“As we pull their wings off, one by one.“
Momentum is not on The Mars Volta’s side. Inactive since 2012, the band left off with vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López “not on speaking terms.” Upon their reconciliation, they formed supergroup Antemasque, which released a total of one, mildly underwhelming studio album. Far removed from the glory days of De-Loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute, one could be forgiven for not paying much mind to the teasing, ongoing since 2016, that The Mars Volta may regroup someday — especially after the disappointing In•ter a•li•a from their other band, the once-legendary At The Drive-In. Yet regroup they have, and a decade later we sit on the cusp of new material with their self-titled album.
At their creative and musical peak, The Mars Volta created incredible and elaborate soundscapes, which admittedly sometimes lacked in accessibility. For instance, “Cassandra Gemini” from Frances clocks in at over half an hour, made up of 5 separate movements pieced together in part from jam sessions. However, the style broke boundaries of genre and expectations, infusing progressive rock with Latin influences and post-hardcore with jazz. As the band went on, it seemed to have increasing amounts of trouble getting the balance right. Even going as far as settling on shorter, more palatable tracks on Noctourniquet did not seem to do the trick. Mind you, the entire discography overflows with excellent material, but knowing what this band could produce, the later albums fall flatter than they should. So then, what could the band do in 2022 to stand itself back up?
Rodríguez-López made a suggestion: “a pop record“.
Rеseeding the desert, the high control hex,
He obsessively pets with his thumbs,
Thinking no one’s watching,
But I got the copy that he can never erase.
Lead single and opener “Blacklight Shine” certainly demonstrates the validity of that suggestion. From the jump, the product stands out as more digestible than even that found on Noctourniquet. The vocals notably are more present than usual, and are also more processed. Regardless, Bixler-Zavala sounds great, and performs the trademark shifts from English to Spanish capably as one might expect. The music itself sounds more upbeat, retaining its Latin influence overtop the rock instrumentation. Definitively, this track could not find its way onto any other The Mars Volta record, instead living up to Rodríguez-López‘s description. A significant risk, but one that pays off early on.
I could never fathom how to wake you up,
Crushеd by the weight of your crucible.
You better walk behind me, walk behind,
And on the day that you wiped it all clean.
“Graveyard Love” opens with Bixler-Zavala atop a chopped vocal sample, an excellent sound that one wouldn’t expect from the band but works incredibly well. The rest of the backing is mostly left just as that, backing, and there isn’t much to say or highlight about it. At this stage, I’m already left with a question I expected to have from the description of the album: would this work better if it was under a different label rather than The Mars Volta, simply due to how much it goes against their previous body of work?
I know the way he makes you hide,
Even when the dose is fight or flight,
And the orbits wait for a perfect name,
Clean out the webs he left behind.
“Vigil”, the most recent single, sounds arguably the most unlike a typical Mars Volta song. The vocal melody from Bixler-Zavala appears to carry the load here on this largely mid-temp number. Not to say it lacks typical Volta flair in the instrumentation, but it comes across as significantly more subtle.
Other highlights down the stretch include “Cerulea”, which may have the album’s strongest pop-style chorus, the slow-burning “Palm Full of Crux”, and the light and airy “Tourmaline”. Despite its incredibly reasonable runtime, at just under 45 minutes, it does tend to drag a bit. Additionally, the album is set up to be quite front-loaded, with the singles making up three of the first five tracks. The overall product, though very solid, does come off as somewhat watered down, especially compared to the complexity of their earlier material. Obviously, this is a feature, not a bug, but such a complexion runs the risk of alienating long-time fans that appreciated the more progressive moments of their albums.
All told, The Mars Volta accomplish a tight, impressive pop record with their latest release. Even within that self-prescribed confine, the band still manages to throw a variety of different looks. There’s not a bad track to be found here, and the final results comes off as notably more polished than the output from other projects over the last decade. To accomplish such a shift this successfully bears worth mentioning, especially after so much time with their focus elsewhere. This band is a very different incarnation of The Mars Volta — more mature, but less outgoing.
8/10
The Mars Volta comes out this Friday, September 16th, via Clouds Hill, and can be pre-ordered here.