The Mars Volta - Octahedron

Only one year on from 'The Bedlam in Goliath' and The Mars Volta have not wasted any time in following it up, 'Octahedron' is their fifth effort and they have labelled this as their 'acoustic' album and 'acoustic' Prog-Rock can be an utter disaster if it's not done right, but The Mars Volta do, and not only do they DO, they send 'Octahedron' up into the ranks of 'De-Loused In The Commatorium' and 'Frances The Mute'.

'Since We've Been Wrong' opens up 'Octahedron' in a splendid, mellow and fashionable way. Cedric Bixler-Zavala's vocals are simply stunning in this track, especially with romantic but sinister lyrics like 'Do you remember how you wore that dress? It slit my sight beneath the eyelids'. Omar Rodríguez-López picks and plucks his experimental and jazzy guitar lines as he pleases, and when the song hits the five minute mark, it picks up in pace with Thomas Pridgen's drumming that gives the tempo a kick and the Zavala and López combination kicks in, when Zavala's vocals become more heard and López's Latin fused guitar go to work. 'Teflon' is next up, which fastens proceedings up in typical Mars Volta fashion, Prigden's drumming starts things up with a steady but quick drumbeat and along comes López's sliding guitar as he reminiscences the sound of your teachers nails grinding down that old blackboard at school. Zavala's vocals don't disappoint either, he groans away at the main chorus 'Let the wheels burn, let the wheels burn, stack the tires to the neck with the body inside' with an eerie chilly angst that is sustained through-out the entire track.

The Mars Volta have always shown they are a tight unit, with all the members that have passed through their ranks, Zavala and López's chemistry is un-questionable. Zavala being the bands lyricist, he's known for his metaphorical and biblical style of writing, vocally he can hit anything either, just listen to 'Inertiatic ESP'. López however, is quite the improviser and free-stylist when it comes to his guitar playing but he also knows how to rock... hard! and in 'Cotopaxi' a particular Led Zeppelin sounding track, he blasts out a heavy riff that sounds almost like 'Whole Lotta Love' and is carried out through the entire song, again Prigden's drumming sounds like a wild bear set on the loose in China shop and what sums the track up so well, is Zavala's vocals which hit the high notes in every department and is definitely up there with the great male vocalists in rock like Freddy Mercury, Robert Plant and Axl Rose when it comes to vocal range. 'Desperate Graves' continues the heaviness brought forward by 'Cotopaxi'. It's hard hitting and vocally, Zavala is reaching all the peaks and López's guitar is pulsating with heavy eagerness which is let loose in typical López fashion.

Reaching the end of 'Octahedron' we are brought down to earth in 'Copernicus' which continues the theme of their mellow and 'acoustic' album, considering the songs starts out with an electric guitar, it's slow tempo is almost romantic-like, and the song is easy to fall in love with, Zavala's vocals are clean and half way through the song, a surprise is brought in, with the use of a synthesizer which gives the song a slight Industrial feel and then as it stops it returns to it's peaceful and drawn out affair. The final song of 'Octahedron' and being the longest, going over the eight minute mark, 'Luciforms', which is where López allowed himself some room to manoeuvre himself into doing what he does best, solos. With eight minutes to fill in he brings them out and just at the five minutes and thirty second mark, he produces a stunningly distorted one that the bass and drums just gel together with it so well, they're stuck like glue and as it slows down shortly, López suddenly just starts where he left of on and continues his three minute + solo in typical Omar Rodriguez-López fashion.

Following up on their immediate success from 'The Bedlam In Goliath', The Mars Volta seem to go from strength-to-strength. 'Octahedron', being slower and more melodic then their previous work, is more polished, more accessible than 'The Bedlam In Goliath' and simply has better songs. But still, The Mars Volta continue to rock, even if they have gone a little soft on this album, rockers like 'Cotopaxi' and 'Desperate Graves' are sure to rock the rockers of The Mars Volta fan base.

4/5


Linus Broadbent.