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Titan · 01-19-2004, 09:47 PM

The Mars Volta - De-Loused In the Comatorium

Prescript:
I know this is a long intro, but the actual review is short. I know there are fans of this band on the board, and they’ve been discussed before, but there isn’t an actual review of their album, so here ya go. The Mars Volta is made up of Cedric Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the former vocalist and former guitarist of At the Drive-In. Also Jon Theodore on drums, Juan Alderete on bass (Flea from RHCP plays bass on the record, John Fruisciante also helps out on Cicatriz E.S.P., and coincidentally enough, Rick Rubin produced the album) and Isaiah Owens on keyboards. De-Loused In the Comatorium is a conceptual album based on thus:

“Julio Venegas, an artist from El Paso, Texas, committed suicide in 1996. A free spirit and noted provocateur, "He was definitely someone who lived life to the fullest," remembers his friend, Cedric Bixler Zavala. "Toward the end, he acquired a really bad limp from being in a coma. He had tons of scars all over his body and some of his closer friends used to call him Frankenstein. He had big cut marks on his throat, welts and bruises and bumps, and his arm had been shriveled up from shooting up rat poison. He acquired so many scars it was like a walking map."

When Cedric sang for At The Drive-In, he wrote a lyric--‘Embroglio’ on 1996’s Acrobatic Tenement--about Venegas, who had killed himself while that band were rehearsing. "I didn’t feel it really did him justice," he continues, "I felt like a whole record should be dedicated to him."

That record is De-Loused In The Comatorium, the astonishing first album by The Mars Volta. De-Loused In The Comatorium is an iridescent, fearless, brain-busting hour of music, a fictionalized celebration of Julio Venegas’ life. Based on a story written by Cedric, it is a concept album in which the hero tries to commit suicide by overdosing on morphine. Instead of dying, he falls into a coma for a week, and experiences fantastic adventures in his dreams, elemental battles between the good and bad aspects of his conscience. At the end, he emerges from the coma, but chooses to die.”

01-Son et Lumiere 1:35
A short intro track, which actual is basically the beginning of the next track. But it’s split into two parts so that the beginning of Inertiatic E.S.P has a big impact. I definitely prefer listening to the two of them together personally. ‘Cuz you get the buildup and whatnot. It’s quite nice, a great intro track.

02-Intertiatic E.S.P. 4:23
Now I’m lost! Now I’m lo-o-o-o-o-st! A great song to start of the album with. Very fast-paced (like most of these). Very catchy and very innovative vocal lines on top of precise guitar and piano. Tiny changes in forms of the parts of the song make it so you have to listen to it a few times before you can totally follow along. This is probably the catchiest song on the album though, and a real inspiration. Download this for your first preview of this band.

03-Roulette Dares (The Haunt of) 7:30
A bit more laid-back than the last one, though you wouldn’t know by how it starts out. More mellow verse and chorus type-things. Beautiful vocal lines spouting out haunting lyrics, A half mass commute through umbilical blisters. Specter will lurk, radar has gathered midnight nooses from boxcar cadavers. Exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed. Crazy sound effects found everywhere in this song, a prevalent and productory theme in this album. Yeah, this album has a lot of depth in that respect, which is another reason it’s a great long-lasting album.

04-Tira Me a Las Arañas 1:28
A cute little segue track. It’s not too fancy, kind of random, plenty of strange notes and more of those crazy sound effects. Though I’m sure it would just sound stellar if you’re an avid fan of Phish.

05-Drunkship of Lanterns 7:06
Crazy percussion perks it’s head up at the beginning of this song. Then we get a glimpse of why Flea is one of the best bassists in the world. Beautiful vocals on top of crazy rhythms. These are the types of melodies that are ten times more beautiful the tenth time you listen to them. Excellently odd guitar/drum break down after 2 minutes and then we jut ourselves into a short little chorus type deal. Towards the end: supercrazy fun heavy rock-out guitar outro. Cock=out.

06-Eriatarka 6:20
I cannot get over the beautiful melodies in this song. The curling guitar mixed with the strolling vocals, excellent, very good balance musical and moody. And then we kick into the chorus where the guitar and drums make for a fun rhythm atop the spouting vocals. This is a pretty strong track all around.

07-Cicatriz E.S.P. 12:28
Fucking A man. And the goodness keeps coming. Excellent, excellent grooving rhythms brought out by the bass and drums. Great vocals delivered again as well. This is definitely a head-bobber. Well, my kind of head-bobber. We do a couple verses and choruses before we plunge into this really ambient part that goes on for about 7 or so minutes. This part kind of lags if you’re listening to just this song, but if you’re listening in the context of the album it feels much more appropriate. Ah and then when the rest of the song finally comes back in, ah, it’s great.

08-This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed 4:58
We’re led right into the next song by some ambient reverbery plucking guitarage. And then, lo and behold, it gets crazy again as the guitar squeals. Then we’re plunged into one of the weirded sounded choruses every attempted by a rock band. Just wait 'til the next time it goes into the chorus, it’s an odd transition at first, love it. A weird pitch-shifting-vocal-doubler effect is placed on the vocals for part of that too, which really sounds odd. Post-production crazy outro. So many crazy effects on everything on this album. Have you counted the number of times I’ve said “crazy”?

09-Televators 6:18
Ah, peace at last. A much more mellow laid-back track. Though that does stop Cedric from belting out halfway through. I highly recommend if you’re going to listen to this album, that eventually you look up the lyrics for it. Intrepid. This is one of my favourites of the album simply because it’s so amazing moody. How anyone could listen to emo music after hearing this is beyond me.

10-Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt 8:41
Yeah, and we’re back into the swing of things again. You must have been phlegmatic in stature, the gates of thanos are spread eagle wide. This is definitely a head-bobber. Bobbing. A body-convulsor if willing. Then, wow, an amazing chorus with hauntingly inspiring background vocals. All types of moods going on in this song, and all nicely compact. Eventually a screeching guitar cuts us down into another ambient like downtime. It slowly builds back up with plenty of percussion and into a few different guitar solo areas. Four minutes until we’re introduced into a new full-band section. And yet again that screeching guitar rears it’s head and cues us into one of the most amazing outros ever. So... oh... man... an amazing end to an amazing album, really. I highly encourage you to get this and listen to it all the way through... Chills. Who brought me here? Forsaken, deprived and wrought with fear. Who turned it off? The last thing I remember now, who brought me here? Forsaken, deprived and wrought with fear. Who turned it off? The last thing I remember now, who brought me here?

Titan’s Ranking:
So difficult to rank, except for the intro and segue tracks, all of these are probably in between a 9 and a 10, so note that ranking them is almost useless, I’m just following my normal format. If you want songs to download first, get Inertiatic E.S.P. and Eriatarka.

1. Drunkship of Lanterns
2. Inertiatic E.S.P.
3. Eriatarka
4. Televators
5. Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt
6. Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)
7. Cicatriz E.S.P.
8. This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed
9. Son et Lumiere
10. Tira Me a Las Arañas

Postscript / Titan’s Rating: 98%
This album is an amazing album. By that I mean it’s a great thing for you to listen to all at once. Some of the songs sound much better in context that by themselves. It’s one of the best albums to listen to all of the way through. This album comes highly recommended. It’s easily in my top ten albums ever, and might just make it’s way into the top five. Respect to the Butcher for having the foresight to promote such a great band oh-so-long-ago. Anyone who's heard the album, please don't hesitate to grace us with your opinions. This is a great album for people that are obsessed with music. I think you should all get it, or download it, listen to it all the way through, and then listen to it again. It took me about 5 listens to really know it and be able to follow along. It’s probably my 10th time all the way through now, and I’m absolutely drooling.

The Mars Volta - De-Loused In the Comatorium

poop

[ January 26, 2004, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Titan ]

01-19-2004, 09:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
Titan Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,698 Internets: 10	The Mars Volta - De-Loused In the Comatorium Prescript: I know this is a long intro, but the actual review is short. I know there are fans of this band on the board, and they’ve been discussed before, but there isn’t an actual review of their album, so here ya go. The Mars Volta is made up of Cedric Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the former vocalist and former guitarist of At the Drive-In. Also Jon Theodore on drums, Juan Alderete on bass (Flea from RHCP plays bass on the record, John Fruisciante also helps out on Cicatriz E.S.P., and coincidentally enough, Rick Rubin produced the album) and Isaiah Owens on keyboards. De-Loused In the Comatorium is a conceptual album based on thus: “Julio Venegas, an artist from El Paso, Texas, committed suicide in 1996. A free spirit and noted provocateur, "He was definitely someone who lived life to the fullest," remembers his friend, Cedric Bixler Zavala. "Toward the end, he acquired a really bad limp from being in a coma. He had tons of scars all over his body and some of his closer friends used to call him Frankenstein. He had big cut marks on his throat, welts and bruises and bumps, and his arm had been shriveled up from shooting up rat poison. He acquired so many scars it was like a walking map." When Cedric sang for At The Drive-In, he wrote a lyric--‘Embroglio’ on 1996’s Acrobatic Tenement--about Venegas, who had killed himself while that band were rehearsing. "I didn’t feel it really did him justice," he continues, "I felt like a whole record should be dedicated to him." That record is De-Loused In The Comatorium, the astonishing first album by The Mars Volta. De-Loused In The Comatorium is an iridescent, fearless, brain-busting hour of music, a fictionalized celebration of Julio Venegas’ life. Based on a story written by Cedric, it is a concept album in which the hero tries to commit suicide by overdosing on morphine. Instead of dying, he falls into a coma for a week, and experiences fantastic adventures in his dreams, elemental battles between the good and bad aspects of his conscience. At the end, he emerges from the coma, but chooses to die.” 01-Son et Lumiere 1:35 A short intro track, which actual is basically the beginning of the next track. But it’s split into two parts so that the beginning of Inertiatic E.S.P has a big impact. I definitely prefer listening to the two of them together personally. ‘Cuz you get the buildup and whatnot. It’s quite nice, a great intro track. 02-Intertiatic E.S.P. 4:23 Now I’m lost! Now I’m lo-o-o-o-o-st! A great song to start of the album with. Very fast-paced (like most of these). Very catchy and very innovative vocal lines on top of precise guitar and piano. Tiny changes in forms of the parts of the song make it so you have to listen to it a few times before you can totally follow along. This is probably the catchiest song on the album though, and a real inspiration. Download this for your first preview of this band. 03-Roulette Dares (The Haunt of) 7:30 A bit more laid-back than the last one, though you wouldn’t know by how it starts out. More mellow verse and chorus type-things. Beautiful vocal lines spouting out haunting lyrics, A half mass commute through umbilical blisters. Specter will lurk, radar has gathered midnight nooses from boxcar cadavers. Exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed. Crazy sound effects found everywhere in this song, a prevalent and productory theme in this album. Yeah, this album has a lot of depth in that respect, which is another reason it’s a great long-lasting album. 04-Tira Me a Las Arañas 1:28 A cute little segue track. It’s not too fancy, kind of random, plenty of strange notes and more of those crazy sound effects. Though I’m sure it would just sound stellar if you’re an avid fan of Phish. 05-Drunkship of Lanterns 7:06 Crazy percussion perks it’s head up at the beginning of this song. Then we get a glimpse of why Flea is one of the best bassists in the world. Beautiful vocals on top of crazy rhythms. These are the types of melodies that are ten times more beautiful the tenth time you listen to them. Excellently odd guitar/drum break down after 2 minutes and then we jut ourselves into a short little chorus type deal. Towards the end: supercrazy fun heavy rock-out guitar outro. Cock=out. 06-Eriatarka 6:20 I cannot get over the beautiful melodies in this song. The curling guitar mixed with the strolling vocals, excellent, very good balance musical and moody. And then we kick into the chorus where the guitar and drums make for a fun rhythm atop the spouting vocals. This is a pretty strong track all around. 07-Cicatriz E.S.P. 12:28 Fucking A man. And the goodness keeps coming. Excellent, excellent grooving rhythms brought out by the bass and drums. Great vocals delivered again as well. This is definitely a head-bobber. Well, my kind of head-bobber. We do a couple verses and choruses before we plunge into this really ambient part that goes on for about 7 or so minutes. This part kind of lags if you’re listening to just this song, but if you’re listening in the context of the album it feels much more appropriate. Ah and then when the rest of the song finally comes back in, ah, it’s great. 08-This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed 4:58 We’re led right into the next song by some ambient reverbery plucking guitarage. And then, lo and behold, it gets crazy again as the guitar squeals. Then we’re plunged into one of the weirded sounded choruses every attempted by a rock band. Just wait 'til the next time it goes into the chorus, it’s an odd transition at first, love it. A weird pitch-shifting-vocal-doubler effect is placed on the vocals for part of that too, which really sounds odd. Post-production crazy outro. So many crazy effects on everything on this album. Have you counted the number of times I’ve said “crazy”? 09-Televators 6:18 Ah, peace at last. A much more mellow laid-back track. Though that does stop Cedric from belting out halfway through. I highly recommend if you’re going to listen to this album, that eventually you look up the lyrics for it. Intrepid. This is one of my favourites of the album simply because it’s so amazing moody. How anyone could listen to emo music after hearing this is beyond me. 10-Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt 8:41 Yeah, and we’re back into the swing of things again. You must have been phlegmatic in stature, the gates of thanos are spread eagle wide. This is definitely a head-bobber. Bobbing. A body-convulsor if willing. Then, wow, an amazing chorus with hauntingly inspiring background vocals. All types of moods going on in this song, and all nicely compact. Eventually a screeching guitar cuts us down into another ambient like downtime. It slowly builds back up with plenty of percussion and into a few different guitar solo areas. Four minutes until we’re introduced into a new full-band section. And yet again that screeching guitar rears it’s head and cues us into one of the most amazing outros ever. So... oh... man... an amazing end to an amazing album, really. I highly encourage you to get this and listen to it all the way through... Chills. Who brought me here? Forsaken, deprived and wrought with fear. Who turned it off? The last thing I remember now, who brought me here? Forsaken, deprived and wrought with fear. Who turned it off? The last thing I remember now, who brought me here? Titan’s Ranking: So difficult to rank, except for the intro and segue tracks, all of these are probably in between a 9 and a 10, so note that ranking them is almost useless, I’m just following my normal format. If you want songs to download first, get Inertiatic E.S.P. and Eriatarka. 1. Drunkship of Lanterns 2. Inertiatic E.S.P. 3. Eriatarka 4. Televators 5. Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt 6. Roulette Dares (The Haunt of) 7. Cicatriz E.S.P. 8. This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed 9. Son et Lumiere 10. Tira Me a Las Arañas Postscript / Titan’s Rating: 98% This album is an amazing album. By that I mean it’s a great thing for you to listen to all at once. Some of the songs sound much better in context that by themselves. It’s one of the best albums to listen to all of the way through. This album comes highly recommended. It’s easily in my top ten albums ever, and might just make it’s way into the top five. Respect to the Butcher for having the foresight to promote such a great band oh-so-long-ago. Anyone who's heard the album, please don't hesitate to grace us with your opinions. This is a great album for people that are obsessed with music. I think you should all get it, or download it, listen to it all the way through, and then listen to it again. It took me about 5 listens to really know it and be able to follow along. It’s probably my 10th time all the way through now, and I’m absolutely drooling. The Mars Volta - De-Loused In the Comatorium poop [ January 26, 2004, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Titan ]
	I do what the fuck I want.