Pros: Creative beyond belief, Brave, Amazing production, Long
Cons: Minor parts of extended tangents
The Bottom Line: A compelling mixture of lyrical ingenuity, engaging guitars that complement brilliant songwriting, and an overall feel that will leave you stunned in ecstacy as the album ends.
ZombiEater's Full Review: De-Loused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta
At the Drive In. Ever heard of them? If not, that's too bad. The alternative band / progressive rock group At the Drive In, formed in 1994, produced several albums all of wonderful splendor, especially their last one, "The Relationship of Command." After so many years, the band decided to split a couple of years ago. Like a vertically cracked apple, At the Drive In split and moved in two different directions - three members, Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos, and Tony Hajjar went on to form the successful alternative band "Sparta" while the other two members, Cedric Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez got together with other artists to form "The Mars Volta."
Cedric Zavala was the singer of "At the Drive In" (ATDI) and his obvious talent shines through on "De-Loused in the Comatorium." This album is not merely a collection of songs though, the entire album is a dedication to a close friend of Cedric's, Julio Venegas. The album has an overwhelming theme of being an audio description of one man's dreams and visions while in a coma. After the man wakes from his long coma, he still decides to kill himself. Julio Venegas was in a coma before his self-inflicted death in 1996.
This album brings back memories of ATDI as well as other bands not associated with ATDI, Cedric, or Omar - bands such as The Doors, Santana, and Led Zepplin. To say this album is a direct copy or association to any one of these bands would be as foolish as it is wrong, yet the influences are real and obvious.
Before listening to ATDI or The Mars Volta one must know something about Cedric Zavala - his voice is infectious - as is this album. The first time I heard Cedric Zavala's voice was when a friend of mine in college played ATDI for me. Images of Zack de la Rocha mixed with Jim Morrison in an alternative progressive rock theme swirled into my mind. Cedric has a voice that is loud, blunt, and penetrating at times (many times) - those special times - the times when the music amplifies - the times when you want - you wish - it would penetrate. Yet Cedric also has a way of flowing his words (yes, flowing) into a slow encircling river of melodious sound that captures the song, holds your hand and leads you into what he's feeling at that precise moment. With that being said, lets continue...
The Mars Volta comes out holding nothing back. On this album, they use all aspects of their arsenal to combat the thoughts of doubt from former ATDI fans. Doubt that this album would be a success - doubt that Cedric and Omar would be anything without the rest of the band - doubt that the creativity was gone - that the originality that Cedric used to spit had dried up and evaporated like morning dew in the Sahara.
Honestly, this album had to grow on me - at first, I was not necessarily a doubter, but an obsessed man - obsessed with something other than The Mars Volta - other bands that would overcome and crush this newcomer. Slowly and surely The Mars Volta won my respect and laud.
On many songs on this album, the most stand-out aspect is the chorus. Cedric has a way of singing so melodiously in the choruses of his songs, that they stand out over his lyrics (a thing about Cedric's lyrics - I am finding myself continually looking up many words - his vocabulary is amazing, and its not his fault if yours isnt). After the second or third listening to this album, I found myself mumbling his lyrics while knowing every word in the choruses. Granted, this may be a common aspect in many singers' repertoire, yet Cedric has a way with words that is brilliant.
Songs such as "Cicatriz esp" will have you screaming at the top of your lungs "I Defected" over and over as Cedric succumbs to becoming background music to your booming vocal chords. Meanwhile, "Inertiatic esp" will leave you thinking your lost, singing, "Now I'm Lost - Now Lost" continually. Again and again Cedric captures you with his lyrics while the guitars and bass wrap them up in a cocoon of melody and rhythm that does nothing but complement the most beautiful audio vocabulary lesson you've ever heard.
The guitar on "De-Loused in the Comatorium" is also in need of much praise. When in concert, many bands like to take extended tangents to either satisfy their guitarists' ego or merely for artistic reasons. The Mars Volta does this, but on their original tracks they have extended guitar work with slow drums and beating bass. On "Cicatriz esp," Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has a field day in a 5 minute slowdown in the middle of the song. This may slow down the song, and the album in general, but is a beautiful display of artistic ability - nostalgic of The Doors on many many songs.
De-Loused also has many accessory sounds in the album, created and injected by Isaiah Owens, their keyboardest. This was a smart move by The Mars Volta, as these sounds give the album a deeper sound - a feeling that there is more to this album than the surface displays (which there is).
Songs of exceptional note include "Televators" where a slow spanish beat complete with bongos and a triangle, occupies the song's time while sounds of interloping buzzes and strange beeps distract its direction. Meanwhile, Cedric sings a depressing, slow, melodious tune,
You should have seen...
the curse it flew right by you
Page of concrete
Stained walk crutch of hobbled sway
Autodafe
A capillary hint of red...
Everyone knows the last toes
are the coldest to go...
The track, "Eriatarka" bleeds with emotion while another track which stuns and amazes is the last track on the album - which scratches as it leaves your ears - your mind begging it to stay. The track, "take the veil cerpin taxt", is about his friend forgetting all of his memories because of his coma and killing himself. The beat is a quick one two, and the guitar is quick, strange, vacillating current of ecstatic sound. The beat later changes to a heavy heartbeat of electronics while beeps and whistles overwhelm the tune. The bass kicks in heavy and quick, as the guitar soon catches up, as does the drums, and the three do a dance of nostalgia accompanied by a lone electric piano. Soon, slowly, Cedric's voice appears - singing a slow "ahh ahh ahh" that floats over the dance like an angel in a heavenly ballad. Eventually the deed is done and the quartet wakes up to its previous heavy rhythm, screaming "Knife me in - hobbeling, talking in its sleep again." Cut - quick guitar speech - stop . . . "Who Brought Me Here!? Forsaken, Depraved, and Wrought with Fear?" Quick End - (The end of a life, perhaps?).
The originality this album holds shows blossoms of overwhelming, burgeoning potential.
From the first real track's discovery phrase, "Now I'm Lost".. to the enter of the coma, "exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed" through the dreams, "transoceanic depth in this earth in this cenotaph...lash of one thousand eyebrows clicking" to the waking, "He'll hibernate no more," The Mars Volta weaves a whispery web of willful wonder that would behoove you to be part of.
Album of the Year? Perhaps. Yet this album is the closest contender to Tomahawk's "Mit Gas" that I've heard all year. Cedric Zavala reminds me of Mike Patton - no small comparison to be sure as Patton is considered by many as a lyrical and vocal genius. "De-Loused in the Comatorium" is an album you can listen to over and over because of the orchestra-like complexity, the original ideas, and the continual discovery of a plethora of new auditory envelopes to become engaged in over and over.
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