The Mars Volta

Great way to return as a band for the Mars Volta! Great change of pace with the "pop" direction! The new Mars Volta Blacklight Shine An excellent choice for the opening single and the opener of the album. Definitely one of the top 3 tracks of the album. I love the juxtaposition of the dark almost sinister tone Cedric takes with the vocals of the verses and bridges with the bright Caribbean/ funk beats. This track has so much going on with it texturally with the music that it is criminal that it is under 3 minutes long. Graveyard love Was our first real revelation that this album was going to be something completely different from first hearing of that sample to the excellent fast paced indie sounding outro, Graveyard is definitely a grower with a lot going for it than just a 3 minute electronica track. Shore Story I can understand if fans hate this track. I enjoy it quite a bit and I feel like it could be a grower for me. I don’t mind them venturing into soul/r&b, I am just kind of dumbfounded that they were able to make the “genre” their own style and that it works. Blank condolences Tame impala vibes coming from this track. Love the guitar use in this track with the almost solo in the track. Overall beat of the track is killer and very modern. Cedric continues his excellent streak of melodic vocals carried over from Nocto. There you go cowaring past the pulpit… Vigil Not a bad track to follow Blank, but was not a great selection for the third single. I felt like they selected it to represent the “ballad” fraction of the album. Maybe Palm would have been a stronger selection to represent this portion of the album. All that considered, Vigil is still a great concise minimal track that is beautiful, just not one of my favorites on the new album. Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon This had real potential to be the fan favorite of the new album. Yes, there are some bloodlines from France the Mute living in this track which really pumps a lot of TMV fans up. But dangit if it is just too short of a track. If anything, this should have been the outlier track that received the 7-8 minute treatment! Cerulea Probably my least favorite track on the album. I just not as into the double vocals on the intro of the track. I still enjoy the track and I do not consider it filler, but it is not may favorite. I do love Cedric’s vocals and harmonies though on this. Flash Burns From Flashbacks Is definitely one of my favorites on the album. This one could have easily been a single and we would have ate this up! Of course I love the backwards guitar with layered riffage. Palm full of Crux The best ballad of the album. Maybe TMV’s most beautiful track. Very layered and melody stays with you. Probably TMV at their poppiest. The drumming is superb on this as well. No Case Gain I can hear the influences from Gabriel and Bowie in this track. I dig the guitars use on this one as well. With a great psychedelic melody and beat. As with most of these tracks, a great outro suggesting potential extended jam for the live show. Tourmaline A very subtle but affective track. It is one of the weaker tracks for me on the album but still very enjoyable. Equus 3 I love the brooding driving force of the music and lyrics of this track. Definitely a favorite. Collapsible shoulders I love the spoken lyrics in this, matches the music great! Requisition One of the best tracks on the album. Feels heavily influenced vocally and musically by Peter Gabriel; seems like it could have fit nicely on Gabriel’s “melting face” album. Contains the most beautiful guitar sections of the album. An excellent choice to close out a masterful album. Could have been a single, however, I am glad they kept their best surprises for the album release!

I did not know of this band until a year ago. Obviously a mindblowing discovery since I have always been a fan of British or European progressive rock. Many of my favorite bands are very out there such as Can, Amon Duul II, King Crimson and Van Der Graff Generator. To find an American band of the same stature made me immediately buy all their recorded work but be bummed by the fact that I had already missed out on their career. Up pops the Mars Volta and the new album. Different? I'll say! But you know what? It is just as good. I like the fact that the Mars Volta is whatever Omar and Cedric says it is. For 50 years, King Crimson was whatever Robert Fripp says it was and I had the confidence that each version would be awesome. I am sure many people abandoned that band as soon as Greg Lake left but that missed the eventual point as does the progresssion of the Mars Volta. A band this good has the courage to experiment, to present their music in new ways. That is what they have done. Fans should not feel betrayed. I have already ordered the acoustic remake of this album on the basis of hearing the preview of the one track available. I suspect it too will be amazing.

This isn’t what I was expecting from TMV. It’s good. Just not the crazy that I was expecting.

Their older albums are there and will always be there but this is a more mature Volta and I like it quite a bit. Call me crazy but I have this riding up there with Frances and Amputechture. I can’t put this record away it’s now apart of my everyday sad fest

I have been a fan since the beginning and they have always been my favorite band. I listened to them as a young skateboarder , through a dark period of drug abuse to now a father with a family . Much respect for the band! This album is amazing and a work of art!

Extremely boring music. All Songs sounds the Same . Very little production quality tricks being utilized to keep any level Of interest . All and all a very lame effort by a band capable of much more.

Probably unlikely will ever get to hear Deloused, & or Francis (GFT) again like our first time? our eyes burst TMv ears exploded👌🏾thank you Omar for the composition once again..Beautifully done Hope to see TMv again on the road, Cedric’s words Psychedelic Heatbreak🦚Pure!

So I love all past MV albums and this is no different…well, it’s different sounding but still good…the only thing that makes me think it’s MV are Cedric’s vocals…the songs are good but yeah different..they’re so much shorter than the usual psychedelic jams I love from MV and they seem to be quieter than the in-yo-face feel they’ve had…makes me wonder if there’s another album on the horizon with more jammy music…hope so, can’t get enough of this team

It’s boring. It’s great musically and all that. If I heard this playing somewhere I wouldn’t have though it was mars Volta at all. That’s why I don’t like it. Not because it’s “soft”. It just sounds like a super mellow boring electronic infused piece of music.

A complete change of pace when compared to previous albums, but everything was so thoughtfully and tastefully done.