The Mars Volta Octahedron Album Review Message Board and Comments

snuggieman: you will never, EVER know me.

I sadly totally agree... if you're looking for the psychedelic tearout riffs that omar and the volta have made standard, check out omar's new solo albums "old money" and "megaritual" that came out earlier this year. he has seemed to reserve the majority of his witchery for those brilliant albums.

The editor said that "a Mars Volta album is not something that you should be able to put on in the background- it should assault your ears and change your perceptions. This album, quite simply, doesn't do that." How does this album NOT do that? First off, the lyrics are not "cryptic" as every single reviewer of their albums always says. I've been a fan since 2004 and Octahedron is by far the "easiest read" of all of their studio albums. Secondly, this albums has non of the crazy atmospherics as their last four albums. That should definitely raise a red flag as something that should "change perceptions." Bottom line...for me it is a great album. I've been a fan since the beginning and I'm not waiting for any top 40 bulls**t. Octahedron fills a spot in my already eclectic music collection that no other band or album could fill. I've got more to say but its late...woodsj2@gmail.com

I don't really agree with what you've said, it sounds like you've kinda bought into the band quite a bit. If this album had anything close to the powerful, stunningly beautiful crescendos that Miranda and Televators have then, well, it would be a whole lot better. It annoys me as well that even in this 50 minute long record, short by TMV standards, that they still feel the need to throw audio filler in there, literally either no sound at all or just bleeps and blops that serve no purpose. In Cicatriz ESP, the 15 seconds or so of silence worked well before the chorus as it built tension. Likewise, the interlude after Drunkship of Lanterns works well because it comes after a long track and flows with the album. Essentially, I think that if they're putting out this feeling that it's their best work to date, then they've gone wrong somewhere, and if they're putting it out thinking 'well, we may as well put out something a bit random', then they should be trying harder. I am a massive fan of this band as well, like you, I have a printed copy of the Deloused storybook, I love all the mystery the band can invoke, but, honestly, I think they're a bit wide of the mark with this one.

I have to disagree with your review. The Mars Volta needed a change of winds on the Venture of endless chaos and harmony. This is the album us true fans have been waiting for since De-loused. This album holds the promise that they are not just proving their endless speed and sound filling space. They are showing the softer "Televators" and "Miranda this ghost just isn't holy anymore" side. This is a incredibly perceptual changing album on a wave that is definetly volta while using a huge influece of Floyd to guide us through the 50 minute Journey. And that's another thing!! This album is short, but precise. They are exploring the beautiufl precision of space with a softer melodic sound not deviating into a endless psychadellic shred, which I love SO MUCH!! but this album was meant to grow a new branch, a much lower branch on there tree of sound so they can build a whole new psychadellic venture. If you really know the personality of Cedric and Omar you would know that they only record what they find to be perfect. This album will grow on all Volta fans in to something very special. PROMISE!!