This is the best The Mars Volta has released in a long time. Much like their other works (and possibly more so), this album will take a few listens for full appreciation. With it, though, comes the intensity that has been lacking on some of their recent stuff, and a sound that is on the whole less polished and more on the side of raw, tenacious music - in a good way. The reason why this album works is largely because of group's blending of the styles and methods that they've employed on their other 3 albums into one, (mostly) cohesive work. The mish-mash segmentation of songs present on Amputechture is here ('Metatron', 'Cavalletes'), as well as the more ethereal, drawn-out fusing of tracks and song sections found in Deloused and Fraces the Mute (Ouruborous, Iyllena). Thankfully, though, its handled with care this time, sparing us 4 minute segments of white noise between tracks.Drummer Thomas Pridgen, new to the band, shows himself to be as much a badass as previous drummer John Theodore, although at times he seems to be overplaying, lacking some of the dynamic subtlety that Theodore brought to the band's sound. This is a minor thing, though, as it is not overtly present and, frankly, there are few moments in the album where such subtlety is really required. ('Soothsayer' is probably the biggest example of this critique.)
Every song on here is solid, and the album, as I said, is Volta's best release in a while - probably since their brilliant debut. If you're at all a fan, or want some music thats going to kick you in the face, Check it out!
