Guitarist-songwriter Omar Rodríguez-López (top) and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala are the core members of The Mars Volta.
There’s something both intoxicating and alienating about The Mars Volta’s complete disregard for its audience’s expectations. Easily recognizable yet completely unpredictable in execution and quality, this meticulous sonic discordance has made the group one of today’s quintessential love-them-or-hate-them musical outfits.
Noctourniquet, the band’s long-awaited sixth studio album, may be the record that finally breaks that mold. Forget the excessive guitar solos and epic-length progressive rock compositions – Noctourniquet has finally returned The Mars Volta to that elusive balance between pop and experimentation the band has failed to capture since De-Loused in the Comatorium.
But don’t be confused – Noctourniquet doesn’t sound anything like De-Loused in the Comatorium, nor should it. Awash in synthesizers and chock full of slow-paced, orchestral compositions, Noctourniquet, like any Mars Volta album, is unlike anything that has come before it.
The LP does retain the band’s underlying tropes – multifaceted drumming, bizarre lyrics and feedback – but reapplies them in a way songwriter and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez hasn’t tried before.
Instead of alienating fans because of its complexity (Amputechture) or boring simplicity (Octahedron), this new record takes The Mars Volta in a totally different tonal direction long-time listeners will find refreshing and others will find, of all things, accessible.
While awesome tracks such as “Molochwalker” fulfill the group’s obligatory bursts of adrenaline, the melodic, constantly building emotion of highlight “Empty Vessels Make The Loudest Sound” is bound to leave the biggest impression.
These types of slow-paced compositions – exemplified by trippy centerpiece “In Absentia” – have been attempted before in The Mars Volta canon, but never with such consistency or quality. Held together by shorter song lengths and more direct compositional structures, the accessible conceit of Noctourniquet ensures none of these beautiful little ideas overstay their welcome.
Fans shouldn’t fret – the songs are still highly experimental in their own right – but Noctourniquet doesn’t make its listeners struggle to pinpoint its best moments.
Whether it’s singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala belting out his refrain of “St. Christopher” in “Zed and Two Naughts” or the shock of hearing 1980s-recalling synthesizer sequences on the title track, Noctourniquet has plenty of refreshing material to get excited about.
Annoyingly, the release of Noctourniquet coincides with the looming At the Drive-In reunion. As Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala’s first popular band, this post-hardcore mega-event will only serve as a reminder of how long-winded and pretentious The Mars Volta has been in the past, new record be damned.
Noctourniquet deserves more, though. This record is a whole new Mars Volta, an evolution in style that shows a band finally finding a fresh balance between its divisive fundamentals.
VERDICT: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez takes The Mars Volta on a successful synthesizer-driven voyage into unexplored sonic territory.
berman@umdbk.com
