The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta

I haven't written a review on the Deb for months; too many problems (the usual ones related to my anxiety) have kind of blocked me.

Yesterday, the new self-titled work by The Mars Volta was released after ten years of silence; a band I have worshiped, loved insanely in past decades. I will never forget their concert at the Alcatraz in Milan in the early months of 2007: three and a half hours of "Total Music," free, wild, without limits and patterns. With the first real break that they took after almost two hours of sonic orgy, cognitive high, jamming between one track and another, instrumentally extending the individual pieces. Giants in every respect!

I couldn't resist, I gave myself a single listen... or rather, I am still "trapped" in the last minutes of the album. Because they immediately conquered me, sending me into orbit, forgetting all the current paranoias...

These then are the very first impressions, off the cuff, without too much thought.

Let's forget the dynamite, the overwhelming force of the early works. Here we are much closer to an elegant Pop-Prog (not a beautiful definition but it fits) of bright and radiant beauty. They have grown, and it shows.

Let's forget about lengthy songs, close to, if not over, ten minutes in duration. In the new album, there are 14 tracks for not even three-quarters of an hour in duration. Only a couple of tracks exceed 4 minutes.

Produced by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, who this time sets aside his acrobatic and omnipresent guitar, opting for more enveloping, intangible, languid, soft sounds.

Few, very few outbursts, however always controlled and disciplined, as occurs in No Gas Gain for now the moment that struck me the most, with Omar's guitar running parallel to Cedric's vocals.

And it is the voice of Cedric Bixler-Zavala that completely dominates the entire work. A very high-pitched voice, that pushes forward and beyond, capturing with its adamantine beauty.

What else to say? I am at the end of the album and the review.

Listened to it on YouTube and already ordered by my daughter on Amazon to have the CD in my hands in a few days. Listening to it again, and again, and again.

Album of 2022? Along with the EP by "Praimus" I believe so!

Ad Maiora.