Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Mars Volta, The
Label: Island Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 4.5/5
Ever since The Mars Volta burst onto the music scene out of nowhere, they’ve kept surprising us with their unbridled creativity and their own take on progressive rock, one that mixes elements of classic prog with elements from completely different, even more extreme genres like post-hardcore and thrash metal. Barely a year and a few months after their thrilling, epic album “Frances the Mute” (2005), which set new standards in modern progressive rock, they’re back with “Amputechture”. This pace of releasing albums seems incredibly fast. Hardly anyone these days puts out three albums in four years, so before my first listen I wondered if this one wasn’t coming a bit too soon. After that first listen, though, I quickly shot down all my pessimistic doubts, because it hit me that The Mars Volta had surprised us again with some completely new ideas, without fully giving up the elements that make them recognizable. After their obvious change of style from the debut “De-Loused in the Comatorium” (2003) to “Frances the Mute”, they’ve redefined their sound once more, basically reinvented themselves. Instead of the post-hardcore sound that dominated their first album and the ambient/psychedelic sound of “Frances The Mute””, “Amputechture” leaves much more room for free-jazz influences, bringing the band closer to fusion than ever before. For most of the album the band effortlessly plays around with long jams and a whole pleiade of guitar solos that often sound improvised and have a raw, obscure tone. The whole album is a real guitar orgy. Guitar solos are swarming from every corner, and I can’t remember the last time I heard an album with this many of them. On “Amputechture” the band gave the guitars a somewhat bigger role again and dialed back the ambient keyboard textures, which doesn’t mean the new album has lost any emotional depth. Quite the opposite.
Once again, the infamous guitarist John Frusciante (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) plays with the band on every track except the ballad “Asilius Magdalena”. They could have done without him, since in my opinion Omar Rodriguez-Lopez outdoes him in every way, but more on that in the closing section of the review. As usual, the two big shots of the band, vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, split their duties evenly. Omar recorded and wrote most of the music (including the wind arrangements) and produced the album, while Cedric once again focused on the lyrics. This time around they’re quite varied in theme.
Unlike its two predecessors, “Amputechture” is not a concept album, which won’t bother those who never got their often heavy messages anyway. Still, most of the lyrics wrestle with the phenomenon of people fearing God instead of loving God, something that usually goes hand in hand with the interests of the Catholic Church. Overall, most of the lyrics are dominated by bitter mockery of the West’s stepmotherly attitude toward the third world, especially toward immigrants, and of some other delusions of globalism. It’s something that has always fit the philosophy of the two Mexican musicians, who moved to the US years ago purely for easier logistics. The mood of the whole album is colored accordingly, often wrapped in a vision of an apocalyptic present and future.
The album surprisingly opens with a mostly slow, ambient piece called “Vicarious Atonement”. Wailing, epic guitar riffs and keyboards build a melancholic, slightly obscure atmosphere, cut here and there by unbridled guitar solos. I have no idea what the lyrics are about, since Cedric’s many-colored vocals are deliberately pushed into the background of the production this time, but they’re full of pain and hope at the same time. Soon some interesting piano bits creep into the track while the guitar solos get more and more obscure. A very good intro to the album. The song flows into the ominous, epic “Tetragrammaton”, a much faster piece that changes rhythm like a wild mule. Drummer Jon Theodore, who left the band after the album came out, shows off his energetic drumming style here for the first time, moving effortlessly from metal to jazz. The track goes up and down in intensity almost nonstop, and it doesn’t let up through its entire 16 minutes. This is where the band first shows off its metal roots (an outstanding thrash intro) as well as its punk ones. Even though obscure rhythms mostly dominate, some of the transitions between the guitar solos and the choruses are incredibly beautiful. Somewhere in the middle the song calms down completely and slides into an ambient section full of all sorts of manipulated sounds, then comes another thrash assault on guitar and an outstanding, slightly “Crimsonoid” solo that weaves in and out of Cedric’s often chromed-out vocals. The final part brings back the opening motif, totally unexpectedly and in a clever way, before it gets lost in a real flood of guitar solos. In my opinion it may even be the best track on the album, though the choice is pretty tough. Then comes “Vermicide”, a shorter song that could easily have come out as a single. It’s yet another outstanding track, marked by melodic choruses and very good three-part guitar harmonies. Cedric’s vocals are excellent as usual, switching between different emotional states. Next up is “Meccamputechture”, where the band hits us right away with a supersonic rhythm. The track is also marked by woodwinds and keyboards and a few programmed electronic sounds. It’s an incredible piece packed with all kinds of surprises, from straight-up metal-thrash outbursts and electronic sounds to jazzy rhythms. I especially love the jazzy ending, where the woodwinds join the band for the first time. The band’s sound here is incredibly wide and totally different from what we got used to on most of their earlier work. It feels great to know these guys never stop perfecting their sound and that plenty more interesting surprises are waiting for us down the road. On the next piece, the acoustic ballad “Asilos Magdalena”, their Latin influences and Cedric’s vocals in Spanish come through for the first time. The mood is gorgeous and completely calms down the often chaotic and obscure vibe of the rest of the album. Cedric’s vocals are at the peak of their emotional power here. Omar’s work on the acoustic guitar is excellent too. The band proves once again that it’s capable of incredible stylistic extremes. Already in the last minute of the ballad, though, a detuned, buzzing electric guitar starts announcing that the apocalypse is near. “Viscera Eyes”, which reportedly dates back to the days when Cedric and Omar were still in At the Drive-In, opens with some unusual sounds and then an outstanding riff, which Omar’s guitar joins with solos in between. The rhythm section is incredibly strong again. The track really wins you over with an outstanding jam at the end. Of everything on the album, it’s the one that most recalls their older work. “Day of the Baphomets” is an outstanding piece and a brilliant climax of the album, where the band comes closest to classic progressive rock. First we get an amazing bass solo that proves Juan Alderete’s incredible skills. Then Cedric’s traumatized vocals and some off-kilter guitar bits stun us again, and above all there’s a real battle between the guitar and woodwind solos, where the band clearly gets close to its great heroes King Crimson. It’s another of the album’s peaks. The closing “El Ciervo Vulnerado” is just as surprising a finish as the opening was. With a slow pulse, backed by ambient keyboard sounds, Cedric’s psychedelic vocals and guitar ornaments, it’s by far the most psychedelic piece on the album. The mood keeps building until suddenly, totally unexpectedly, it dies out in the middle of a longer improvisation.
“Amputechture” is another incredibly strong album from the band, a treat for all fans of innovative progressive rock, and one that flirts with the future of music rather than its past. With their incredible mix of obscurity, epic scope and chaos, The Mars Volta sound just as fresh as they did on their previous two albums, which were in many ways masterpieces of modern progressive rock. But any comparison of “Amputechture” with them is completely pointless, because this is a totally one-of-a-kind masterpiece, one that will satisfy even those who prefer the prog rock classics and eye everything that doesn’t belong to the ’70s with suspicion. In fact, most of the band’s music has never sounded so much like their great heroes such as King Crimson (at times it even gets close to a darker version of Genesis or Yes). I have just one gripe, and it takes nothing away from the overall brilliance of this album: Fruscaint’s guitar playing. The guy plays on almost every track, and with his rather dated approach he just can’t keep up with the inventive Omar, who always has some innovative solo up his sleeve. On the other hand, it’s exactly this stylistic duality between the two that is one of the charms of their music, which satisfies fans of alternative rock as well as jazz rock fusion and classic progressive rock. With “Amputechture”, perhaps even their defining album, The Mars Volta have finally cemented their status as the most innovative band in contemporary progressive rock right now.
Lineup
Cedric Bixler Zavala – vocals
Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez – guitar, keyboards
Juan Alderte – bass guitar
Jon Theodore – drums
Isaiah Ikey Owens – keyboards
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez – percussion, synthesizer
Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales – flute, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Pablo Hinojos-Gonzalez – sound manipulation
GUEST MUSICIANS:
John Frusciante (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) – lead & rhythm guitar
Sara Christina Gross – saxophone on “Meccamputechture”
Production
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Tracklist
1. Vicarious Atonement (7:19)
2. Tetragrammaton (16:41)
3. Vermicide (4:15)
4. Meccamputechture (11:02)
5. Asilos Magdalena (6:34)
6. Viscera Eyes (9:23)
7. Day of the Baphomets (11:56)
8. El Ciervo Vulnerado (8:50)
Album length: 76:00
