“Mars Volta's Amputechture Inspired by Immigrant Marches, Possessed Nuns” All right?! Fair enough...No one can question their skills as musicians and innovative music creators, but what happened to the song writing? Maybe the possessed nuns transferred their demons and bad spirits on to the band.
When their first EP “Temulant EP” came out some years ago I was so exited and I also thought their following debut album “De-Loused in the Comatorium” was really impressive and innovative with great arrangements and well played melodies. I played it over and over for a whole summer. And still do sometimes.
They took it a step further with “Frances the mute” that did tend to get very annoying during some moments with too much guitar solos and to long “jams”. So when I read they were going to put out another record I hoped they would get back to doing some great structured songs, but of course they didn’t.
The new record feels like 60 minutes of never-ending guitar solos that gets on my nerve and makes me want to kill Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez’s amplifier and smash his guitar. I can’t think of nothing else than Santana mixed with some shitty neo-metal band on acid trying to be Frank Zappa. His guitars (sometimes its like seven of them playing different solos at the same time) are just too much in every aspect.
The lack of defined song structures in the songs is too obvious and the ego of Omar’s skills as guitarist destroys the rest of the bands accomplishment and greatness. I mean in an 11 minuets long song he’s playing his solos over 8 of them. Since the guitars are mixed too high and are all over the place all the time, filling every little gap there is, it is impossible for the listener to catch the breath and you simply can not hear or don’t care what the others are playing.
I doubt the others in the band really find the sounds he tweaks out of his guitar all over the picture that satisfying so why doesn’t some one just tell him to shut up?
Best song is “Vicera Eyes” with its great trumpets and Jaga Jazzist influenced guitar riff.
But that’s that.
Listen to some new songs here:
