Mars Volta Comatorium

The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

URL: www.themarsvolta.com

Tracks:
1. Son et Lumiere
2. Inertiatic ESP
3. Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
4. Tira Me a las Aranas
5. Drunkship of Lanterns
6. Eriatarka
7. Cicatriz ESP
8. This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed
9. Televators
10. Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt

Why: After listening to At the Drive-in’s Relationship of Command for a solid couple of months (still on and off today).. and checking out Sparta at the Big Day Out I went into a sort of “hanging-up” of this music, returned back to other stuff i used to listen to lots, like Dave Matthews Band and Tool.. where upon i was hanging out with Jake and he mentioned that i should check out Glassjaw. Mentioning that they were a sort of hybrid at the drive in .. with more aggressive messed-up time-riffs like tool. Naturally i was interested. So i checked out the Glassjaw album “Worship and Tribute”.. then upon mentioning this to someone else they said i should check out “The Mars Volta”.. i was like “Who?”.. and they go, the members of at the drive in who DIDN’T go to Sparta.. and i was like.. get the fuck out. He then brought to my attention that he believe that the mars volta were the best out of sparta, at the drive-in, glassjaw etc… So i got my grimey hands on the comatorium.

Thoughts: Holy.. Shit!.. The above mentioned “someone else” was so correct, this album, this band, are fucking incredible. This album has been on my playlist for a good couple of weeks now, and it still manages to impress me to no end. I haven’t even gotten the handle of the crazy ass titles, and still manage to just re-fall-in-love with every track on this album. The introduction is just amazing. Those eerie organ chords, the swirl of.. undercurrent. It’s like it’s preparing you for when the drums kick in at 1min 15 secs.. and then they just increase the tension until it kicks into the 2nd track..”Inertiatic ESP”.. at first i didn’t think these were different tracks, but they are, and boy are they a warm-up!! One complain from the at the drive in was that a lot of people found the singing quite whiney, this album he seems to just.. sing. And fuck me sing he can !! (And still letting out his trademarked wail!). I’m not going to get started on the drumming on the track, especially before track3. This is when this guy kicks it into over-drive. (Not that he was lazying around before anyway).. Each of the tracks just seems to shred itself so much, with incredible bridges and just very funky broken-down sections, and when they kick it back into the lead-riffs(bits) it just.. it fits SO well. It works!.. I have this funny feeling these guys aren’t going to make it down to aus very soon.. but my GOD..
Initially track 3 (roulette dares) was my favourite track. Great introduction, the rhythm in this track just boots and it’s brimming with energy and just.. kicking. It comes into it’s own when they break it down momentarily @ about 40secs, and then follow through to the verse. The dynamics are just splendiferous! Then mid-song the drumming frenzy begins. .. ahhh and what a drum-solo, you REALLY have to check out this track@!.. it’s like a mish-mash of all the things i could find wonderful in a song. The kind of music I’d like to play, but know we just don’t have that sort of talent.

Favourite track after digestion? Track 6. Eriatarka. Great guitar riff, smooth rolling verses, great singing. Guitar *twangs* that remind me of radiohead, it’s all here. At a min and a half, when the chorus comes in and the drumming just goes insane (yes.. yet again) this song is just.. so amazingly full of energy.. but it’s not just that i spose, they have the means and the methods to harness this .. energy of sort and kind of let is squeese out gradually (which they do with a break-down guitar-solo at 2mins 15.. ).. building back up for another chorus!.. AAAAH.. *orgasm*

Posted by Christian 22 July 2003

5 Responses to “Mars Volta Comatorium”