The Mars Volta-Octahedron-Album Overview

I was bored... had a lot of time on my hands... so I decided to edit together a some videos of each of The Mars Volta's albums. They are my favorite band at the moment, and if you haven't heard of them, this video is for you. My goal is to capture the essence of each album in 10 minutes. Each album is a concept album, meaning they deal with a common theme or story, and have a common style of music. They are also very experimental, so I thought it would be cool to include random art I could find to help illustrate the feel of the albums. Basically, for the music, I included as many "cool parts" as I could (guitar solo's, amazing vocal sections, important lyrics...) so that even if you listen to the band all the time, you can still enjoy this video.

"Octahedron," the newest album, takes a turn from their path of more and more chaos, to an almost minimalist approach. Originally the album was thought to be an acoustic album, but like Omar said, "Its our definition of acoustic." So, while the overall feel of the album is very mellow, there are still tons of high tempo songs and the ever-so-sweet electric guitar Omar has pretty much mastered... And Cedric's vocals are making a strong comeback (while his singing fit the latest album, Bedlam in Goliath, very well, it wasn't the most pleasant thing to hear. But his voice sounds very good on this album, and the whole album flows extremely well, containing some haunting melodies. The basic story behind this album is (from what I've heard) "Disappearance," mainly inspired by the drug cartels in Mexico who kidnap people for ransom, as well as murder them for interference (maybe even for fun...). So, this album really seeks to both chastise the actions of the cartels and express the feeling of hopelessness and paranoia, and sorrow, of people who have had loved one's kidnapped. In fact, I guess that a friend of the band was visiting Mexico and didn't respond for a while, which led them to believe she was kidnapped (although she wasn't, I don't think). This album is probably their most political, yet its very one-sided (who is really pro-drug cartels...), so its not at all "preachy." In the past, the lyrics have been surrealist in nature, but these almost take on the opposite, realism, as the lyrics are more specific and, well, more realistic.


[This is my opinion of their music through the lens of a music critic. However, I am NOT a music critic and my opinions are simply opinions. Still though, I enjoy music theory so I came up with my own theories on their music]
Like always, they tend to blend genres either on purpose or on accident. I have really tried to come up with which genres made up this album. I finally decided, it is a blend of hair metal, latin pop, and perhaps an element of Icelandic rock/pop (as the band has expressed affinity for some of that type of music, such as Bjork). The guitar in the background uses metal sounds, with more hair metal structures. The vocals are very latin pop, meaning drawn out notes, along with some a couple latin rhythms hear and there. The third genre, the Icelandic music, I know nothing about, but listening to a few songs of "Icelandic rock," they seem to mimic some of the pads seen in the intros and outros to the song, as well as some of the pads used during the song, along with that certain vocal sound they use, a lot of reverb to give a relaxed feel. This album focuses on the melody of the songs, much like Amputechture, yet it retains that separation of vocals and music in some of the songs much like Bedlam in Goliath. Overall, the emphasis is "rhythm" and "melody," compared to "Deloused in the Comatorium" which relies heavily on vocals, "Frances The Mute" which relies on guitar to lead, "Amputechture" which relies heavily on synchronization of vocals and music in their melody, and "Bedlam in Goliath" which relies on the distorted effect of contrasted vocals and music.

Things to listen for (in the lyrics):
1. References to longing (for the return of that person that has disappeared)
2. References to death or fear of death ("Don't stop dragging the lake...")
3. References to the cartels ("How much do you make in that death factory?")
4. References to an attempt to forget about the current situation (trying to ignore the fear and paranoia)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• the
• mars
• volta
• album
• overview
• octahedron
• new
• hair
• metal
• latin
• pop
• icelandic
• experimental
• acoustic
• rock
• drug
• cartels
• disappearance
• hostage
• fear
• paranoia
• dark
• progressive

[nembutals]

Where did you get the paintings in this video from? They're awesome. Sorry if you already cited them and I didn't see.

[mattsjpl]

@nembutals

I never really did cite any of them. But I found all of them just in the Google and Yahoo image search engines. I typed in different concepts with the words "art" or "painting" after them and these were some of the ones that came up. Another term I searched was "surrealism" or "expressionism."

[TheYannidanger]

"How much do you make in that death factory?"

"Empty jails fall from my scalp, shake the globe and "Are you purple with current? Will y ou now become the serpsnt?"

"saucer filled and emptied with pesticide."

"bury me in gold"

If you understand any of this, understand the members of The Mars volta are actually very intelligent and percept things in a very special way. All of their lyrics are exaggerations, plays-on-words or exact descriptions, but with tied meanings.

[mattsjpl]

Yeah, they use a different kind of language than everyone else. Its very impressionistic. They try to take abstract feelings and concepts and symbolize them with their own metaphors they create. Its fascinating.

[TheYannidanger]

I've been an At The Drive-In fan all the way through Octahedron, and I continue to be a fan. If I had any say on the meaning of this particular album, it would be with what I call the "New World Order". They have countless references as :

"the mess you breed"

"family tree"

"Scarab claimed the busy sigmal"

"The dates, they came, with each new phase"

"one driver in your motorcade is all it takes"

"dissipate, communicate!"

"story had been spun"

"future won't believe you"

[mattsjpl]

And for that "New World Order" thing you could very well be right. I have no idea on any of the videos I've made of what is actually being said (other than Bedlam in Goliath- on the surface level). But I just take stuff I've heard them say or stuff I've heard other people say about their albums and I kind of run with it. These are more fun to listen to when you pick out what you think it means, even if you're wrong. You probably know more than I do. Thanks for all those references.

[martyismartyr]

if you have never heard of the mars volta this is NOT the video for you if you ask me. deloused is where its at!

[titass420]

octahedron has its moments ill admit. but I can honestly say that these last two albums have not sounded nearly as raw as what they used to put out. I think Omar is mastering all this stuff too hard (but who am I to question a mad scientist like him). I miss the muddier tones that were on Deloused and Frances. Or even further back, In/Casino/Out. Everytime I listen to that one I'm floored by its absolute power.

[eamnr14]

the artwork u have on ur videos are pretty amazing bro! all the pics n paintings!

good job on the vids!=]

[0uterHeaven0]

great vid bro, got the climaxes just right

[ravenousESP]

i think i noticed a lot of Egyptian references, you know like pharaohs and scarabs