Deloused in the Comatorium

Could not get on with this

This album still rocks. Still missing a lot of the imagery references used, but it’s still a beautiful album.

Sounds a bit like Paramour, but a lot edgier, but not in a good way, without the catchy choruses.

The energy and angst and strong here, though they lean a bit too much into the Primus funk/experimental camp for my tastes. Still, we're it is energy without spazz, it is excellent.

would have loved this as a late-teen emo - but i never was one, so meh.

One of my favourite albums of all time 😍 I still remember when I first discovered them at uni and was blown away by such a perfect blend of structure/batshit craziness. Also in my top 5 gigs. So fucking cathartic! Fav new track: N/A, but it's between the transition from Son el Lumiere into Inertiatic Esp and Televators...

One to return to. Intriguing, if noisy

If Rush, Santana, and MCR adopted a baby together, this is the monster they would raise. I love it. These guys have been on my radar for a while and I see why they are always spoken among the greats of modern prog.

A little draining at times due to sheer pitch, but overall fun and enjoyable. I could probably return to this, but it doesn't have anything dragging me back, which puts squarely in the 4.

Era verdad lo que decía residente del baterista, bah.

Another band i had misconceptions of. Top quality rock. The 1w minute track in the middle i appreciated without enjoying, so it drops a star for that.

Love a good active Bass part. I’m not sure the “concept” for this album is communicated clearly though. This is an interesting album but not very approachable for an unfamiliar listener.

Really exceptional album, amazing musicianship and an interesting energetic sound. I'm just not sure it's one I would play all the time. A really nice change of pace though

The album has a good flow start to finish. A decent listen if you are in the right mood

This was okay. There were some good songs, but they were all so long... If every song was capped at 4 minutes this would be a really good album.

🤘. Lyrics are basically incoherent but the music is amazing.

I remember liking this record back in the day but I haven't listened to it in years. I'm not a huge fan of the singer's voice - find it a bit grating. There is a lot going on, it's a bit hard to get into. I guess that's prog rock for you - which is typically not my thing. Still, it's definitely an interesting record. Not as good as I remember or maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. Makes sense for it to be on this list.

girl wtf is this cover?????? whats up with that child???? i don't think this is English I haven't heard of an album so all-over-the-place. cohesiveness who?

Bizar. Ik kan er niet zo van genieten

Boring and pretentious. Im sure its good for some people but I couldn't get into it.

Favs: Inertiatic Esp; Roulette Dares; Eriatarka Mehs: Son et Lumiere "Speculative fiction telling the first-person story of someone in a drug-induced coma, battling the evil side of his mind!" That's for me! With Mars Volta songs, I either really love an individual song or would skip a song each time. On songs like Inertiatic Esp, you get some really seriously great Rush-like, Muse-like, dash-of-King-Crimson prog-rock.

I just can't get into this. Prog rock for Tool fans.

The pinnacle of modern prog rock. Move over, Rush. Step aside, King Crimson. We've got an eccentric Mexican with a fantastic falsetto, a savant Puerto Rican with a knack for a guitar, and a band who can keep pace with the two. There are segments on this album that will blow you away, just raw compositional goodness. There's solid dynamics too, with The Mars Volta knowing when to go full tilt and when to be more reserved. These allow for truly memorable moments such as in Eriatarka where the songs builds itself to the choruses. There are parts that are a little overly long, though, and could use some sparing in order to keep things moving along, but it can be easily forgiven for how spectacular everything else is. Great great album.

A very powerful album intense and deep. Stylistically varied and interesting. Can't possibly absorb it all in one listen but I intend to delve deeply in the coming days 3.5 🌟

bandname und artwork haben mich immer auf distanz gehalten, das macht unvoreingenommenes hören natürlich schwieriger - aber das branding (ja, leider) ist on point. eitelkeit, wehleidigkeit, auskennertum, selbstgefälligkeit - im geeigneten kontext kann das alles okay sein, aber wenn es so zusammenkommt wie hier, ist das einfach nur scheußlich. gefällt vermutlich meinen alten deutschlehrern.

Es ist vor allem eins: abwechslungsreich! Schlägt Haken und Volten (!) wie nur ein wendiger Geist oder System of a Down dies vermag. Oder Fühl mich an eine Emo/Indie Zeit zurück erinnert, für die ich knapp zu alt war, aber immerhin in Ausläufern (The Cooper Temple Clause, Dredg, Juno,…) dann doch mehr als nur ein Ohr offen hatte. Wird hier kein ähnliches Erweckungserlebnis, aber partiell bleibt es haftender als kukident. Meine prall mit bestickerten Notizbüchlein („Eriatarka“ Skizzen!) verseuchte Umhängetasche hängt tiefer als 3.4

Hm, nee. Emo sowieso nicht mein Ding, und dann noch diese Dringlichkeit und das Pathos, und dann noch kombiniert mit Prog-Rock-Attitude. Klares „nein“ für mich. Extrapunkt von mir aus für die originelle Effektauswahl und die natürlich massig vorhandene Musikalität, aber auch dann bleiben wir unter 2.0.

Hahahhahha, yes! YES! The pretentiousness is very much the point here, and I _love_ it. Singing absolute nonsense with such earnest conviction - fantastic! (Although it's made me realize that Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", another fine example of heartfelt gibberish, isn't on this list, which feels like quite the omission!) I'll take this album over anything At The Drive-In did. It's also my fave Mars Volta album, by quite a stretch... Fave track - the whole thing, really, but "Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)", "Eriatarka", "Televators" and "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" are the stand outs...

Sounds like prog rock

Started on a high I think. It didn't really stay there, but the initial impression went a long way. Rest of it really let's down I think. Final rating is a weird balance

I was sceptical before and throughout, but after all I enjoyed the album.

Still can't deal.

The music is good but definitely not as good as I remembered, it really rubbed me the wrong way this time. This album oozes pretentiousness in ways I can't explain

Fuck off.

With its frenzied musicians and vital Latin influence, Deloused in the Comatorium's turn-of-the-century prog rock rips pretty thoroughly, but the lyricism is so indulgent—even for the genre—that it often distracts. There's a fine line between "you just don't get it" and "I just don't care," and the penmanship here is firmly in the latter. You made a concept album, and the concept is "drugs are neat," you don't have to try so damn hard to get the job done. That said, once you push past the Aesop Rock of it all, the more aggressive tracks hit quite hard, and the talent the group has is undeniable. I just wish the songwriters were the only ones that calmed down over the course of its excessive runtime. Key Tracks: Inertiatic ESP, Drunkship of Lanterns, Cicatriz ESP

time has been unkind to this band in a way that it really hasn't for At the Drive-In. insane musicianship that is almost hard to appreciate because the entire thing seems to drip with smugness. this album in particular might be the peak of Cedric's self-gratifying pretentious lyrics. stupid album, amazing musicians.

Prog-rock on steroids. It meandered too much to keep my attention.

4.5

Possibly the best prog-rock album from this century. Expect to find music that is written for the sake of music, that breaks boundaries, that forces the listener to think and experience concepts outside of the easy boundaries of culture and social norms that are forced on us by the media. Of course, like any good prog-rock project, "De-Loused in the Comatorium" is a conceptual album. The main character Cerpin Taxt, who is based on a real person that the band knew, falls into a coma due to self-abusive behavior. While in a coma, Taxt experiences a (possibly) hallucinigenic journey through a landscape of his own decay. The intellectually poetic lyrics make references to medical terminology, ghosts, public transportation, isolation, confusion, philosophical figures, and (self) deception. Sonically, the Mars Volta recalls the best of progressive's past and present. Like some idiot-savant with Turret's Syndrome, they seem to embody both effortlessly. It is difficult to point to one musician in the group that is not necessary for the overall sound. Every player in the group deserves mention. Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez plays with an measured angularity that recalls Robert Fripp's late '60's/early 70's work but with the passsion of a young Carlos Santana. Cedric Bixler-Zavala sings like a young Geddy Lee being possessed by the passionate spirit of Tool's Maynard. Drummer Jon Theodore recalls the aggressive technical chops of Neil Peart, but with the instinctive recklessnes of Keith Moon. Using classic hammond/mellotron/fender-rhodes piano sounds, keyboardist Isaiah Owens recalls the necesssarily transparent playing of Billy Preston. Then there's Flea standing in on bass, and holding on for dear life. He seems actually quite challenged in this project, so much so that he never really gets the chance to "Flea out". He just plays some fantastically solid and distinctive bass, which is great to hear from him, especially in this context. How does one reconcile the gap between punk and prog? Take the in-your-face aggression of punk and put it side-by-side with darkly beautiful ballads, compelling soundscapes, metrically complex and angular riffs, and freely open jams. The lowdown: Simultaneously being a music lover and cynic, I am usually hard-pressed to easily accept new music by a band I don't know much about. I am used to the few listens it takes for me to decide what I really think about a project. The Mars Volta convinced me immediately, and is still convincing after several months of heavy rotation and an extremely memorable live experience, which is beyond the scope of this review to recount.