going to be the album that changes anyone’s mind about TMV. If you thought De-Loused in the Comatorium was impenetrable and Frances the Mute had too much noise and not enough song, you’ll think the same thing about Amputechture. On the other hand, if you like extraordinarily competent instrumental work and arrangements with parts that lock together as firmly as a jigsaw puzzle, the album might be just your thing.
It’s phemonenally, deliberately difficult music. It doesn’t have any melodies that you’ll end up humming, and the songs are spliced together out of an inordinate number of discrete parts rather than having any kind of traditional structure. Only one of the eight tracks clocks in under six and a half minutes. The lyrics seem to have something to do with a loss of faith in God, but even by prog-rock’s admittedly loose standards, they border on an unnecessary obtuseness turning into self-parody. Sample lines from “Tetragrammaton”: “The kiosk in my temporal lobe / is shaped like Rosalyn Carter / she says my map is home again / but torn face down.” Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that.
Does it repay the kind of repeated listening that it requires? The answer, as might be guessed, is: sometimes. Aside from the final menacing chant of “sharpen your eyes,” I can’t really get anything out of “Vicarious Atonement” no matter how hard I try, and “Vermicide” doesn’t make much of an impact either. But “Day of the Baphomets,” which is probably the standout track on the album, has a sequence of beautiful moments with a strangely Latin feel — it’s like King Crimson meets Weather Report, and it’s thrilling. Similarly, “Meccamputechture” is probably the best blend of where Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala have been and where they’re going, equal parts System of a Down and Dark Side of the Moon.
Amputechture isn’t TMV’s definitive statement (they probably haven’t made one yet), but it’s reasonably successful on its own terms. It’s certainly not making any effort to meet the listener halfway, but if you’re up to investing the time it demands into it, you’ll enjoy at least a fair bit of the album.
Rating: 6/10
6 Comments »
Do you know where they got the name The MArs Volta? I have been curious about this for some time.
No idea, actually. It’s kind of a strange name, come to think of it.
from good ol’ wikipedia…
“Cedric Bixler stated in an interview: “The Volta is taken from a Federico Fellini book about his films, what he characterizes as a changing of scene, or a turnaround; a new scene to him is called Volta. Y’know, changing of time and the changeover. And Mars, we’re just fascinated by science-fiction so and it’s something that ultimately looked as in anything I write, its meaning is always up to the listener.”
Additionally, Omar has stated that Mars is a reference to the Roman god of war. Therefore, in essence, Omar considers The Mars Volta to be the bringers of peace. The is used to disambiguate the band from a group of European Techno artists that previously took the name “Mars Volta”. The similarity of the name to the Portuguese phrase Volta Do Mar, literally turn of the sea is also worth noting.”
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Comment by joiezabel — November 1, 2006 @ 12:33 pm
you’re a kickass writer, sam. i hate you.