Album Review: Octahedron

Octahedron

The Mars Volta

7.8

Released June 2009

Rubric

Musicianship: 8

Musical Cohesivness: 8

Song Structure: 7

Lyrics: 8

Emotional Energy: 7

Emotional Landscape: 10

Album Structure: 9

Production: 8

Variety: 7

Lasting Impression: 6

Have you ever listened to an album that seemed like it was made just so that it would look good with the Itunes Visualizer?* We’ll I think I have. The Mars Volta’s Octahedron is so atmospheric, so subtle (yes you heard me, Subtle) that it almost demands to be listened to with that gimmicky visualizer laying the scene. Octahedron is a slow album (certainly in comparison with the bands first four albums) and it shows a deeply melodic and surprisingly sensitive side of the Mars Volta. For those of you who have been on board since De-Loused in the Comatorium, imagine an album full of Televators type songs. For those of you unfamiliar with Cedric and Omar’s earlier works, Imagine the atmospherics and soft textures of Pink Floyd, only not quite as well written. (If you are unfamiliar with Pink Floyd, please stop reading this right now and take this time to educate yourself.) The Album starts of on an entirely positive note, with the catchy, creeping and ultimately gripping “Since We’ve Been Wrong.” The song, like much of the album, has a strong emphasis on Cedric’s strong vocal presence and clever lyrics, and is complimented by Omar’s simple (yes read it, simple), yet effective guitar riffs and melodies. The song starts with an synthesizer laden atmospheric intro very reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” which slowly builds into a beautiful dual guitar line, and throughout the song, the band works from this solid starting point, slowly adding new instruments and layers to set the scene. The song reaches its peak when the drummer enters (rather forcefully) towards the three quarter mark, adding a whole new level of excitement, energy and emotion to the song. From that point The Mars Volta brings the song back through another time around its intricately woven chorus and gently sets you down. All in all it’s probably the strongest all around track on the album, and it sets a mood for the rest of the album.

The Mars Volta does a very good job of creating a cohesive feel Octahedron, but what the album has in atmosphere, it lacks in variety. Much of the album feels somewhat same-y, with many tracks following a similar structure and too often getting bogged down in murky, repetitive melodic lines that never quite seem to go anywhere. Much of the album also stays down in the slow, dreamy atmospherics that make up the first track. Two of the album’s more driving tracks, “Teflon” and “Desperate Graves” serve as a welcome break from the overall feel of the album, and are easily two of the most memorable tracks on the album. The third “heavy” track, “Cotopaxi,” harkens back to earlier Volta albums, utilizing odd meter and strong riffs to propel the song forward, it failed however, to leave any kind of real impression. Teflon, on the other hand, is an exciting track highlighted by a memorable chorus, with one of the albums most intriguing lyrical hooks: “Let the wheels burn, Let the wheels burn, Stack the tires to the neck, with the body inside.” This lyric represents what makes Cedric’s lyrics so strong, they are vague and crypticbut they manage to paint a dark and often frightening picture. As with most Mars Volta work, Octahedron’s lyrics can often drift into the realm of just a little too strange, and it often becomes a struggle get any kind of a grip on what Cedric is trying to say. Unfortunately, the albums production doesn’t help this along very much all, as Cedric’s voice sometimes gets lost in the rush of instruments and atmospherics, and even when it does emerge above the rest of the track, his voice is so overloaded with effects and production tricks that it can often be hard to make out what he’s saying. Despite my gripes about the production work around the vocals, Omar does a terrific job of using to production to supplement and augment the album’s mood and atmosphere.

From the beginning of the album until the end, you are sucked into a whole new world, intricately and meticulously created for your listening pleasure. Whether or not you will enjoy your stay is still very much up in the air. Octahedron contains some of The Mars Volta’s strongest melodies (See the absolutely gem that makes up the Chorus of “Copernicus”), and it is arguably one of their most consistent efforts, both musically and atmospherically, but as I listen to the album I can’t help but feel that something is missing. There is just a certain energy that isn’t there. There is a certain lack of excitement and unpredictability that made some of their earlier work (particularly De-Loused in the Comatorium) so much fun to listen to. That kind of experimentation also made much of their second release, Frances the Mute, unlistenable, yet at the end of Octahedron, I found myself longing for something just a little more... pretentious. It’s not that all bands have to be quite as obscenely pretentious in their presentation as earlier Mars Volta was, but certain bands thrive off of that experimental showing off, and the Mars Volta is one of those bands. Octahedron, is a solid album, and worth picking up if you are of a mood to be absorbed into a world different than your own, but in the end it failed to leave a lasting impression.

* (For those of you who aren’t bored enough to know what the Itunes Visualizer is, it’s the funny swirly psychedelic Visualizer that supposedly “moves” to your music. Check it out next time you find yourself staring at your computer hoping it can magically solve all of your problems).