The Mars Volta

[Clunge]

Start with De-Loused. It's unbelievable.

Then Bedlam, Frances, Amputechture and Octahedron, in that order.

[GorkerMorker]

I'm proper tired of this band.

[Wind Sorcerer]

Frances would be fucking incredible, but there's waayyyyyy too much filler.

[Futurellama]

Everything on Frances other than Cassandra Gemini is pointless imo.

[Wind Sorcerer]

Fuck off, Stephen. Seriously. Someone who disses The Widow and Cygnus needs to leave.

[Jacky Boy]

I'm sorry but Frances > De-loused

[Jacky Boy]

According to his facebook page, Omar is 'In LA finishing up the new The Mars Volta album'

:D:D:D:D:D:D

[Iddy]

Nice! Would be interesting to hear LP6. I haven't listened to these guys since Octahedron came out.

[Wind Sorcerer]

According to his facebook page, Omar is 'In LA finishing up the new The Mars Volta album'

:D:D:D:D:D:D

Awesomesauce. '11 will be great with the new Amplifier and TMV records.

[Smit]

Please for the love of god tour again!!!

[ninsp]

Oh, hell yes, new TMV. Better than Octahedron, hopefully. BORING

[Jacky Boy]

I wouldn't call Octahedron boring, just a bit shit really, at least in comparison to the other albums.

[Wind Sorcerer]

sejosfnjrsg
It still beats the shit out of Frances. Frances would be good, but there's too much filler.

[Jacky Boy]

sejosfnjrsg
It still beats the shit out of Frances. Frances would be good, but there's too much filler.

Last time I listened to it, there was no filler on Frances

[Wind Sorcerer]

Explain those 3 minutes of annoying noise at the end of The Widow.
The rest of the song is amazing, though.

[Jacky Boy]

Explain those 3 minutes of annoying noise at the end of The Widow.
The rest of the song is amazing, though.

I love that noise, although I will admit it does go on for a bit too long.

[Obi]

Frances the Mute is saved by Cassandra Gemini, which is the greatest piece they've produced.

[Glorious Resistance]

Jamming out to some Mars Volta now. Feels good man.

[Jacky Boy]

Just announced for Sonisphere headlining the Saturn Stage on the Saturday :D:D:D

Their only UK show of the year apparently

[Milky Joe]

Just announced for Sonisphere headlining the Saturn Stage on the Saturday :D:D:D

Their only UK show of the year apparently

Headlining Saturn?! Awesome :awesome:

Weezer into The Mars Volta into Biffy Clyro?! I just came.

[Jacky Boy]

Headlining Saturn?! Awesome :awesome:

Weezer into The Mars Volta into Biffy Clyro?! I just came.

Saturday night is looking fucking brilliant, I'll probably be getting drunk whilst All Time Low, You Me At Six etc. are on :vomit:

Good news for me is that I might be able to go for free :ninja:

[Wind Sorcerer]

I didn't listen to any TMV in a while.
Roulette Dares randomly turned up on my shuffle.


:stunned:

[Obi]

Aha yes, I always find it funny when I randomly hear Mars Volta these days. You forget how mad they sound next to some other bands ye listen to. I'm not sure how I managed to get into them in the first place...

[Max]

I'll be seeing them at a festival in Bilbao in July. I've heard so many so-so statements about them live and I find them interesting if not entirely captivating on record. Should I brace myself for the worst or be pleasantly surprised?

[SocksROCK!]

I didn't listen to any TMV in a while.
Roulette Dares randomly turned up on my shuffle.


:stunned:

That's because you were on shuffle

:stunned: ..... :rolleyes:

[Obi]

I'll be seeing them at a festival in Bilbao in July. I've heard so many so-so statements about them live and I find them interesting if not entirely captivating on record. Should I brace myself for the worst or be pleasantly surprised?

From what I can gather from pals that have seen them, you'll either get a good setlist of songs (good show) or a wanky improv set from Mr Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (bad, bad show).

[Foozles]

I only recently listened to the Mars Volta and was extremely surprised. I was expecting another alt band that would slightly grab my interest.
Then the first 40 seconds of "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus" came along.

Needless to say, I now have 3 Mars Volta albums and love them all! :awesome:

[Jacky Boy]

Got the Tremulant EP on vinyl today :awesome:

[Talking Head]

I have a love/hate relationship with them. There are elements in their music I like, but there are elements I can't stand. Either way if I had to listen to one of their songs on repeat it would probably be 'L'Via L'Viaquez."

I like the Latin spice they throw in there but I'm generally not a fan of progressive/jam bands. End the song already!

[Foozles]

I have a love/hate relationship with them. There are elements in their music I like, but there are elements I can't stand. Either way if I had to listen to one of their songs on repeat it would probably be 'L'Via L'Viaquez."

I like the Latin spice they throw in there but I'm generally not a fan of progressive/jam bands. End the song already!

Yeah, like they're 15 minute random guitar improvs? Those ARE annoying..

[Hollingydale]

Anyone else guna be seeing these guys at Sonisphere?

Never seen them and im getting really psyched, will be the highlight of the weekend if it goes to plan :p

What sort of songs can we expect, bits and bobs from everywhere or will it be a focus on newish material?

[Milky Joe]

Anyone else guna be seeing these guys at Sonisphere?

Never seen them and im getting really psyched, will be the highlight of the weekend if it goes to plan :p

What sort of songs can we expect, bits and bobs from everywhere or will it be a focus on newish material?

I am, and I can't wait. The line up times have been announced, and they have an hour and fifteen minutes :)

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-mars-volta/2010/claremont-showground-perth-australia-6bd766ca.html

I'd imagine that setlist, hopefully with The Widow or something thrown in as well :awesome:

[Hollingydale]

I am, and I can't wait. The line up times have been announced, and they have an hour and fifteen minutes :)

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-mars-volta/2010/claremont-showground-perth-australia-6bd766ca.html

I'd imagine that setlist, hopefully with The Widow or something thrown in as well :awesome:

pooh, Eriatarka and just the chorus of Cavalettas please, wouldn't want to waste the full 9 minutes of Cavalettas :p

and Cassandra Gemini/Multiple Spouse Wounds wouldnt go a miss, go on - its just 47 seconds :unsure:

[Milky Joe]

Yeah, Multiple Spouse Wounds would be nice.

Oh, and they've played Eriatarka at subsequent gigs, I reckon they might play it :)

[Hollingydale]

Yeah, Multiple Spouse Wounds would be nice.

Oh, and they've played Eriatarka at subsequent gigs, I reckon they might play it :)

\o/

[bruce57]

Just getting into these guys. Bought Deloused in the Comatorium and was simply blown away. What do you all recommend as the next album I get?

[Clunge]

For me, get Frances The Mute.

Then either Goliath or Amputechture. I didn't enjoy Octahedron.

Problem with TMV is that albums one and two were so good and they're struggling to live up to them.

[Jacky Boy]

Heard a few new songs at Sonisphere, sounding very good, very hopeful about the new album now.

[Max]

I thought they were a bit...dull at Bilbao BBK Live. Really disappointed...only really got going towards the end when they busted out some stuff from De-Loused in the Comatorium.

[Jacky Boy]

I thought they were a bit...dull at Bilbao BBK Live. Really disappointed...only really got going towards the end when they busted out some stuff from De-Loused in the Comatorium.

Although I liked the news songs they played at Soni, they played too many of them, should have done a couple but they filled half the set with songs nobody knew, and they slowed Goliath down quite a bit then left the stage about 10 minutes early. Having said that I still really enjoyed it, but they could have done a lot better.

[PoisonMeteor]

My favourite band at Sonisphere. I saw 20 bands and i still think that. So many highlights from the weekend but my mind was just blown by The Mars Volta... I don't care if they played mostly new songs, i thought it was great!

[Static Shadows]

New album out in just over a month. There has been talk of a "radical change of direction", and descriptions both of "hypnotic melodies and borderline electro-ambient washes," and "future punk". I'd take all that with a large pinch of salt, but it sounds intriguing!

The poor quality live videos of new songs don't show much, other than it does seem to mix lots of atmospheric stuff with big, noisy discordant riffs. In a way that (live anyway) seems to move from atmospheric Mars Volta to At The Drive In chaos and abruptly back. So everything they've ever done rather than a "radical change." No doubt it'll sound very different on record though! They usually do.

[Alasdair C]

Got the new album today, very interesting. Very different to anything they've done before, but still awesome!

[Static Shadows]

I wasn't taken with The Malkin Jewel upon first hearing it (in fact it's probably my least favourite track now I've heard the album), but I'm really, really enjoying this album so far! I can see what they meant by "futuristic punk". It's very interesting and cool sounding with an odd mixture of rawness and chaos within an average 4 min song structure. I've really no idea how to describe the sound. Somewhere between At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta, and something else with a hard futuristic-electronic edge. Industrial post-punk? It's kind of unique. And there's a fair amount of variation in there too preventing it from getting too samey.

My only real disappointment is Cedric's vocals. After hearing that he'd insisted on taking more time over them this time, I was really hoping that we'd finally get the consistently amazing and catchy melodies back that so gelled the first two albums together (and seemed to have returned last album). But while there are some genuinely brilliant melodies in there, they are pretty sporadic, and the lyrics (where audible) are a bit bland. He just sounds a bit out of ideas to me. Not to say he's bad here. The vocals are good! Especially in the second half. They do the job. Just not much more for large periods. Which is a shame as he's capable of a bit more, and the music is the best Omar has made in some time.

I don't think I could give it higher than 7.5/10 without raising expectations too high, but it gets a huge recommendation on top of that and a higher rating in my head for just sounding so interesting and unique. Definitely shaping up to be my third favourite Mars Volta album (after the first two) and I expect it to be very high on my albums of the year list!

[Alasdair C]

I agree with basically everything you said in your review. What surprised me the most was just how different and new the album sounded. Quite a fascinating little evolution from Octahedron! I did think Cedric's lyrics weren't very good this time. I miss his old stream-of-consciousness nonsense he used to say!

Something else I really admired was Omar's restraint on this album - pretty much all of the songs were at a neat 4 minute mark, but they still covered just as much ground as their 10 minute ones. And I liked the he didn't feel the need to wah-shred over the top of everything this time :LOL:.

One thing that really annoyed me though was the really high pitched synth on The Whip Hand - it actually got to the point where my ears were hurting from hearing it :S. Still a really good song though.

Overall, I'd probably say this is their third best as well, behind De-Loused and Frances (of course).

[Ben93]

Really liking the new album so far. Haven't really been massively into anything they've released since the first 2 albums but i think the new sound they seem to have gone for on this one seems to work really well.

Think Dyslexicon is probably my favourite on the album at the moment, purely for the Tom Morello sounding guitar (very untechnical term :LOL: ) in the intro.

[Jacky Boy]

Future Punk is my new favourite genre of music.

[Qúentin Räikkönen]

As unpopular an opinion as this is bound to be, Noctourniquet is my favorite Mars Volta album by far.