Deloused in the Comatorium

The music is pretty good, but it feels...overbearing? There are some points where it feels like I'm getting sensory overload just from listening, and that gets to be a little much over the course of an hour or so

Better than expected

There's a lot going on here. The music itself is dense but very enjoyable. An easy 4 on its own. The vocals, on the other hand, were shrill to the point of distraction and annoyance at points. Would love to listen to a fully instrumental version of this.

3.5 Clearly a bunch of bands I grew up listening to took influence from these guys, so I don't know how I've never heard of them before. Throughly enjoyed this album even if lyrically is a bit nonsensical. But prog rock/emo is my vibe so I'm bias.

Quite fun early emo vibes

a little too emo honestly

I'm not in the mood for metal and rock after the last album. I've seen this album cover, but never listened to the songs somehow, weirdd, I do like it tho, it's unique. SHIT ON IT, I did a review of the first, second and third song and they are not here anymore, I'm a day late so I couldn't save it, ughh. First song, was an interlude, great transition, nothing else happened, it was nice to hear it tho, some parts in it, otherwise nothing special. Second song, I said he has a raspy voice, but not sure if I even know what that means. He sometimes sounds like a woman not in a bad way. I liked the instrumentals, gave it 7.1, not impressed I am. Third song, it was slamming guitar and then it got slow, which was nice since it's rare. Then the beat drop was amazinggg. Otherwise it's quite same niceness. The chaotic singing is expected. Just realised this is 7 minutes, didn't even notice, since it is going smoothly. The slow part came backk. Lyrics are ending soon, and I expect an instrumental outro. Ooh the beat drop was again good. It switched from being slow to metal-ly and now it's jazzy slow, and that was the rest of the song. Solid 7/10, it's nice just not special. 4th song, it's an interlude, getting loudd it was chill before and one of the best build up transition I've heard for a while. 5th song, starting off with a beat drop from the last song continuation. I hear operatic voice of him, quite fun. Wow again 7 minutes. I don't know why this is here tbh. I'm not bored, just not impressed either. The instrumental fusion is great, but his voice is not the vibe at all, toooo basic, only when he sings in an opera way is his voice different, but not perfect. I'm not satisfied with this. I repeat that the guitar playing especially is great, just it doesn't sound different from what I've heard before. Mm I say 6.8/10. 6th song, loud start and slow continuation, not complaining. The slow part was really good, I got into the vibes, then after a short instrumental break his usual screaming-singing began and it became bland. After that it's break again, and I love the guitar here, also it's slow. I'm not gonna write, it was overly very good 7.9/10 seems valid. 7th song, 12 minutes?! What has he got to say this much. Last song had another better vibe into it. I'm not catching anything here. Oh, it fully stopped, and fast beat(helicopter like) is getting closer, it happened and guitars and his vocals came in. It was loud, but it's chill now, not much lyrics. It's getting weird now, not even a guitar playing. The loudness came back, not the best they have done. Lyrics are only at the very end, and it's much fast paced too. Overall I didn't like the fact that it was this long, not Pink Floyd, which I can stand in that matter. So sadly it's a 6/10. 8th song, it had a big intro, less loud than when lyrics came in, which is screamy. Guitars make different sounds in ears(left is louder). It was as relaxing as a rock could be, and now it's slow lyrically too, but it feels progressive, aaand yes it got fuller. The lyrics are catchy. What a weird ending, giving Björk. I'd say 7.8/10. 9th song, bird sounds. Unexpectedly slow, intro is also long, he joins in softly. This will get punky soon I think. It's still slow, I'm impressed. It's giving arcade fire with the instruments. There was one shirt part of him almost screaming, however, the guitar remained just a slight louder. Again weird outro, I'm giving this, one of the most uninteresting songs here, so 5.9/10. 10th song, screaming and classic rock vibes. Fun, nothing fully amazing, It could have been interesting if it stand out from the album. Well I'm not amazed it was way too overused, the style and the sounds. I needed more. Anyways I rate it 3 stars and that's because I like the genre and this albums also had some unique stuff in it, which I liked.

I always associate The Mars Volta with the standard emocore movement from the 2000s (I like it), but when I listened to this album, I saw that they are in a high opposite direction. Of course, they have something from emo, but they are much more complex than that.

I'm not sure that I totally get it, but I think I like it. I could see listening to this one again.

I actually kinda liked this for the most part. Liked, not loved. Thought the instrumentals and vocals on most were pretty energetic and talented, though there were some tracks on the back half of the album that I did not like. “Its matter was fecal in origin” is a cringe line. 3 stars.

Sonorités et compositions intéressantes, à écouter plus en détail.

At times this album is reminiscent of At The Drive-In and occasional flashes of Santanaesque guitar although clearly more prog rock than the full frontal assault of the former. This is only the second listening, having completely dismissed it first time around and it has grown on me. I think there is more to explore with The Mars Volta.

In a nutshell: Messy. Bloated. Frantic. Confusing. You’ll either love it or despise it. It’s supposed to be a concept album but I don’t understand the brief. The bass and drums are amazing (the galloping beat, swoon!). Can hear the Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa and Aphex Twin influences; perhaps early My Chemical Romance or early Muse (Absolution was recorded at the same time as De-Loused and released in the same year). I’d say this is an influential album, just not for me. Overall: 5/10

Almost enjoyable. Talented musicians. Hated the lead guitar tone. Needed to let songs breath more often instead of cramming 100 notes in a measure

It was fine, not my favorite

So proggy, but like so much in the genre, leaves me dead cold. Just feels like technical execution minus a lot of feeling. I like a good concept album, but the ratio of bad to good has to be easily 20:1...

Weird one. If someone told me this was their favourite album I’d totally get it. But it’s really not for me. Get why it’s on the list though.

Instantly brought me back to the time in 10th grade when Anthony Infantino trapped me in his basement so he could live drum alongside his favorite post-hardcore bands. Proof that no smoke session is truly free. 2 stars only because Cicatriz Esp is pretty fuckin epic.

the sounds of this album doesnt sit right with my brain

yet more interesting music ruined by the most unbearable annoying insufferable singing ever

Mars Volta are a band that for the last two decades I’ve blithely assumed to be terrible without giving them a chance, so I’ll strap myself to the mast and order the cabin boy to press play. …sorry, the waves of raving voice and proficient axe-worked lulled me. Is that a Flea I hear at the low end? This has a lot of dynamics and agitation that bring to mind post-hardcore botherers - Drive Like Jesu, say - but what I hear is not catchy. Cabin boy, listen: I’ve frolicked to enough freak music, free jazz, noise rock to fill a week of hedonistic abstract dance, and let me tell you repetition is not essential for catchiness. Want me to hum the opening to “Clear to Higher Time” by the Blue Humans to you? Wet my lips with rum, Seaman Staines, and bend your ear. Memorable music doesn’t need repetition: there are blasts of random guitar feedback, drum fills, extravagant sweeps of synth and lone yells that I count among my favourite sound moments. I did not find that here.

Demonstrative but not impressive. Too emo.

Progressive rockart rockpost-hardcore. Rollo.

Okay... I'll start by the saying the instrumentation is pretty good. Drumming is good, guitar is good. Bass seems functional as far as I can tell. The main flaw of the this album are the god awful lyrics. I'm not much of a lyrics person myself, I normally ignore them to focus on the melody but my god these are bad. If there's some kind of deeper meaning it's too deep for me, sorry. This sounds like nonsense and looks like nonsense when written down. Unfortunately, the terrible lyrics aren't supported at all by the repetitive and boring melody writing. Whereas potentially weak lyrics from a band such as Oasis are passable, with the catchy and enjoyable melodies, these just fall flat. I truly don't understand the reviews calling this the greatest prog rock/metal of the modern age and/or the 2000s. Go and listen to Porcupine Tree's In Absentia (2002) or Deadwing (2005) or Tool's Lateralus (2001), or The Pineapple Thief's Your Wilderness (2016). Some of my favourites which are miles and miles better than this. Yeah. 2/5

Hyvin lähellä ettei jäänyt yhteen tähteen.

All the cool kids loved The Mars Volta. Either I’m old or all the cool kids were wrong. This just sounded loud.

Mid.

Ok

Mér finnst Mars Volta mjög skemmtilegt band þegar ég heyri í þeim í útvarpinu og mig langar alltaf að hlusta á meira og ég set þá einhverja fína plötu frá þeim í gang og eftir nokkur lög er ég kominn með alveg upp í kok og nenni ekki að hlusta lengur. Svo seinna heyri ég í þeim í útvarpinu aftur og endurtek söguna og læri aldrei af mistökunum. Sagan endurtók sig með þessa plötu.

Album Nr. 54 Dieser Rock-Stil sagt mir nicht ganz zu.

This is a hot mess.

Prog rock, but even worse than the mainstream stuff.

This 1001 album project is extremely rock-heavy, and this album is coming up at a time when I just can’t take anymore. It’s too noisy for me. Maybe I’ll revisit another time.

Likes: Intertiatic Esp, Drunkship of Lantern Would I Listen Again: probably no

I really tried listening to this but just couldn't make myself do it. Got about three songs in before crying uncle. I love 70's prog rock but not this. I'm sure it has some great musicianship but not being able to tolerate it has taken away a star

Not my thing, and yes prog, but at least a more modern take on prog that has elements of stuff I want; it's loud, it's impassioned, it's creative, the drumming is excellent and deserves calling out for that, but I've really no idea what's going on most of the time and it doesn't make me care enough to want to find out. I see in a lot of the reviews that people say it takes a lot of listens to really get it, and that's cool if that's for you, but I'm not interested in that. It didn't make me want to turn it off at any point but that's quite a low bar, I'm giving it a 2 but it's a more tolerable 2 than a lot of things we've had.

I almost really liked this after the first track - it's got strong hints of early Muse (which is a good thing),  but the guy's voice really hacks me off, and there's too much emphasis on the vocal for me to ignore that. Add to that the fact that it just doesn't do much differently across the hour, and with no standout songs it probably drops to a 2.

Not the best but ok. Don’t need to listen to it again.

Too experimental for my tastes

A bit Muse-like in places. Nothing special.

Meh

Sounds cool

I listened to the whole album, so I can’t give it one star. I won’t revisit this one.

I listened to this about 2 weeks ago and don't really remember too much about it tbh.. 4/10

Interesting. 2/5

Prog rock. Some really cool parts, overshadowed by just being way too prog rock-y for my tastes. Not my kind of vocals. Meh.

I don't even remember listening to this now but I believe I didn't like it 🤷‍♀️

I think the instrumentation is great throughout most of this album, especially the uptempo drumming; however, they have composed their songs so poorly that every song ends up sounding like random noise. Granted, there are times when math rock & noise rock can be pulled off and sound amazing, but this is not one of those albums. The lyrics appear to be up for interpretation and I have no idea what the plot of a single song is. On top of that, I am not a fan of the singer's falsetto range, especially when he gets into the loud vocal sections - there is also a bunch of funky processing of the vocals happening which seems to intensify the shrillness of it all. This one stays on the shelf. Thanks for the ride. Fave tracks: Son et Lumiere, Drunkship of Lanterns

This one should be easy for me, I love Prog Rock and having Flea on bass is a huge win for any band. But yet I just cannot get into it. The songwriting and instrumentation are good, I really enjoy the incorporation of latin/jazz styles, but what looses me is the vocal delivery. It sounds too much like a whiny 00s Emo-Punk band. Also makes what is supposed to be a story based concept album mostly unintelligible (although having looked up some of the lyrics, it appears you need a thesaurus to decipher them anyway). Plus including a well-known acronym in two of your tracks, but then redefining what is stands for is officially jumping the shark on the pretentiousness scale. Fav Tracks: Inertiatic ESP, This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed

Pretentious emo rock.

Not exactly an easy listening; I like certain kinds of progressive rock but this is a tad too much for me. Roulette dares was the one song I kinda digged, the rest is okay to meh.

Pretencious shit.

Sounds pretty good.

2000s prog. better than much (a bit less clever clogs, and a certain willingness to rock). Lots of echoes of Fripp. The inclusion of latin percussion does not make it Santana-like. I like the noisy sound design, which give it a rough and atmospheric edge than I find lacking in much prog (which tends towards clean production to show off the chops). Good vocals, but don't get me started on the meaningless lyrics. I enjoyed it well enough while listening, but don't feel the need to listen again. Hal might like it, though. I like the Fripp-like guitar work, but, honestly, aren't there plenty of King Crimson albums that I would prefer to listen to? Yes. Yes, there are.

I audibly groaned as soon as the screen refreshed and this loaded after voting for the last album ('The White Album/The Beatles'). Maybe not as bad as I remembered but so much wailing.

This is apparently about a man in a coma hallucinating who decides to kill himself. This makes me feel like that man. I hate this.

Terrible

Crap and pretentious

Sounds like a crying grandmother falling down the stairs to hell

I hated this.

These guys suck in a very specific way. I can just picture them practicing in the 6 car garage of their Dad’s McMansion with eyeliner on ripping off the guitar tones of the Strokes thinking they’re making Bohemian Rhapsody. Might be a little harsh, but I didn’t like it very much.

type of emo music that makes me feel like im having a panic attack

I expected haunted metal... dark rituals, maybe some Gregorian chants in a minor key. What I got was a manic, screeching fever dream of falsetto meltdowns, prog-rock jazz seizures, and theatrical chaos that felt like someone set a Broadway stage on fire and screamed at it in Spanish. Every track tripped over itself in a race to nowhere, like a soundtrack for a sci-fi opera I never bought tickets to. It's the musical equivalent of being stuck on a malfunctioning carnival ride next to a philosophy major on mushrooms. Absolutely not. One star.

The worst of both free jazz and emo

Not good, not for me. Sounds like Muse but proggier

Awful. Their mums must be so ashamed.

Wikipedia claims this is progressive rock, but I know emo when I hear it. Couldn't bear to finish it.

No good. I'd give zero stars if I could.

Meh, all sort of blends into one, not a single banger on it.

Zum Abtanzen wahrscheinlich nett. Mir aber viel zu eintöniger Gesang - immer um 3-4 Tonlagen herum. Gähn!

Rant Time: I have tried to get into this band four or five times now, since they have overlap with bands I like. When the intro started I was starting to get into it, "maybe I was being to harsh on them before", and then the vocals came in and reminded me why I can't stand this band. This dude has one of the most annoying voices in rock (and I like Billy Corgan). I have no idea what it is about this guy in particular, there is no other band that ruins songs as much as this guy for me. Why are his vocals like 20db louder than the instruments, its like a jump scare every time he starts hitting the high notes. The instrumentals are really good, which is a shame. Having his voice isolated to the right headphone in Drunkship of lanterns is giving me a headache. You shouldn't be allowed to make your songs this long if your voice is this annoying. Why is everything mixed so loud? Reflecting on the album after finishing, there isn't much that stands out. It seems like every song uses the same vocal melodies and quiet/loud/quiet structure. It gets quiet guitars go clean, the dude whispers, drums go onto the toms, then the distortion comes back and this guy tries to hit the most annoying notes possible. If you asked me to sing anything from this album I would just riff around in my upper register. instrumentals: 3.5/5 (a little repetitive but they have talent) vocals: -5/5 ( >:( ) This album made me feel physically ill and I hate the stupid gold head on the album cover

Not for me

Not my style.

meh

don't like it, trying to be catchy High voices, empty riffraffs

Is it a bad thing to have too much polish and poise? The thing that I like about Daft Punk is it's two white French guys pretending to be robots, with the Mars Volta, it's six robots pretending to be aggressive music artists. This music is devoid of heart and feeling and any humanistic quality except for maybe ambition. Even the cold blast of air to the face on Inertiatic Esp, the opening track, goes directly into a quick drum wrap and operatic vocals. Which, I might add, the operatic-infused vocals throughout this album were likely pulled directly from American Idol. The Mars Vota and this album in particular embodies everything wrong with early 2000s major label music. It's this overproduced, spot-on perfection of prescripted anger and carefully placed melodies. Just because it's loud and quick doesn't mean it's real. I'm calling bullshit on the band's artistry and 'passion' for creating music. You can't be an artist if you're a robot.

Unlistenable. I got to the third song, then started FFwd'g and listening to as much of each song as possible to see if I was wrong. Nope. Clearly, didn't add. Also, entire oeuvre is filled with meaningless edgy song titles.

Perfect album cover to cover

It's pretentious. It's kinda silly. It's a masterpiece.

A surprisingly diverse album that often gets shoved into a box labeled "modern prog."

This has to be one of the most epic and insane debut albums out there and will always be in my top 20 of all time! I'm a huge At The Drive-In fan and was heartbroken when they split. Jim Ward and a few other members went on to form Sparta, which I found to be a solid follow up project to ATDI, but was missing that spastic energy that comes from Omar and Cedric. Cedric and Omar went on to do De Facto, which while isn't bad, just didn't gel with me. Their somewhat experimental but also kinda bland dub style just left everything to be desired. Sparta won the breakup, De Facto would just be some vanity project for the boys and that was it. Or was it? Then, POW! Like a shot in the night, we get hit by The Mars Volta with Deloused in the Comatorium! From the very first seconds, I'm hooked! A beautiful and eerie slow build before it punches you in the face with massive drums and and rhythmic blistering guitars that goes straight into "Inertiatic Esp". And from there, the album never really lets up. It's energetic, chaotic, whimsical and powerful. Even in the more "tame" moments, this record is still everything I was missing post-ATDI. It's all the energy of Relationship To Command, but with the added groovy elements of De Facto and a newly added prog-rock feel. And lets not forget the players on this album as they're arguably some of the best to do it. Of course, you have Cedric's wild vocals and Omar's eclectic guitar, but you also have the one and only Flea on bass, Isaiah Owens on keys, and Jon Theodore on drums (one of my all time favorite drummers). Just wall to wall talent and creativity! An easy 5 stars for me

I’m busting fucking everywhere uhhhhh oh my gooooood yesssuhhhhhh give me more of his weird angsty voice and distorted guitars and ten minute songs I need this ughhhhhh inject this into my veins NOOOOOW

Insane prog with the energy of punk music and a hint of latin jazz. I have no idea what a Drunkship Of Lanterns is and I don't care. This shit rules.

An absolute core album from my early 20s, and still holds up. A brilliant combination of prog virtuosity and flawless melodies. Should be up there with OK Computer and DSOTM in terms of public opinion. Straight 5.

I feel like i shouldnt like this but it’s somehow well done enough that i do. Which is a super backhanded compliment but 5 stars for surprising me

If you like The Mars Volta, this is them at the top of their game. It’s a total powerhouse of electricity exploding out of the seams. It’s a no skip album, and instrumentally this album is just so creative while always feeling vast and epic in scale. Genuinely this is probably my favorite album of theirs.

Originally this was just a 4-star album I remembered enjoying in my 20's. Then, I couldn't stop listening to it.....over and over and over again! Beautiful, jagged, busy and intricate songs throughout the entire record. I am 1/3 done with the list at this point and this album might be my favorite so far.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA this reminds me of all the reasons i've ever loved The Fall of Troy!!!! i usually fucking hate prog albums (drawn out with barely a justification for it most times, pretentious, anti-art and anti-fun; give me a tighly packed song with a runtime of 1:20 or give me DEATH), BUT THIS FEELS MORE LIKE A POST-HARDCORE ALBUM THAN ANYTHING ELSE AND I'M SO HERE FOR IT melodic, fierce, ready to surprise and overwhelm while not allowing a note scatter out of place (+ high-pitched male vocals are my weakness, especially in extreme genres) besides, they seem to be roughly the same folks that formed At The Drive-In, whom i also love, SOOOO THAT'S A WIN IN MY BOOK

This was a very solid album. I had a lot of fun listening to it, and I don't think there were any bad songs. 5/5 really enjoyable

What a pleasant surprise for this to be on the list! One of my favorite prog rock albums that absolutely fucks. Pretentious? Maybe, but this and Frances the Mute are good enough to where it works.

One of the greatest moments in time. This album is a powerhouse with everyone who worked on it. Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s voice takes you through a journey as you submerge into the story telling so heavy in loss. Omar Rodríguez-López is one of the greatest guitar players of all time and with his fingerprints all over this album you feel every haunting moment to every chaotic run through tone and rhythm.

Franchement, belle surprise ! C’était sympa ! Un peu math rock, jazz fusion, progressif, expérimental.. ça doit être top en concert ! Ça joue vraiment bien Je mets 5 car ça sort du lot

This was amazing! I had heard of Mars Volta before, but I don't think I'd ever heard any of their music. I didn't really know what to expect, but I absolutely loved (almost) every second of this album. I got shades of Tool and a few other prog stuff, but the sound was so tight and just perfectly written and performed. There were a couple moments of non-musical noise that I could have done without, but overall it was totally worth getting the rest of the album. I listened to it three times and almost went for a fourth. Five stars, easily.

Interesting. Kind of like a modern version of Rush, mixed with Coheed and Cambria. I liked it.

I guess i’d heard this record in passing before? A handful of these tracks were pretty familiar to me! ANYWAY, WHAT A WONDERFUL TIME. Maybe i’m just a 34-year-old white male music nerd but this HITS. ADD ANOTHER 5 TO THE LIST.

One of Storm’s worst covers, and one of his last. Appropriate perhaps? Cover art aside this was fkn amazing.

Konstigt men fullt av energi, strålande sång, och sjukt välgjorda låtar!

Uno de los mejores discos de prog rock de este milenio

Drums! I personally don’t listen to a lot of prog rock but enjoyed this album and may explore more of The Mars Volta in the future (added one song to Random Songs in my Head playlist on Spotify)! I like that the album is based on a short story written by the lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala!

I at first thought this was gonna be another ambient album. Because it wasn't, it got an extra star from me

Yes. FUCK YES Will you, dear reader, love this album as much as I? Maybe (probably) not. Do you need to hear it before you die? Absolutely

Iconic album 5/5.

Lleno de matices. PUede ser una escucha difícil pero está completito completito.

As a Cardiacs nut, this record ticks a lot of boxes for me - that urgent, mathy, prog sound is right up my street. I bought this record when it came out but haven't listened in years - it hasn't dated at all and remains every bit as compelling as I remember. I love with records like this how, despite the apparent chaos and turmoil of the music, you're left humming the hooks and melodies for days. Very much enjoyed revisiting this one.

Music wise, I'm more of an At The Drive-In person than a Mars Volta person. However, this album is a classic. The only album where the band got the balance between prog and catchiness just right, without sounding overindulgent.

If Pink Floyd songs were performed by edgy teens. 5/5

The only Mars Volta album I was familiar with prior to this was Francis the Mute, and that album was just a little too avant-garde for me to really get into. This, on the other hand, is a lot more At The Drive-In, and I'm here for it. It's definitely the type of album that can't be fully appreciated on one listen, but I know from experience that I will probably like this very much after repeated listenings. The Mars Volta has been redeemed! Maybe Francis the Mute deserves another spin.

This is what this list is for!! An introduction to some great music, loved this one

My favourite out of everything I have listened so far.

It starts and the just goes until it doesn't

Incredibly Nostalgia Driven Rating, but this album meant so much to me in high school, first prog rock adjacent record that me and all my friends loved and listened to over and over and deepened my love for At the Drive In. Such a crazy chaotic and bizzare record but so much energy and cool sound landscapes.

Wow, what an album. First of all, the album are is ridiculous, the name of the album is incredible and then the music is good. THEN it's a concept album that tells a story. I listened to the album 3 times before realizing it's a concept album........which I only learned from the wikipedia. This is kind of why I prefer EDM and psychedelic music: because there's no way for me to ever know wtf they are singing about without the lyrics. Maybe that's part of the journey. But to quote the great Cordale Jones, "I didn't come here to play no school." I have some weird extremely vague recollection of this band, seeing their name somewhere. Maybe because of their bassist Eva Gardner? Anyway, what a great album. I think this album very much needs a visual experience to accompany whatever the heck is happening in the concept part. I've seen it explained, but it's such a wild ride that I don't think you can get there without putting in a ton of extra work. So that's where the pretentiousness comes from, which I actually don't really mind at all in this case because the music is great by itself. I like Roulette Dares most I think but the album itself is just strong and I can see why it was so well received

You don’t have to convince me. This has been one of my favorite albums since it released when I was in high school. It’d be tough to find a better debut album from any band in the 2000s. Jon Theodore’s drumming, Cedric’s falsetto, Omar’s brilliant composition, bizarre and mysterious songe writing, and his guitar prowess make The Mars Volta a special group. There’s nothing really like them. I’m glad this record made this list.

Yes! I'll always listen to this album.

Great! Just great!

Two moments stand out to me with this album. The first was heading to London after high school exams to see The Mars Volta play at the Electric Ballroom (check out the YouTube video if you haven’t already). As a fan of At the Drive-In who was too young to see them before they broke up, this was an album I clung to. I was taken by as how unapologetically maximal it was. While so much guitar music was leaning minimal and cool, this record was sweaty, surreal, and overwhelming. It demanded attention…and rewarded it. The concept (coma, ghosts, transformation) feels genuinely lived-in rather than gimmicky. It’s messy. It’s indulgent. After I went to university I kept coming back to this album; watching it on windows media player’s visualization tool under the influence only drew me deeper into the world they had sculpted, and now I will always pause to listen to the album when I encounter it. Thanks for sending this one to me today.

Virkelig lækkert at høre den igen

A top 20 album of mine. Love it.

This album is fantastic. Dynamic and exciting with great musicianship. The backstory is interesting and it doesn’t matter that none of it makes much sense because the music triumphs. And I’m not usually one for prog rock. Saw them live touring this album, worst dressed crowd ever lol.

10/10 album for me. No skips.

I started listening to this album when it first came out and I genuinely couldn't understand a single word the guy said but I loved it anyway. I assumed it was in another language. I forgot about this album for years but it turns out that I now know - due to the beauty of Spotify lyrics - it is actually in English. Rocks either way

I’m caving to The Mars Volta, it’s a hell of a lot to digest in one sitting but I actually think they know what they’re up to and I trust them, this is a record that will now be in heavy rotation with me for a long time Context: I’ve been meaning to listen to this album for years, it has been instrumental in shaping bands, festivals, damn near entire scenes that mean a lot to me It’s going in at a low 5 but could grow from there even as I spend more time with it. It’s bonkers, wild, and chaotic, it’s also beautiful in parts and has its own logic that I can groove into whilst the band skilfully take me on a hell of a ride. This list is also severely lacking by way of genuinely ‘heavy’ music, and this inclusion is doing some heavy lifting 1/3 of the way through the list

This ruled. I had never pulled the trigger on listening to Mars Volta and I am bummed I waited so long.

Man I love progressive rock. First time hearing about this band, so so cool. Amazing work, both as an experimental prog rock project and as a musical experience. I've also caught a hint of j-rock in this. It was so dramatic it could have been a soundtrack for a niche teenage emo movie or an edgy anime opening. P.S. just read the context of this album and it's creation and it all makes sense now

Da ist es, mein liebstes Album aller Zeiten! Nach der Auflösung von ATDI dauerte es nicht lang, bis die beiden Köpfe Omar Rodriguez-Lopez und Cedric Bixler-Zavala sich zu einer neuen Energie zusammentaten. Die Energie und Intensität der Vorgängerband mischten sie dabei mit einem deutlichen höheren Progeinschlag, Ambientmomenten und unfassbaren Grooves. Unterstützt bei diesem Vorhaben werden sie von Jon Theodore an den Drums, der sich extrem gekonnt durch die Songs prügelt und sich in den passenden Momenten auch gekonnt zurücklehnt, von Flea, der mit seinen Bassgrooves auch eine Menge Melodie hineinbringt und natürlich vom Keyboarder Ikey Owens, der den wilden Sound erst vervollständigt. Sowieso: Was für ein Sound! Omar schreddert sich durch die Songs, die Gitarren sind hauptsächlich Textur, wohingegen Cedric und Ikey dafür sorgen, dass ein Song einprägsamer ist als der andere. Was für Refrains! Was für Melodien! Was für eine Energie! An das düstere Konzept rund um den Tod von Julio Venegas denke ich mittlerweile ehrlich gesagt nicht mehr so oft, das verleiht dem Album aber noch eine weitere Ebene, die auch mithilfe des zugehörigen Buches erkundet werden kann. Klassiker!

A really solid record, I think it has a really cool sound that nothing else that I’ve heard really has. It’s feels really off and abrasive, but in a really engaging and fun way. It’s just a feat of production more than anything I think. Favorites: Son et Lumiere, This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed, Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt

Before: This is one of my bf's favorite albums of all time and I never actually sat down and listened to it (outside of Cicatriz), so I was excited to see this on here. He and I have a lot of musical overlap but also a lot of differences. AFAIK The Mars Volta is proggy which isn't my usual thing so I'm looking forward to see what I actually think of it. During/after: This is really cool! He has always mentioned that The Mars Volta uses Latin influences and I definitely see it, especially on Tira Me a Las Aranas - which makes sense because of its title, lol. The prog is a little much for me and I don't love the high pitched (but talented!) vocals so far but we'll stick it out. As it continued and I got used to the vocals and the progressiveness, I got more into it. Cicatriz is crazyyy and I love it. It's so experimental sounding and for a 12-minute song, I found myself consistently intrigued and not bored and waiting for it to be over. It has water drop sound effects and some often harsh and unique synths that just make it interesting to listen to. This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed was probably one of my least favorites. It just didn't interest me or generally sound as good to my ears as the tracks before it but it wasn't bad. Televators was a SICK transition though, it sounded so different from the song before it and was a lot less chaotic. It felt like a palette cleanser. There's no doubt that The Mars Volta has some CRAZY talent. They showcase it amazingly in this record. Besides that, it's just interesting and experimental. I'm giving this a 5 because of the talent and uniqueness. Apologies to Taylor for not listening sooner. 5/5. Standouts: Drunkship of Lanterns Eriatarka Cicatriz Esp

quand même les emos peuvent s'asseoir à côté des geeks à la cantine, il ne peut pas y avoir de bataille de nourriture.

Deloused absolutely rocked my shit when I first heard it.

helped me solidify how I want to think about ratings during this project

Ah, the Mars Volta. They’re insane, but I love this band. I will admit, I haven’t listened to them in a while. I burn hot with the Mars Volta and then I have to put them down for a while. The Mars Volta are essentially two constant band members, founders Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala. Rodríguez-López is a guitarist and producer, and according to Wikipedia, he provides the direction for the band. Whereas Bixler-Zavala is the singer and writes the lyrics. The lyrics….hmmm…To me, they’re nonsensical. I’m sure they mean something to Bixler-Zavala, but to me, they're really just words put together to make sounds. I guess you’d call the Mars Volta, and for the record, it may just be Mars Volta with no the, anyway, they’re progressive rock. But, they’re more than that. They’re punk, they’re metal, they’re jazz, they’re noise rock, they’re just unlike anything you’ve heard. And to be fair, some of you, perhaps all of you, might hate what you hear. As for me, I think they’re geniuses, and I can find something in every song that sends shivers up and down my spine. Each song on the album is like a journey, and unlike some bands, you’re just not sure where the music is going to take you. Track 3, Roulette Dares, is brilliant. It mixes soft and hard in a way that when the soft parts come in, your heartbeat decelerates and when the hard rock comes in, it accelerates the heart. It's like your getting a high-intensity workout through your earholes. I’ll admit Bixler-Zavala’s singing can be an acquired taste. When I first heard Geddy Lee, I hated his voice, but as I aged, I learned to love it. Bixler-Zavala may have an even higher range than Geddy. Track 5, Drunkship of Lanterns, has bongos playing a nice uptempo Latin beat, and Bixler-Zavala sings about whatever, then we get to the middle sectio,n which is pure Steve Vai type guitar wankery. The guitar sounds like its backwards, but it isn’t backwards. Then later it all breaks down and sounds like you’ve been jettisoned to space to float around before Rodriguea-Lopez lays some heavy Santanta-like riffs on you. Damn, I love this song. The song ends in what sounds like you're listening to a rave with your ear up to the door, and the music is being made by dinosaurs. It’s weird. And that’s just one track! Oh, did I mention Rick Rubin produced the album? Oh, did I also mention that the band’s bassist left before the recording of the album, and Flea, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, played bass on the album? Does anyof that interest you? I’m getting more fired up as this thing album goes on. I’ve missed this album. It's not bringing back memories of where I was or what I was doing when I first heard this album, but those emotions I felt are flooding back. Track 6, Eriatarka, while it starts softly, it rises into a fast punk chorus, if any of these songs actually have choruses. I can’t write as I listen. I don’t want to try to form thoughts. Just. Want. To. Listen. Track 7, Cicatriz Esp, is Pink Floydian, like Echoes from the album Meddle. The song is great, starts out banging, then around the 4 minute mark, everything slows down and gets softer, and it again feels like you/re just floating in space….for five minutes, literally, the song is over 12 minutes long. Then the solo starts and goes on, and on, and on. Maybe my favorite track on the album. Just prog rock brilliance. This album is a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned. I love it, and God bless the 1,001 Must Listen list for shaking me from my long slumber on this album and this band. I think if you’re a prog rock fan, you’ll love this album. Even if you aren’t and don’t even know what prog rock is, give this album a listen. It might open your eyes to something you never knew was out there.

Wow

A lot of modern prog rock falls into the unfortunate pattern of just being mindless Genesis worship or the like, with no understanding of the craft that went into those older prog rock songs, often just using wacky time signatures or playing 20-minute suites because that's what you do in prog. The Mars Volta do not have that problem. Defiantly original, The Mars Volta formed from the ashes of post-hardcore darlings At the Drive-In. Vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López wanted to explore their Latin roots, as well as incorporate influence from their years in punk bands, and the searing prog rock and fiery jazz fusion they enjoyed. The result was a stunning tour de force of a band. Hypnotic Latin grooves, cryptic yet still emotional storytelling and lyricism focusing around the grief they felt for friends lost, and sheer unadulterated musical chaos are their calling cards on this album, and they deliver on all these promises and more. An astounding debut album that they still somehow managed to top with their sophomore effort, Frances the Mute, just two years later.

Powerful

Maybe one of my top 10 albums of all time. This needs to be talked about a lot more than it is. Just perfect.

This album rips so hard.

i thought this was the coolest thing ever when i was 15

Absolutely definitive post-hardcore album in every way. The guitar riffs are like nothing else, and the vocals are there to back it up too. Every moment feels necessary, original, and even the songs that go on for over 10 minutes are packed with some of the best rock performances of the century.

God I love The Mars Volta. Been following them for a while, seen 'em live, they're chaos incarnate. They are an experience and you just need to surrender and go along for the ride. Deloused and Bedlam in Goliath are my favorite Volta albums, so this listen is a pure victory lap with an old friend. The frantic Latin twisted guitar and drum beats, the nonsense (yet still somehow enthralling and absorbing) lyrics, and the fun vibe of this album just make it a pure jam. To me The Mars Volta always used lyrics as a vehicle for a catchy melody. Don't think about the words too much and you'll have a much better time picking up themes and buzzwords that inspire ideas more than any single coherent whole. Enjoy all the sounds as an entire unit. Thr album morphs and has a life of it's own offering a slightly different experience every time you listen. It's pretty unique and something I love about this band. Standouts are "Inertiatic Esp," "Drunkship Of Lanterns," and "Televators" but every song is great and worth a listen. It's 5s all the way down.

Mad bonkers crazy

Fantastic progrock. Energetic opening and the energy just keeps rolling until the end. It's artistic, sometimes bordering snobby but always entertaining. It combines influence of rock, metal, some latin and even some jazz. True progrock that I will definitely listen to again. It's a concept album, meaning it tells a story. I am a sucker for concept albums and I tend to listen to them repeatedly front to back. The songwriters use words that sometimes sound like nonsense, but I feel are used to drum up images more than to be interpreted literally. On the surface the albums meaning could be just "drugs are cool". However the imagery is trippy and horrific. It feels more like an alien abduction than a psychedelic trip. The album is based on a story of the bandmembers and is made more poignant as one of the bandmembers died to a drug overdose shortly after the release of this song. My interpretation is therefore a person trying to imagine and depict in fantastical terms how a persons last moments might have been as they slip into nothingness. Heavy stuff. No skips or songs I disliked. Although Cicatriz Esp has that progrock thing where they play strange sounds for an entire minute, which I am not a fan of. A strong 4.5, although I can understand it's not everyones cup of tea.

Really cool album, adds blasting full energy riffs with cool rhythms. Experimental, energetic, chaotic, and fun to listen to. I can imagine that it may not be for everyone, but this is for certain one I'll be remembering and relisten to at times. Continuously surprises and plays with what it has built. Starts of energetic and strong, then breaks that down with some psychedelic rock, and builds back up to through a jazzy middle section to new highs. 8.5/10

"Cicatriz ESP" felt exactly like getting abducted by jazz playing aliens in the sewers. The album cover hooked me before I even pressed play, and the music lives up to that first punch. The guitar on "Son Et Lumière" is so sharp and hypnotic that I faded straight into "Inertiatic ESP" without noticing. This is Emo Rock with actual bite. People call it "Panic At The Disco but good" in the comments and it fits. The vocals go high, dramatic, and huge. You can hear how bands like "Nothing But Thieves" could have been inspired by them. A confident record that never loses its grip. 9/10.

Cant pronounce some of the songs, no idea what he is talking about most of the time but I fn love this band. Seen them 4 times at least.

This was great, I don't really like the overblown prog of the 70s but I thought this combined some of prog's showiness with songs that actually rock, and good vocals. The lyrics are slightly nonsense, or maybe I'm just not clever enough to understand them. The album is a riot though.

Well, even though I’m pretty late to the party, better late than never. I’ve known about The Mars Volta since this album came out, but back then they were so popular that they were way off my radar, and I had zero desire to listen to them. To me, they were just another sleazy, overrated band. But looking back, my musical interests were in totally different places, so maybe now is the right time to actually sit with their work and appreciate everything they have going on. First off, mixing prog rock with post hardcore is such a unique combination, and they pull it off really well. There’s also this psychedelic edge that really pulls you deep into the music and takes you for a ride. I also picked up on some jazz and Latin influences spread throughout the entire album. And one more thing worth pointing out, the production by Rick Rubin plays a huge role in how the whole thing comes together. It really shapes the presentation of the soundscape and brings out the full complexity of the music.

I was a big At the Drive-in fan. I was at the 2nd to last show before they split up. This is a logical next step. Everything I liked about ATDI, but more of it. It's very high energy and chaotic, but it still sounds like music, unlike some of their contemporaries (Orchid, Dillinger Escape Plan, etc). I don't like the newer Mars Volta albums very much though. This is their peak. Favorite song: inertiatic ESP closed-captioned

Oh god I love prog rock. I love prog rock so much. I have no clue what this album is about but the instrumentation and the vibes are incredible.

As a dubious but still only intermediate listener of progressive rock/metal, this came as a pleasen surprise. A "never listened to before" although heard mentions. For my taste, prog should have some certain elements of rawness, to not get too pretentious. This album certainly has that rawness. On top of thelat the splendid mix of different genres. Some jazz, punk, core, heavy riffs, complicated bridges. This album will go into my Discogs wishlist.

Alright this was a really fun album. I have something for the frenetic rock and falsetto male vocalist combo, and the first song (not including the moody intro track) opens with that full-heartedly. There's not a single member of this band that doesn't put their everything into this album and it shows. From the bass and guitar countermelodies, to the powerful and at times jazzy flair from the drummer (Who I found out is Jon Theodore for this album, a drum legend!!!), the funky rhythms, and warped vocal harmonies they play with in the later songs. Moreover, the production spares no effort, where a paradoxically deft and heavy hand on compression and pedal effects that would normally create mayhem, seem to line up at moments of much needed musical catharsis. All of this making even the more chaotic and experimental pieces a joy to listen to. The fact that this is from 2003 breaks my mind a little bit, since this feels like a lot of the prog rock you would see surface and become mainstream in the late 2000s and even early 2010s. They are by no means the first to produce a sound similar to this but they do feel pretty unique. Like a synthesis from several highwaymen coming together to make something chaotic and enjoyable. Pretty great time listening to this. 5 Stars. (Also I just looked it up and the Bassist for this Flea)

This album is very special to me. I discovered TMV in high school. I got to then see them in 2006 and 2008 and both times were out of this world experiences. Omar plays the guitar like a man continuously on an acid trip. The drummer shirtless sweating like hes running a marathon. The music never stopped, they each took breaks on their own but they continued to play throughout. I get how the music is abrasive and weird. The lyrics are many made up words in fantasy like poetry. The musicality is so precise, yet feels chaotic. Changes in key signatures and time signatures all within one song that make you get lost in the track list. Makes you unsure if you want to play jazz or rock and roll, or mix both.

Rating: 4.5 I am not a prog rock guy, I am however becoming more of a post-hardcore guy every day. This album is probably the best and most accessible I’ve ever heard from the genre yet. Very little tedium somehow combined with some truly wild riffs and time signatures you’ll rarely hear makes this an album I would easily and eagerly recommend to a wide range of music fans.

Loved it. Very suprised

No expectations, very pleasantly surprised

I have a lot of nostalgia for this one. Was my favorite album of the year when it came out. Absolute freak out in a great way and produced to perfection

Start to finish, I’m left on the edge of my seat for where this journey goes. No matter how many times I’ve listened, the surprises always get me. Although the brains of the operation had been pros in their craft in a different genre, it’s still an outstanding achievement that this was the first LP as the Mars Volta. An instant classic when released, more than 20 years later, its power is lasting and has swelled into a tower of awe.

it's not over til the tremulant sings

YES. So glad to see The Mars Volta made the list. This album is cinema. It's a high-energy jam out experience unlike anything else. There are lyrics and progressions that are so visceral. Cedric has a great rock voice, and Omar is a technical fiend on the guitar. Can listen all day.

I've been a huge fan of this record from the very first time I heard it. There are few albums that I can hear the introductory few minutes of in my head so clearly as this one. The drum/guitar/organ riff in Drunkship of Lanterns that is the closest thing the song has to a chorus still gives me chills every time I hear it. 5/5

Have always loved this album. This is one of the best albums ever. 5/5

Very strong memories from listening to this album when it first released. Had just discovered At the Drive-In prior and their impact on my taste was huge. This was like a more progressive version of their last album. The energy on this never lets up, sometimes making it quite and exhausting listen. But the musicianship and ambition here is clear. Roulette Dares is a standout.

God this album was good. I really loved the drums and guitar work, the vocals are jarring by at first but really cool. And the concept is fantastic. It’s a truly great (more) modern prog album

Efectivamente es un discazo,

dig francis more but a great album

I can’t review this in detail, there’s way too much going on. It’s one of my favourite albums ever created. When I’m in the mood and listen I pull something new from it each time. The musicianship is top notch, the lyrics are insane. I love this!

To borrow a line from a monthly feature in Prog Magazine - It’s Prog Jim, but not as we know it. This is what sprung to mind whilst listening to this album. Probably because I never had The Mars Volta down as a Prog band. I’m an unabashed Prog fanboy so always excited to hear new Prog. Not that this is exactly new and makes me wonder how on earth I missed this first time around. Firmly in the court of the heavier side of Prog made by the likes of Dream Theatre and Muse but like the fact that they kept to the values of traditional Prog with a concept storytelling album. This album going on my must buy list and note to self to listen to the bands back catalog. 5/5 5/9/25

My all-time favourite album, so glad it came up on here. And in case the person who compared them to sounding like Paramore is reading this - I think you should stop listening to music entirely… you’re clearly not very good at it.

Well, I think I just have to give this a 5, this blew my mind a few times while listening through. I haven't really listened to much traditional prog rock (if you would call this trad?) But i can say thid was quite the introduction. The album art also really intrigued me, and I can say the music matched in some way lmfao. Like just wild stuff in here. The drums were especially insane in this album. Some legendary names Involved in the making of this.

This album takes everything I love about prog and turns it up to 11. Mind-bending every time I hear it

A really weird and interesting alternate rock album, reminiscent of some of MCR’s early albums. It is rare to stumble on something quite like this

4/5

Shovel

Exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed. No, you Take the Veiled Cerpin Taxt. Delightfully unhinged. I was thrilled when I first discovered these weird boys back in 2008. This is a great album, no doubt in my mind. Bizarre, lyrically at least, but great.

first 5 star in this project. That intro is hmmmm

Interiatic Eriatarka Televators

More like a 4.5, feeling generous so I'm bumping it up. There's a whole ass generation of Warped Tour kids who love prog because of these guys and Coheed

I loooooooooved this album when it came out. Utterly obsessed. It is so fucking cool. It sounds incredible, the playing is out of this world. I do remember it having some lowlights and weird, long, ambient interludes that mess with the pacing, so I was going to give it a 4/5 strictly from memory. Turns out I had an hr to spare so I listened to it again in its entirety for the first time in at least a decade. Holy SHIT it rules. The pacing is fine, I enjoyed the interludes. 5/5

Weird after 400+ albums to finally to get an album in a genre (prog rock/metal) and era (2000s) that is one of my favorites. Really good musically. The guys are clearly at the top of their game, and the musicality, variety, freneticism, and thematic darkness really hit the spot. Also, hugely influential on modern prog. Easy to see their influence on Haken, Leprous, Soen, Riverside, etc. Yes, the lyrics are bizarre, but so is the music and conceptual storyline, so that's not really an issue. 4.5/5.0: Excellent

this is a band i've heard a few songs from before and was interested by but never dug any deeper. they have an interesting sound, like an emo prog band. which makes sense after learning the singer was also the singer for at the drive-in. i was also surprised to learn that flea recorded bass for most of the tracks. absolutely wild instruments with unrelenting intensity. fun album

Boring generic 60s album. 1/5 + time of the season = 2/5

Listens: 10 Standout tracks: Televators, Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt Initial Review: I like much of the influence surrounding this album: Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Rick Rubin, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's guitar playing, but so far I'm not feeling the music itself, specifically the vocals. It sounds (and is from) the exact era in which the emo subculture and music started to become (more?) prominent and I can't help but find the singing to be, well... a little too whiny sounding. I was expecting the excellent bass, guitar and drums to be accompanied with more mature vocals. Maybe that happens in later albums. I don't dislike it, but I was excited to listen when it came up and was hoping that I would have enjoyed it more. End of the Day Review: After four or so listens, I've mostly changed my mind on the vocals. It's definitely still not what I was expecting from a sound perspective, but the subject matter and the instrumentation more than makes up for it. I hear the Latin influences - bongos/conga and possibly maracas accompanying the traditional instruments, mentioned in the album synopsis. I appreciate the hectic-ness of the music and Omar's guitar playing. Absolute beast. It reminds me of a amalgamation of System of a Down, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine, early Chili Peppers, and maybe a dash of Linkin Park. One week Later Review: I am listening to this album a LOT. It's high-energy and great to listen to when you're jamming - I bike to and from work in a city and its awesome to bike to. All of my notions of the voice being too screamo/emo have since melted away. I am upping the rating to a 5. This album is in the rotation.

One of the best albums ever recorded, period. Cedric Bixler-Zavala has, in mu humble opinion, the greatest and most polyvalent voice of prog rock.

A favourite. Hard to believe I have been listening to this for 22 years.

Loved this.

Wowwww

Love The Mars Volta, love this album. Artsy post hardcore just scratches a very specific itch for me.

There's a select dozen of albums, that I go into not having heard of them at ALL, and it blows me out the water. This was one of them. A fun album, that I truly wasn't sure I had grasped, so I waited and listened to it 1 more time, to confirm before giving it a rating.

This is insanely good prog/psych rock that also kind of feels a little bit like a subset of emo rock that I was into when I was younger. The production on this album is insane with some of the weirdest sounding things going on that I can't totally figure out. I've seen The Mars Volta talked about a lot and I've tried a few of their more modern albums but I had never given this one a listen and I wish someone would have just pointed me towards this album.

This is really good. This sounds like my middle school years. I remember a lot of people really loving this band, but I honestly never really got super into them. Not sure why. Maybe I just never was able to get it on my iPod? I think what really works with this band and this album is that it kind of builds on this post punk / post hardcore scene that was going on at the time, but then really starts to add elements of a prog and psych with it. Its really closer to System of a Down or Linkin Park than to like a blink-182 or Taking Back Sunday, but somehow this band got looped into this Warped Tour era post punk world. Perhaps its the high pitch emotional vocals or the kind of punk influenced heavy sections? Its really really good though. I love the story telling, the effects, the guitar solos and interesting synths waves. The whole record really builds and crashes and builds again. I think a good double feature would be to pair this with Coheed and Cambria. This is where post hardcore / emo / metalcore was really at its best and most ambitious.

The afros from at the drive in

Thoughts before listening: I'm pretty sure I used to own this cd and its something that SHOULD be right up my alley. However, my immediate reaction to seeing this album is that its too weird for its own good. Maybe my opinion will have changed over the years? Review: This is better than I remember it being, and I experienced more of a nostalgic feeling than I expected to. Maybe I listened to this more than I thought I did. I LOVED the leads in this band's previous group, At the Drive-In, so perhaps my disappointment at the time was due to this being less easily digestible than ATDI. However, on today's listen, this is pretty bad ass. It is definitely dense, veers off into some dissonant musical areas, and the scream singing takes some getting used to, but all together this is a great modern prog rock record. I was ready to give this 4-stars, but the more I listen the more I am thinking this is a post-2000s masterpiece. I'm going 5-stars.

Love thus album

Well this was awesome! I was aware of the band, obviously, and I’ve enjoyed At The Drive-In albums before, but for some stupid reason, never did a deep dive on The Mars Volta. Loved every second of this. Just a perfect mix of indie rock, emo, and prog. Love the production, such layered soundscapes. What a voice! I had it on repeat yesterday and will keep it downloaded to listen over and over.

Seeing this as my album made my day. This one is in constant rotation for me. Absolute sonic prog rock masterpiece.

Holy hell this kicks so much ass. Banger after banger from start to end, high energy extravaganza with a lot of technical prowess. Hell Yeah .

Many years before this challenge, I had an early lesson in keeping an open mind for new music. My friends were all fans of hardcore band, At the Drive-In. Hardcore never did much for me. They were one of dozens of bands who (in my opinion) all sounded pretty much the same. So when they were excitedly talking about a new project called The Mars Volta from the lead singer and guitarist from ATD-I, I would zone out and think of something else. Some how or another, I was finally exposed to their music and immediately blown away. It was definitely not what I was expecting (and it also alienated a few of my hardcore-loving friends). Eventually Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez felt similarly about the genre, having grown frustrated with how confined it was. They were ready to move on and incorporate their vast love of music, blending prog rock with Latin music, jazz, blues rock and even some electronic music. The music is anything but derivative though. The Mars Volta took prog rock into new territory with this album. The pace of the album is quite unless anything else I've heard. After a brief intro, giving you only a small build up, you're immediately hit by the panicked and frantic first single "Inertiaric Esp". There are reprieves to give you space to breathe before bringing back into the furious and complex songs heard throughout the album. More than any other album I know, this feels like a true fever dream, which matches the theme of the album. The band's friend, a local artist, had injected rat poison, fallen into a coma, and later committed suicide. The album's main character is inspired by this, and the lyrics take the perspective of someone in a drug induced coma, slipping between panic, fear, and paralyzed calm. This is vivid, complex storytelling, made by musicians who clearly love music. After piquing my interest, I went with some friends to see The Mars Volta live. And then I was completely sold. I've been a fan ever since.

Excellent

This album is firing on all cylinders. Vocals, drums, guitar, production value, it's all high quality. It is unique and weird while still being palatable. The story described in the wiki entry didn't really shine through for me. Maybe with more listens. But this album definitely struck me and it will make its way into my regular rotation.

I’ll give this a 5. Really good.

Gear: Fostex TH610 Artwork: 🔦😵🪙 Production: 🎧😘🤌 Music: 👁️‍🗨️💊🛌🌪️🔥🌵🌀🎭🕰️💥 Rating: 🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙/5

This record was all the rage when I was in college. Never a huge fan of the vocals for the most part, technically impressive as they are.and a lot of it is kind of noodly but there’s definitely a lot of really cool stuff going on in it. My generation’s Rush. Given its singularity as an album of its form in its time I think it deserves the highest rating.

Oh, this kick ass. This shit kicks so much ass. Like, let's not even beat around the bush here: this is incredible. And, y'know, I was always sure I was gonna like The Mars Volta. I mean, "L'Via L'Viaquez" is one of my favorite songs from GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR, and because of it I'd always had interest in checking out their material. If there was anything that stopped me before now, besides just getting generally distracted... I mean, honestly, I think I had this assumption that they wouldn't be the fun kind of progressive. From the way FRANCES THE MUTE sounded, with its plot and all of the context surrounding it, it sounded maybe a bit too dark and heady to be enjoyable? If this album is anything to go off of, though, that is **absolutely** not the case. Like, if there's any other band I immediately wanna compare this album to, it's Coheed And Cambria — specifically on their first two albums. It strikes me as a very similar kind of progressive hardcore, and the singer even sounds a little like CLaudio... And, heck, their respective plots are just as incomprehensible and not worth trying to understand. I'd say the biggest difference between them is that The Mars Volta takes a lot from jazz and Latin music, whereas Coheed And Cambria would go on to dive deeper and deeper into what I like to call "AMV music." And if I might prefer the latter for how joyously dumb it can get, make no mistake: they're both so damn awesome, it's not even... Goodness. Like, I am really struggling to think of any problem I might have with this. Honestly, I might not have any at all. It's progressive music that goes really damn hard and heavy at times... It's absolutely not for everybody, but for my money, hell, I listened to this thing **twice**, and I rarely allow **any** album that these days until I feel like they **really** deserve it. So, damn, guess it looks like I'm a Mars Volts fan for real now. I suppose I should finally get around to FRANCES THE MUTE now that I know I'm a real sucker for their sound. I mean, hey, if it is as dark and heady as I'm imagining it to be, at least I got this to fall back on, if nothing else. And Coheed And Cambria, too, of course. Have you heard their most-recent album? Such good shit...

I’m at a 4.5 that I will bump up to a 5. Realistically, if it weren’t for the instrumental confidence and swagger this album has in spades, I’d be at a 4, just for the storyline here making not a damn inch of sense. However, this album just sounds too fucking good to not bump it up to a 5 – I really, really do love the instrumentals here, and they’re the catalyst for the bump. If you’ve heard the album, you know, and I hope you’ve heard the album if you’re reading this. I do have to harp on the plot for a bit though. I really tried to pay attention to the lyrics, and I had a broad stroke outline of abandoned shipyards, countries at war, some dog-like creatures, an intentional suicide, and a forced amnesic revival, but I couldn’tan’t give you any names or motivations, save for maybe Cerpin Taxt. It is an incredibly weird story, that the album itself only provides some broad strokes for, with a decent chunk of lyrical repetition that on a first pass, truly feels sort of detrimental to the whole thing, creating pockets of repetition that slowly drag each track down, though not enough to ruin anything. Again, the confidence this album displays itself with is what keeps it from falling apart. Upon further research, this album’s plotline is derived from a short story that the band wrote, indeed talking about a man named Cerpin Taxt who attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge, onto open traffic, in the midst of an overdose – everything we hear about in the album itself is apparently set during a comatose state that he’s in following the attempt & the mental state he’s in after surviving the first one. That second jump is the “intentional suicide” inferred during “Televators”, and that’s the one that gets him. “Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt” is just a brain-dead epilogue, perhaps acting as a funeral. There’s a chance I’ve interpreted some of this wrong, but I think I’ve got the general real strokes of the plot here. There’s a lot more (& I mean a LOT more) in the depths of the story, but I don’t really care to read about the societal implications of this man’s comatose civil war between life and death. Now, do I necessarily like the idea of a companion story being needed to understand the plot of an album? Eh, not really, but I’m not sure that it necessarily matters – once again, I have to praise the confidence this album portrays itself with, because everything here is taken at face value, totally performed as if this is all normal, and if you just roll with it, you’ll enjoy it all the same. It does make the lyrical repetition feel less jarring, knowing that there are the remnants of a brain trying to activate itself, so even if it feels awkward from a musical standpoint, it makes more sense with the story. I’ve harped on all of this storyline shit, but what about the actual music itself? Well, that’s where this album gets the easy bump up to a 5 – this is heavy metal with progressive rock sensibilities, & it is fucking eclectic at its highest points on this album. Manic percussion is the underlining piece of the soundscape here, and while the vocals do a great job of gliding on them, the drums just have an overbearing presence that makes them stick out in an already full soundscape, with heavy guitar riffs and synths abound. It does feel like a natural mesh of 60s/70s prog rock stylings with the nu-metal / grunge trends of the 90s, coming together in a way that allows the best aspects of both to shine. There are a few lull spots on some tracks, brought on by those pockets of repetition I mentioned earlier, but they’re quickly overridden by a new vibe coming in just as fast to keep each track moving. The only really extended one is the 3 minutes of ambience on “Cicatriz ESP”, but I still liked that a lot. So, yeah, color me pretty impressed. I do wish more of the story was made clearer within the music itself, & the broad strokes are what’s got this at a 4.5 for me as opposed to a flat 5. Make no mistake, though – this whole thing is interesting enough despite its vagueness, & to even pique the curiosity is a good enough goal here, especially if it leads to discovering the proper story. Musically, it’s a stellar 60 minutes that really does fly by, for the most part. I enjoyed this a lot, and while it’s certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, I really, really think it’s worth a listen. For me, it’s a very easy bump up to a 5.

Perfect album! The cry of the soul! A Masterpiece! A wounded soul opera.

BANGER! Enough said.

This is pretty sick.

It’s definitely an album that needs multiple listens to truly get but it’s drawn me in enough to do that.

Oh, hell yeah, nostalgia tour here we go!

Reckless. Breaking boundaries. Giving no fucks. Taking no prisoners.

I don't expect this one to be popular in a broad sense, but I can absolutely get down with some Mars Volta. This is among their top tier albums (Amputecture being the other that I gravitate towards). Love the inter-track blending across the album that gives it a single take sort of feel. I could see how the at times frantic, bi-polar nature of a lot of this might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm here drinking. Love the handover from Son et Lumiere into Inertiatic Esp. Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of) is one of my favorites on here. Honestly I have no idea what Cedric is saying half of the time, but I love the whiplash transitions between sung sections and racing instrumentals. Don't have much focus to give this review, but this is an album I continually return to. Low 5 for me.

Mars Volta is a band I have always heard of but never listened too, and damn I wish I didn't wait so long. This scratched my progressive itch so nicely, and was a completely refreshing album to come up on here as being a fast paced intense album. Fun to see that Flea was the bassist on all but 2 songs of this album which is pretty sweet. I could see Mars Volta as being an inspiration to a lot of Umphrey's more heavy rock songs because they sounded very familiar. This was an awesome 5 star surprise and I will have to look into more of them when I have a chance.

holy shit

This is a sonic bombardment, and I mean this in a very very good way. In a word, it's Intense. Liked Songs Added: Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of) Cicatriz Esp

Energetic, full of various sounds clashing harmoniously with each other and it never stops sounding very good. Also, holy shit, Cedric Bixler-Zavala is already really close to join the list of my favourite singers ever.

So good, loved every song

One thing I can guarantee you is that the global ranking for this album will be nowhere near as high as it should be. This album is a goddamned masterpiece. The inventiveness, the musicality, the virtuosity of the artists - God. Damned. Master. Piece. I'm aware that this will be a bit, say, esoteric for the general listening public. But this album goes from strength to strength. It's never content to settle on one thing, one rhythm, one beat, one song structure. The entire album is filled with songs that are completely different from one another yet still come together flawlessly as a whole. It's genius. 5 stars.

There was a time in my life when I loved music of The Mars Volta. Never know why I stopped. This is one of the few creative approach to rock music after 2000s which is smart, funky, but still very likeable. Bedlam in Goliath is a bit better album though.

Classic, nothing like RATM

mars volta was a name i've heard for a while but i had no idea what their music was like and never looked into it. man i was a little blown away by this one! really fun, aggressive modern prog rock. really great to listen to. at times this album almost sounds like a progged out santana, which is a fucking cool as hell sound. maybe an unfair comparison, but to me this sounds like what i wish muse sounded like. but what makes this album for me is the production. this album sounds fantastic. so bombastic. it feels like it should be chaotic but it is so meticulous. just really cool stuff. i'm glad i listened to this one.

I love the combination of progressive rock and post-hardcore. This is probably the closest album to progressive metal in the entire generator.

I have no idea what was going on lyrically, but I enjoyed it. Not what I was expecting but in a good way.

Been meaning to listen to more of The Mars Volta for a long time, but never got round to it. This was great, will definitely listen to more now.

5/5

Weird that I just happened to have already been listening to this album a lot recently. It sounds like Led Zeppelin + Muse but on acid and I’m so here for it. Insanely technical instrumentation, powerful vocals and the some of the most surreal lyrics I’ve ever heard. Not only does it have all of the above qualities, but also some really catchy and accessible songwriting which is seriously impressive.

8.5 First couple of songs in, I was not sold. What is this? What's with that guy's voice. High as Geddy Lee and perhaps as pleasant (not very). But as this album wore on the more I was swept away. A fascinating, singular, quiltwork of influences which I do not dare to attempt to list. Post hardcore, Santana and latin, psych, prog rock, and things I'm missing. The vocals, though a lot at first, grew on me, and the singer has amazing control of his instrument and his clarion powerful singing sticks in your ears days after. After you are pummeled by relentless whipsaw changes for minutes (and minutes) on end, a song will slip into spacey meandering psychedelia for a bit before screaming back to tight as fuck transitions. This album is wildly, insanely ambitious. I will need to listed to this one several times over to fully metabolize. And I'm looking forward to it.

Amazing to see the Mars Volta in this list. The band is certainly the definition of an acquired taste, but if one can learn to enjoy/tolerate Cedric's vocals and appreciate Omars intricate musicality then you'll really see each one of their works as a masterpiece. Deloused is often touted as the fan favorite, though I personally prefer most of the later releases of the band (if you liked this album DEFINITELY listen to at least "Frances the Mute" and "The Bedlam in Goliath", especially if you're a fan of funk music). That being said, the ideas presented on this album are foundational the the band, and I wouldn't change a thing. The only thing that pulls this back a bit from a solid five is that is doesn't go far enough - but definitely still rounds up. (Especially when all the competitors on this list are either The Byrd's, Neil Young, or unknown UK groups) 4.5/5 -> 5/5

Perfect

hooooooly shit

So happy to discover this. It's giving early emo prog lmao, it's like the sound world of being 16 but sooo much more heaped on top because you're a sophisticated adult now (basically the singer sounds like the Hoosiers guy crossed with Jared Leto, and the instrumentals could be from the fucking fever you can't sweat out). Hard save to the library. This is something I'd literally never heard of but apparently have been waiting for all this time, kind of feels like it was personally made for me and has just been biding its time until I found it. Compelling all the way through, couldn't get enough

I miss at the drive in but this is the next best thing. I love it.

E non l’ho neanche finito

I love this— great headphone music, love the dynamism and the drums. The vocals were fun and I never got bored. Many a times listening to these albums I have to skip to stay sane, this wasn’t one of those times.

Heard this record before it was released and saw The Mars Volta perform it start to finish at The Electric Ballroom shortly after. From the opening gunshot drum fills which have to be among my favourite starts to any album to the end it is the concept album that I enjoy. It's oblique and challenging and not paint what you see. I have no idea how many times I've listened to this over the years and I find more layers. The vocals are acrobatic and the time signatures and textures are enveloping. Weirdly have never felt anything close from any of their other albums. Even Frances The Mute I don't think I could name a track. But this...

Holy shit. I’ve always known of The Mars Volta, but I never actually sat down and listened to them. I am so happy that I did. This feels very different from literally everything else we’ve listened to so far from this list, and this might be the most excited I’ve been after listening to an album to review it. I almost want to consider this album post-hardcore, but it has so many really cool aspects that works so well together. The guitar is frantic and evil and dissonant, but it somehow fits the theme of the album just perfectly. The bass is incredibly funky, and upon learning that the best bassist in the world, Flea, performed on this album, it makes a lot of sense. The vocals are almost as frantic as the lead guitar, but there’s something really beautiful and familiar about them, almost vaguely Coheed and Cambria-esque. I’m a big fan of Cedric’s vocals. There’s a really cool blend of jazzy Latin rhythms peppered into this record too, the brightness of that really keeps the album from being too dreary. From a songwriting perspective this album is almost a master class on concept albums. The story told throughout is as fantastical as it is dark. It’s certainly an excellent reminder to avoid mixing morphine and rat poison, if nothing else. I’m really excited to sit down and listen to this album again, I feel like it deeply deserves multiple attentive play-throughs. This is a very easy 5*.

This album was a beautiful fever dream. I have little idea what it was. High octane. Bizarre. Took me aback consistently. I don’t know how replayable this album is, but it was a cool first listen. Standouts: Everything but Tira Me a Las Aranas and Drunkship of Lanturns.

Hold KÆFT DET BANGER

Wow! I'd never heard of The Mars Volta and wasn't expecting that 🤘🏻 I was getting My Chemical Romance vibes from this, good stuff! 5 ⭐️

Mars Volta I had this album in college but hadn’t listened to it much in years. I like the experimental vibe and really cool to hear a band with such a unique original sound like psychedelic- prog- hardcore. Cool contrast between feeling weird -loose -noodley and super tight. Also cool contrast between dissonances and the harmonies and some cool melodies paired with super weird abstract lyrics. The high vocals and the busy rock drums and aggressive bass remind me of Rush. Love the drums and frantic rock n roll energy on here it definitely gets me pumped up. Also so cool to hear Flea in a different context! I’ll have to check out their other albums. Great album but I could imagine a version that’s not. Cool transitions and textures it all kind of feels like the same song but in a good continuity way. There is so much going on and it all works but it almost doesn’t. 5

Super interesting songs and arrangements. The energy is crazy and singer has a cool voice. Never checked them out before but definitely into it and would listen again. Pretty intense and frantic but i never lost interest

Absolutely loved this. The right amount of noise

All-timer

Already in my favorites

Great

Already one of my favorite albums of all time. Proggy, metally, experimental greatness!

I am so thankful for this sound / band / album and a lot of that is because it was a little thread of a connection that I had with my wife back when we were 16 and 17 years old and still in the flirting stages. This was "her" band, and I was just into them enough to want to hear more, and what followed was so many cute little headphone sharing moments, awkward but amazing accidental knee to knee touches while sitting on the high school bus, you know- all the stereotypical young romance movie scenes. It's probably the most nostalgia-bound record for me for the ages of 16-18. The odd yet grounded drum entrance on "Son et Lumiere" is the perfect introduction for what you are about to get with the rest of the record. My wife and I listened to this album a month or two ago and we still proudly remembered all of the seemingly random drum hits. Then "Inertiatic Esp" crashes into you and for me, this song paints the following scene: I'm 17 and going to a carnival with my then new girlfriend (now wife), and a handful of friends and the energy levels are through the roof. There's young person sexual tension- will we get to depart our group and leave at the end of the night together? Will that lead to a long walk back home and more discussions and learning about eachother's likes and dislikes? Would we maybe even kiss? There's also another kind of tension- this is a carnival in the town over and boys have been getting into fights at these and a guy I knew actually got punched with brass knuckles recently at one. I'm one of the taller guys in the group (but maybe 150lbs soaking wet) so I catch a lot of eyes from other boys my age who are just as on guard as I am. We're all taking guesses as to whether someone came to the carnival to jump someone or if they came to play games, eat cotton candy, and then leave to go party elsewhere away from the threat of violence. The song spins and spins and it's filled with pockets of excitement that build and explode, and build and explode over and over. I can hardly hear what Cedric is even singing about but I'm jamming on the cycles of tension and release. It's a perfect parallel of that night. "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" is so beautifully dynamic and yet constructed so well to be really cohesive. Everything sounds both a little crazy and a little normal. "Drunkship Of Lanters" highlights their Latin flair really well. I love the groove. For some reason, when I was in high school and going on school trips (I was in the band and they loved trips), I would always listen to "This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed" on the bus. I don't know why I gravitated towards that song in particular for this repeated occasion; maybe I was an at-the-time huge distance away from my girlfriend and missing her so I thought to throw on one of her favorite bands tracks and then it became a thing. I would loop it over and over as the miles of road went past out of the bus window. "Televators" might be my favorite TMV song. It's so dramatic and the lyrics feels like they are a new made up language at times. What a great record. I'm so happy for it's inclusion on this list and I wish more people knew about this band because these songs are exactly what I want in some experimental proggy rock band. I want energy and dynamics and FRESH ideas and I want to be excited. Too often it's bands of frankly a bunch of nerdy dudes sitting around and trying so hard to expand musical vocabularies while getting farther and farther away from simply good music. The Mars Volta care about listen-ability. These songs are for YOU the listener, not for THEM the artists. Great album cover too. 5/5!

I just listened to this a little while ago. I'm a big fan of at the drive in, and am just getting into the mars volta. I will always be obsessed with cedric's voice

Prog rock with punky/post-hardcore energy, with some Latin influences and doses of freak-out psychedelia, and it works phenomenally and fucking rules. It’s tightly controlled chaos that feels like it can lose its grip at any moment, but always hangs on. Every member of the band can weave in and out of this frenetic and smooth energy. Angular guitar riffs that make your head spin (with some rad solos), a super tight rhythm section with complex, nimble drumming, and Cedric’s wailing on top of it…it all fits like a glove. This is prog with real energy and it feels authentic , not pretentious or wanky.

The only issue with this album is that now 99% of all other rock music is ruined for you, because it's never as wild and fun and exciting as this album is. Shouldn't be a surprise they started off with a masterpiece as the final At The Drive-In album was one too. Exactly the way rock music was intended to be done.

Been wanting to explore this band further. This is really good. Unconventional, yes. But if you can handle the dissonance and the chaos, it's a rewarding experience. Also, a great live band as well. Wish more of their albums appeared in the book.

I don't how I haven't stumbled upon this album before. I really enjoyed listening to this. It kind of reminded me of the Incubus sound I know (I'm no Incubus expert). Pure 2000s alt-hard rock style. No things in particular to highlight but still very good. (edit) 100-ish albums in, this is the one I didn't know that I keep coming back to. Huge sound. Change from 4 stars to 5.

Such a staggering debut and setting the tone for how prog rock was going to sound in the new millennium. Every single performance is top notch. I have no idea what the lyrics are about though.

The Mars Volta came crashing in and defined the entire prog scene for decades. The combination of Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López is a creative force to behold.

So good……. Bass is amazing and the guitar is so fluid. Vocals are refined burg have an edge and it’s not too over the top for someone like me who doesn’t like the hardcore stuff

Wow. This kicks of with an absolutely stunning warm up -> main track and keeps going with brilliance after brillance. Phenomenal album

Frenetic and Frantic, this is a great album. TMV are huge live too. Was gonna grant it 4 stars as it is a tiresome work, but the beautiful Televators (a favorite of mine ever since it came out) jumps the full album for the fifth one.

Complex and exciting

Top tier prog rock. Love the use of "glitchy" sound effects in instrumental sections.

After breaking away from one of the more promising bands of the early 2000s, At the Drive-In, Oscar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala gave progressive rock adrenaline and energy boosts in the form of The Mars Volta and their debut album Deloused in the Comatorium. In the course of an hour, we are beholden to a blistering and bewildering blast of bombastic proportions as prog rock becomes reborn anew with a Mexican-American purview. The intensity displayed here is enough to make one's eyes widen and one's heart pump as it soars. The song titles may be incomprehensible but one thing is for certain: the dizzying musicianship sticks with you long after the last note fades.

One of the great modern prog-rock albums. Epitomizes everything right about the genre - bold, innovative with unique themes and captivating storytelling. Phenomenal

Hell yeah

A revelation!

Excellent

Probably my favourite album. At least in the top 5.

Постхардкорный дебютный прог альбом от мастеров замудренной лирики. концептуальный альбом про мужчину лежащего неделю в коме после отравления наркотой. Прог рок в лучшем проявлении с отличным вокалистом( не таким как у screaming trees))))) ). Короче, немножко джаза, африканских ударных инструментов, отличная гитара , барабаны, и вокал. Пятерка. Заслуженные 5 звезд.

I've only heard *of* them, never their music before. And I'm blown away. Their sound feels like like a lighter, more experimental-rock precursor to the prog-metal sound of bands like TesseracT, Haken, and Leprous. Great songs, and a very nice composition for the album - it was a pleasure listening to, and I'll definitely be listening to more of their stuff.

Dude. This is unlike anything I've ever heard before. There's so many conflicting things interacting when you listen to De-Loused in the Comatorium by the Mars Volta. It's catchy, yet emotional. The lyrics are somewhat nonsensical at times, and yet the whole album tells a compelling story. Oh yeah, this is a concept album, and a damn good one at that. Imagine the theatrics and conceptual uniqueness of an album like The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance (how is that not on the list?) mixed with the prog rock talents of a band like Rush or Yes. That's this album, and it's amazing. The Rush comparison is also quite fitting in regards to the vocals. They're the kind of vocals that kind of have to grow on you, and I can see why others would be annoyed by them. I for one think they work quite well with the emotional beats of the story. Why don't more people talk about this album and band? Seriously, this is some amazing stuff right here. 5/5.

Yeah the lyrics are total nonsense, but the music and vocal performance is so good do you honestly care?

How did I not know this existed until now? So happy it's in my life.

Is it pretentious? Yes, yes it is but I still love it!

*Finally* a band that understands title capitalization rules around prepositions and articles. Fuck! Legendary album, these guys rule.

It's pretty close to flawless. More consistent than Frances, for me, although Frances has higher highs.

This being one of my all-time favourite albums, I’m finding it hard to put my thoughts into words without just rambling praise for it. Essentially, it’s the most radical prog album to be since the 70s (avant-prog notwithstanding, you know I love you). There were other albums to combine alt-rock and prog before this one, but none with this level of energy, inventiveness and embrace of prog absurdity while retaining vitality. This is progressive rock made by hardcore kids, the fusion of the two providing the music with it’s strongest characteristic: combining musical complexity with emotional expression. This carries through all elements of the music. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’ guitar work, while at times sounding completely alien, borrows a lot of harmonic vocabulary from hardcore and particularly emo bands, giving the occasionally incomprehensible chords a clear emotional resonance. Cedric Bixler-Zavala outrageously high vocal register and word-salad lyrics may come off as obtuse prog-excess, but the melodic lines are delivered with complete conviction and earnesty (and considering the often recounted story behind the album, the conviction is very justified) Jon Theodore also puts in one of the best drum performances put to tape, laying down inimitable grooves with pinpoint precision and unbridled power. Every other player contributes massively also; Flea’s groovy bass, “Ikey” Owens’ characteristic keyboards, the laye Jeremy Michael Ward’s soundscapes, Lenny Castro’s percussion to name a few. I’ve already rambled about this album enough however, and I haven’t even gotten to the songs themselves. This album is one of a kind. Far from the band’s only masterpiece, but there is a certain element that cannot be repeated through just similar composition. And that’s what makes this album so great

This album (and Frances the Mute) were huge for me in high school, so it’s a 5 star nostalgia trip. I started listening to The Mars Volta again last year because they went on tour, so this was already in recent rotation. But I think, beyond even nostalgia, this is an excellent piece of music that showcases an interesting point of view and unique creativity. It’s progressive in the best ways, offering interesting exploration while maintaining surprisingly catchy songs. Other people might be turned off by the excess, but I find it fascinating.

Rush, King Crimson etc, can all fuck off. The Mars Volta is the pinnacle of Prog rock. Deloused in the Comatorium is a masterpiece, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a band that builds to climaxes as big as they do. Drunkship of Laterns, Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt finales are so intense, they can’t be described. So many people will be turned off immediately by this album, I feel bad for them. 9.5/10

For real I don't know how they do this. Proggy, funky, heavy, dynamic. This shit rips. Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt is probably my favorite here.

absolute insanity

A simply wonderful swirl of guitars and noise. I don't normally care for this style of vocals, it's a little too emo-adjacent for my tastes, but it works here.

True magic.

De-Loused In The Comatorium would be in my “10 albums you must have listened to in your life” list. It's so unusual to be served progressive rock, Latin music, samba, psychedelic rock, experimental and post-hardcore on one plate that it would have been difficult to imagine such a thing without the existence of this group. I will always remember my very first listen to this record... I had absolutely no understanding of what had just happened, it was out of this world, I didn't know if I liked it or not, but I I had a great desire to return there to elucidate this mystery. The album quickly turned into fascination. Everything had to be resolved: the powerful singing of Cédric Bixler-Zavala, the chaotic guitar of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the surreal texts, the abstract and captivating atmospheres, the crazy, technical and energetic percussions. Everything was happening at all once and it was brilliantly working. De-Loused is an album where the duo of Cedric and Omar gave themselves complete creative freedom. A work that keeps me in a state of violent amazement for a full hour.

This is some of the best vocal work I've heard on a prog rock record. Stunning use of tone and pitch, and it pairs perfectly with the orchestral style of the instrumentation. It's really something special when you can make a rock band sound like a full orchestra. Favorites were tracks 2, 5, 6 and 9

it's interesting

I quite enjoyed this. Have always heard good things about them and this album. I'll definitely be checking out more from them.

This album is now over 20 years old. I first heard it in high school, my second from this group, who were really my introduction to more technical, modern progressive rock like this. Basically immediately fell in love with the group, and then with this album especially, shocked I'd never heard anything like it before. There's no way I can pretend to rate this album objectively. In my heart, it's a 5 all the way.

I've listened to Francis the Mute while in Highschool and even seen The Mars Volta at a SOAD concert, I was the only one of my group that fucking loved their performance. I loved At the Drive-In so much as well. Even still, I never listened to their debut album, I wish I did. This is for me. Huge fan of the guitar work, it's so different and that usually what I gravitate too. Vocals as well, so different and just hit for me. I usually drop a star for overly long songs (like Prince - 1999) but these ones just don't make me want to skip ahead.

I fucking love this album so fucking much.

Chef’s kiss

Fucking awesome

I listened to this quite a bit in high school but haven't listened to it much since. I am pleasantly surprised that it sounds great 20 years later. I didn't really know what prog rock was back then, but have since developed a taste for it, and this fits right in the pocket. The tug between Mars Volta's desire to "jab the common man's ears" and producer Rick Rubin's desire to cater to those ears, creates a perfectly balanced cocktail.

One of the best albums (debatable, I know) by one of my favourite bands. This album is full of complex masterpieces that are weird, exciting and vibrant.

Super weird album that I didn't like at first, but grew on me with its incredible level of details and self-references. Quite a unique album

Good album. Like most progressive rock, it's one that I will definitely have to listen to several times. This is one of my favorite styles of music. It's almost too early for me to give it a rating, but nonetheless, I'm inclined to give it a 5.

Absolutely exceptional. Beautiful, trippy, emotional and so very tightly realized without loosing its raw energy.

Wow alltså, topp 5 progmetalalbum genom tiderna. Närmare 5 än 4.

einzigartiges, stilprägendes Album / absolut underrated / so facettenreich und kreativ. Trifft genau mein Geschmack. 5/5

The lyrics are merely there to fill in the space, like another instrument. But who cares when it's this good!!!??

After many listens, I still couldn't tell you any of the song names on this album, or what the lyrics are about. But it's a banger front to back. Best enjoyed by just putting it on and taking the ride. To me, this is a wild masterpiece that still holds up, even after I have moved on from many albums in the same genre.

Uno de los mejores álbumes de rock progresivo de los 2000. Las letras crípticas que relatan una pérdida son sumamente densas y ricas en contenido, mientras que las composiciones e interpretaciones son sumamente impresionantes, coronando la carrera completa de At The Drive-In. Lamentablemente, este es el peak de la discografía de The Mars Volta, no volviendo nunca a estar a este nivel de intensidad.

I'd had The Mars Volta on my list to listen to for years now, but never got round to it. The name put me off a little, also the description of Latin/ Punk/ Prog didn't sound amazing, even though their name consistently comes up in forums I subscribe to. So I had mixed feelings seeing this come up; would it be as good as people said, or would it not fit my tastes. I also flicked through a few reviews, noting that there was a lot of 1s and 5s and not much in between. The vocals were often picked out as a weak link. Then I listened to the album, halfway through I stopped playing it and went and purchased a copy, then continued. Yes, it was incredible, not ground breaking, with lots of influences I could detect from other bands from the 1970s onwards, and probably bands influenced by this album possibly? Definitely a bit of a Muse, Radiohead, King Crimson vibe throughout, but in a good way. Listened to it again, twice and it only got better each time.

This one is a 5/5 for me. With no prior listening to this band, they still felt familiar to me in a way that can only indicate their influence on other bands in my wheelhouse, and vice versa. Televators was a standout track, and there are several other worthy mentions here. Planning to take a second pass at this one later.

Terrifying. I'd never heard anything remotely like this before; 'twas recommended upon release by a friend with my having had zero knowledge of anything surrounding the band so... quite the shock. The opening is amazing: from the perfect haunting-yet-something-bigger-is-coming-i-can-feel-it intro song of "Son et lumière" which folds directly into the beat-you-through-the-brain "Inertiatic ESP" - you're in or out at this point. I was in. Amazing. The cover definitely fits, too. This is an *album* - you can't listen in parts, or have a song on a playlist (MIXTAPE) - it's headphones-on and take the hour-long trip. These lyrics man wtf I've never bothered trying, but when I occasionally grab onto a word or phrase it doesn't make sense yet definitely contributes to the terror of the album overall. Incredible musicianship that hits the proggy geek part of me yet has a controlled aggression I can't compare to any others. But honestly it's sometimes too much, even if I do love it...I love it but don't always *like* it, if that makes any sense. It's jarring, dissonant, completely frenetic, noisy yet ... melodic. It's 100% worth it but feels exhausting and therefore not an album I listen to often, it's almost like it takes a lot out of me. No passive listening here. Best moment without question: "Roulette Dares" chorus....: "Exo-skeletal junction at the railroad delayyyyyyyed!" - chills. The flame-broiled un-wakeable dystopian nightmare hard rock compliment to the frozen-dark introspective electronic Kid A. No coincidence: two of my favourites. 9/10 5 stars.