The Mars Volta – Octahedron

To say that this album is only a little different is like saying birds are sort of like dinosaurs. Yes, they (allegedly) came from the same place, but the new creature looks, sounds and acts completely different from what came before. This is one of those albums that will either redefine our entire outlook on an already established band, or further alienate its former fans. This is not a review about alienation.

The new album is…unexpectedly brilliant.

I find some parts of all of their albums to be a bit hard to digest, but if you look at the albums as a whole I find they get weirder, more discordant, and more just plain “out there” as time goes on. Some blame ghosts, some blame touring and release schedules. Either way I found their last album one of the most difficult albums to enjoy, ranking right up there with Joan of Arc’s “The Gap”, which to this day I can’t decide if it’s just random noise or if I just don’t “get it”.

Octahedron is such a welcome change after The Bedlam in Goliath’s choking, awkward silences, distorted vocals and creepy, haunting soundscapes. While they will never come close to releasing anything that I would deem “pop”, this album is probably as mainstream as we will ever get from the team of Rodriguez-Lopez and Zavala. Each of the album’s eight (get it? OCTAhedron…see what they did there?) tracks has a distinct mood and flavour, but the album comes together like a three-course meal, plus dessert. This album is not to be listened to one track at a time, it is best when experienced as a whole. Luckily it’s their shortest album to date, clocking it at only 50 minutes.

I found that I wasn’t listening to the vocals as much as singing along with them, something I can only remember doing with songs from their first album. There are defined verses and choruses that repeat in their entirety, often more than once per song. Perhaps this is the band’s take on mainstream music: repetitive, but sometimes to a fault. However even a reduced quantity of words comes as no sacrifice to quality.

If you have never listened to a Mars Volta album, do not start with this one. It will only give you a completely false impression of what they are capable of, and I don’t think you’d appreciate just how far they’ve come with this new album. I wouldn’t say this is their best album, that honour still goes to their first. What is fantastic is they have gone in a new direction and affected real change to my perception of what this band is really capable of. Even if it’s only temporary, I am happy to just be along for the ride.

Rating: 8/10