The Mars Volta
are continual contenders for the mantle of most experimental high-profile
metal
group, along with
System of a Down
, an artist they've toured with but who usually sell 20 times more records.
Mars Volta
aren't as popular, not because their riffs are less memorable or innovative but because their cycle of musical buildup and release, although similarly jarring, can last at least 20 minutes instead of
System
's two. (It's the difference between having a background in
acid rock
and having one in
thrash
.) While the early reports on third album
Amputechture
commented that the duo of
Cedric Bixler-Zavala
and
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
had learned a few lessons about silence and forsaken the concept album, don't believe it. The album is little different than their two previous atom bombs,
De-Loused in the Comatorium
Frances the Mute
-- tense and anxious, continually pushing the boundaries of extreme production, with long periods of dynamics that rise ever higher, followed by an explosion of release (usually screaming
hard rock
with storms of atonal brass and horns). The album opens with
"Vicarious Atonement,"
five minutes of spectral effects and piercing guitar that gets a boost at the beginning of the next track,
"Tetragrammaton,"
and then blooms into full riffing glory after a few more minutes (and they're still nowhere near the end of the 16-minute track).
John Frusciante
, eccentric genius from
the Red Hot Chili Peppers
, returns on guitar, but
Bixler-Zavala
Rodriguez-Lopez
exert so much control over the sound of
that
Frusciante
makes virtually no individual impression on this record, although most of the guitar work is his. (Granted, his presence leaves
open for more intricate work on production.)
are one of the most intriguing bands in
rock
, but their huge musical power is often deflected by
's conceptual themes (which are difficult to follow, but also, perversely, impossible to ignore) and blitzkrieg dynamics that are either dialed down to one or up to ten (but rarely in-between). ~ John Bush