The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium
(Universal)
While much has been written about The Mars Volta, the weakness they are often ascribed is a prog-like overambitiousness both in sound and lyric. Jimmy Gutterman, coauthor of The Worst Rock'n'Roll Records of All-Time, describes the lyrics to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" as
...horrible, nothing more than nonsense
words enlivened by cliche. If I ever wrote "There's a lady who's sure all
that glitters is gold," my editor would cancel my contract. Just because
"Stairway to Heaven" still turns up as the number one rock song of all time
doesn't mean it's any good. Bear in mind that "Car 54, Where Are You?" is
still in syndication and Republicans still keep getting elected to the White
House.
So with that in mind, we should take any negative assessment of The Mars Volta's lyrics as some sort of backhanded compliment. One could read a tale of heroin abuse and the stranglehold of addiction from Plant's Medieval-themed prose, however whether it really means anything like that is up to the listener's discretion and, oddly, taste. People get married to that song, people get burried to that song, but few find reason to get clean. Compared to the obtuse allegory of "Stairway to Heaven," The Mars Volta's De-Loused in the Comatorium is an open book, burgeoning with mood and symbolism.
The Mars Volta should be approached the same way as "Stairway to Heaven"—whether you want to read in the themes of the record or not is entirely up to you and what you want from a rock record. It is one badass collection of sounds, so if you just want a rock record, it is there for the taking. For those who want meaning, it is also there, hidden under admittedly dense, sometimes nonsensical prose; but it is there. While "In ritual contrition, the AM trinity fell upon asphyxia" perhaps qualifies as lexiphanicism (pretentious language), the meaning is pretty simple: some dudes found their friend had suffocated himself one morning, and they are hella sad about it and kinda blame themselves. There are a lot of "extra" words floating around, like the chorus of "Exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed" (whoa!), but the meaning is pretty clear even if one only keeps an ear out for key phrases like "open wrist," "nooses," and "cadavers," or adds the word "Russian" to song title "Roulette Dares." Compare that with "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow," and ooh, it makes me wonder if maybe The Mars Volta's excess verbiage isn't an improvement over the prototype, even if it is overambitious.
Sonically, The Mars Volta does an admirable job of bringing the stoner rock of Led Zeppelin into the present. Like Zeppelin, De-Loused in the Comatorium is a hard rock album of considerable complexity and depth that uses the (now) standard cinematic bag of tricks: the gradual build, the droning riff repetition, the explosion from an extended daddle, the polyrhythmic mindmeld, etc. Even Plant's tight-pant-testicle-clamp of a falsetto is emulated by singer Cedric Bixler Zavala. While these are all retro styles and ideas, the sound is still decidedly modern, as the studio is used to its fullest extent. And, bottomline, it just rocks.
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