The Mars Volta: Octahedron Review
Wait a minute, didn’t I just get a copy of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s solo album around two months ago? God forbid Omar went longer than six months without releasing music, but the consistent onslaught of recordings doesn’t seem to put a damper on the quality, if anything, it could be argued for the better. Also, wasn’t the Volta’s previous release, The Bedlam in Goliath, an overwhelming attack of heavy guitars, pounding beats, and layers upon layers of sounds which when approaching the eardrum sounds eerily similar to getting hit in the face with a brick? Yeah, it definitely was. Here on Octahedron, The Mars Volta go soft. So what happened on Octahedron to make it so mellow - for the Volta at least - and so calm and relaxed?If the Mars Volta’s releases were to be graphed on a line chart, you would see a steady rise in intensity and boldness with each succeeding record. Octahedron breaks the constant rise and brings them back to a place that if going by the line chart, would be the very bottom - at least in terms of intensity and boldness. It finds them at their most reserved and tame. Acoustic guitars take center stage, and riffs of electric intensity take a back seat, rarely rearing their head other than on the furious, “Cotopaxi”. With a softer album, melodies become more and more crucial; the Volta capitalize on this with the majority of songs having memorable qualities, especially on the albums highlight “Halo of Nembutals” with its stellar chorus.
Despite being rather tame for the Volta, the music is still complex with numerous intricacies which won’t leave prog fans in the dust, which inevitably means, the Volta still haven’t recorded an album that will cross over into the pop mainstream.
The Bedlam in Goliath was a bit overboard in terms of its sheer intensity and it’s inability to ever let the listener breathe. Octahedron was certainly a move in the right direction, but the leap may have been a little too large. The album sounds terrific, but Omar and Cedric are at their best when the electric guitars are searing by at an unstoppable rate and the chaos is all but uncontrollable. But to end this review on a high note - because ultimately this is a great album - Octahedron finds the Volta in a different place, and while it may sound a tad bit off kilter for the band, they make the softer melodies their own and never veer too far away from the complexities which make their music so fantastic.
Grade: A-
posted by Jeff at 11:45 AM
8 Comments:
It is still growing on me...but it is so nice to hear a subdued Cedric actually singing.
just finished listening to it
what can i say? taken one by one, the songs are great, but the albums sounds more like a collection of intro and fillers, and lacks of speed and power.
not that i was expecting bedlam part two, but i loved the other albums (and TMV are my favourite band) for their full-speed-ahead attitude and the complexity of the songs, both missing here.
still a good album, though.
Haven't heard this yet, though I'm looking forward to it.
I love the Mars Volta, but this and Bedlam are by far their worst albums yet. I just wish that Cedric would start singing faster again, so as to mask the ridiculousness of his vocals now. At least on the first three albums it didnt make any sense, but he knew that. Now he just repeats ridiculous phrases ad naseum. Example: on Bedlam, the line about being a "Deaf con of angora goats", etc. what the fuck? This time around it's about a "vault if devil daughters", and how his devil makes him dream like no other mortal...how pretentious.
I hate to say it, but this band is going downhill fast.
Seano - It's definitely different, but I think I'm going to like it more with time.
Eriatarka - I think even though the songs are more subdued, it's still a good album. It still is pretty complex, maybe not as much as some of their past material, but it's light years ahead of most material out there today.
Sean - It's not something you would expect, but good nonetheless.
gfy - Bedlam and Octahedron are definitely my least favorite Volta albums, but I still think they're very good. And speaking of Cedric repeating himself, I could listen to him scream, "Poachers in your home" all day long.
Well, I took the first dive and bought the album, my first of any album in a long time. Quite frankly, I'm scared. I have yet to listen to it and I really should just stop reading things about it and do it. That said, Mars Volta is a very polarizing band. They seem to do whatever they want, and that's cool. They're just becoming too full of themselves, I think.
Hatter - I think most hardcore Volta fans are upset because it's not heavy enough. I thought Bedlam was too heavy and crazy, so I thought this was a move in the right direction. It's a lot different than something you would expect from them, and I think that's why so many people are freaking out about it.
Now that I've listened to it a few times, I'll say this. I'm not upset that it's not heavy; I'm upset because it's fucking garbage. These guys are not good enough to release stuff as quickly as they do, but this is beyond tweaking; this is just bad. I guess I can only be comforted by the fact that in nine months I'll have another album.
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