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Rating:
Post-emo-space-progressive-noise-rock. Or maybe something is missing? Yes, because when talking about the Mars Volta, it seems almost mandatory to bring up a myriad of labels and definitions. Or perhaps it's enough to just surrender to the notes of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's guitar and Cedric Zavala's vocalizations? It's hard to give an answer. The fact remains that in the new work "Frances The Mute," the Mars Volta surprise once again, perhaps even more so.
We're faced with a new concept album, structured in five long tracks, with a total duration of over 75 minutes: the story driving the album, this time, is inspired by a diary that Jeremy Ward (an original member of the band) allegedly found on the back seat of a car while working as a "repo man" (a sort of car repossessor for unpaid installments). "Jeremy," as singer Cedric Zavala states, "discovered he had a lot in common with the diary's author. He kept the diary and revealed its contents to us. The diary tells of how the author was adopted and was searching for his real parents. The song titles are taken from the names of people in the diary, each of whom, when he meets them, gives him directions in his search for his biological parents." Premise: those expecting a sequel to "De-Loused In The Comatorium" will be disappointed: "Frances The Mute" is an album profoundly different from its predecessor. The absence of Rick Rubin in production is immediately noticeable, the sounds become less grandiose and artificial, less spatial and more "earthly," given the different setting of the story (the real world, to be precise).
Five connected tracks, then. It starts with the continuous crescendo and electronic noise of "Cygnus Vismund Cygnus," then proceeds with the slow tempos of "The Widow" (the "Televators" of the album), passing through the delirious "L'Via L'Viaquez," with magnificent singing in Spanish supported by crazy rhythms balancing between Led Zeppelin revival and salsa "half-time" percussionism, the schizophrenic "Miranda, That Ghost Isn't Holy Anymore" (intro with voice and guitar full of delay, a frightening acceleration towards the 8-minute mark and an unexpected ambient conclusion), and the infinite "Cassandra Gemini," thirty-two minutes that summarize the elements of the group, where the echoes and distortions of Rodriguez-Lopez's guitar bring us back to the main theme of "Cygnus Vismund Cygnus," concluding everything. These are the Mars Volta, take it or leave it. Those who prefer immediacy should stay away, those who loved "De-Loused..." should prepare for something different, those who don't know them might learn to love them.
The fact remains that "Frances The Mute" remains a unique experience, perhaps excessively cerebral, but one to be lived in any case. "It seems to us that now we're at the starting point," says Omar. "Now I think it's objectively time to introduce ourselves. The last few years felt like our adolescent period, where we could go out and play but had to come back at a certain time. Not anymore. We've cut the cord. Every tie to any convention has been broken. We're just a group of self-indulgent friends, we're painters painting our feelings". Should we believe them?
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus (13:02)
The ocean floor is hidden
From your viewing lens
A depth perception
Languished in the night
All my life,I’ve been
Sewing the wounds
But the seeds sprout
A lachrymal cloud
Niño preparate
Que vas sufrir
Niño preparate
Salte veneno
Niño preparate
Salte de aqui
Niño preparate
Labios temblando
Niño preparate
Salte veneno
Niño preparate
Salte de aqui
Niño preparate
Brincan los cuerpos
Vas a sufrir
My nails peel back
When the taxidermist ruined
Goose stepped the freckling impatience
All the brittle tombs
Five hundred little q’s
I’m splitting hairs to
Match the faces
All night long I’ll hunt for you
Let me show you what I mean
Sangre
Sonando
De rabia naci
Now this train don’t lie
An abortion that survived
A lineage of
Bastard mastacation
All the severed proof
Talons scratch my suite
These are the feathers
That replace them
All night I’ll hunt for you
Let me show you what I mean
Sangre
Sonando
De rabia nací
Who do you trust
Will they feed us the womb
Chrome the fetal mirage
Will they feed us the womb
I found the remnants
Of a crescent fang
It cleaned my wing
Down to the bone
Umbilical syllables
Left to decode
There was no cradle
I can taste it
Come on now
All night I’ll hunt for you
Let me show you what I mean
Sangre
Sonando
De rabia naci
Who do you trust?
Will they feed us the womb
Chrome the fetal mirage
Will they feed us the womb
Bring me this plague
She took a drink
Those nicotine stains
On his every word
My scavenger quilt
Will only hide the truth
Bring me
Bring me this plague
I count the days to find
What was left behind
Only these names I clutch
Will lead me to my home
Somehow this river marks
A wrinkle hand in mine
And everyday that parts
The water into two
Mothers and feathers start
To drown the living proof
I can’t remember these lakes of blood
Wrapped in a blanket
There sweats a cut
Who do you trust?
Will they feed us the womb
Chrome the fetal mirage
Will they feed us the womb
02 The Widow (05:50)
He's got fasting black lungs
Made of clove splintered shards
They're the kind that will talk
Through a wheezing of coughs
And I hear him every night
In every pore
And every time he just makes me warm
Freeze without an answer
Free from all the shame
Must I hide
'Cause I'll never never sleep alone
Look at how they flock to him
From an isle of open sores
He knows that the taste is such
Is such to die for
And I hear him every night
On every street
The scales that do slither
Deliver me from...
Freeze without an answer
Free from all the shame
Then I'll hide 'cause I'll never never sleep alone
Oh lord
Said I'm, Said I'm, Said I'm,
Said I'm bloodshot for sure
Pale runs the ghost
Swollen on the shore
Every night
In every pore
The scales that do slither
Deliver me from...
Freeze without an answer
Free from all the shame
Then I'll hide
'Cause I'll never never sleep alone
Freeze without an answer
Free from all the shame
Let Me Die
'Cause I'll never never sleep alone
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Other reviews
By l.ascari
"In more than an hour of the album, one can consider about fifteen minutes of songs, the rest pure madness."
"I still believe they are a great band, but to truly understand their quality, I think this album isn’t the most suitable."
