Album of the Week: The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

     I'm going throwback Tuesday with this week's Album of the Week post, taking you right back to the early days of the blog for this week's pick. In trying to recommend an album each week, I'm trying to pick something that has enough meat on its bones to stand up to repeated listens.

     The ideal Album of the Week should in fact not only stand up to repeated listening but actually reward it, revealing new facets and aspects with every time through. One of the very first bands I wrote about two years ago has a back catalogue that includes several such albums, but as far as The Mars Volta is concerned, I really think you're best served to start at the start.

     De-loused in the Comatorium is still, in my opinion, the band's best work. Even if you knew At the Drive-In and the story of its demise and the band's it spawned, you still couldn't have been ready for the style of high-energy salsa prog Omar and Cedric brewed up in De-loused. Later albums got further and further out there, to the point that "prog" sometimes veered into "wankery", but De-loused struck the perfect balance of focus and meandering jamitude.

     I know I say this all the time, but this really is a case of if you're already a fan it's probably time you revisited this record, and if you're not it's probably time you got familiar. Mars Volta fans who got on board later in the band's career take special note: this is the band in its prime. If you don't know this album, you need to, so study up this week. It'll be on the quiz.

The Mars Volta - Ouroborous

     I make no secret of the fact that I think the musical output of The Mars Volta peaked early in the band's career, perhaps even as early as De-Loused in the Comatorium. There's no denying that pretty much anybody who's ever played with the band is a talented musician and performer, but I just feel that the standards of songwriting didn't remain as high as the standards of musicianship.

     With each album after sophomore Frances the Mute or so, the songs get less focused, less precise, and more scattershot. It feels to me like the holes in the band's quality control filter got larger and larger each time out, when pretty much every note on De-Loused is so necessary and perfectly placed. Sure, "Tira Me a las Aranas" is a bit of weird throwaway in the middle there, but it still fits with detracting too much.

     Of course, even with increasing amounts of these unnecessary bits from one album to the next, every Mars Volta record has some equally shining moments, moments that come close to rebottling the lightning of the band's early work. One such moment is tonight's song, "Ouroborous", from 2008's The Bedlam in Goliath, an energetic blast of salsa rhythm that surges forward like any of the best Mars Volta material. Have a listen a shed a tear for one of the great bands of the 2000's.

The Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP

     For tonight's quickie song we're going way back in The Mars Volta's catalogue. Why? Because we can!

     Your song this evening is "Inertiatic ESP" from The Mars Volta's 2003 debut De-loused in the Comatorium, but I will award bonus points if you also check out intro track "Son et Lumiere" first for the full effect. Now imagine yourself as me in high school, a fan of At The Drive-In, hearing this album for the first time, probably at high volume. Suffice it to say, my brain was well and truly wrinkled.

     For all the wankery and wasted potential that might have ensued in their career, The Mars Volta started off incendiary. I likely wouldn't have the taste for prog I do today without them being one of the steps in my musical journey.

Song of the Day: The Mars Volta - Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)

     I read the other day that, if tweets are to be believed, The Mars Volta is no more. This is really a shame, since I can't really think of another quasi-mainstream rock act of the last few years that pushed the envelope to new and interesting places as much as The Mars Volta. It also occurred to me in the wake of this news that, despite writing about The Mars Volta at least once, I've never given them their own day. That changes now, while I still have the chance.

The Blogman Cometh

     Salve, fellow metalheads, and welcome to Loud Noises, my new blog primarily focused on heavy music. As often as I can get around to it (once every week or two seems super optimistic at this point, but we'll see), this space will struggle to contain my thoughts, opinions, musings, and general ramblings about all the music that's near and dear to my big, bearded heart.