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Taking a short hiatus AND! Review of The Mars Volta's Newest Album: Octahedron

Posted by LightKeeper - June 29th, 2009


I probably won't be coming out with any new songs for awhile, minus a game over and victory song for rishabh005's game. I'm currently studying up on FL because I know that it will make my music so much more enjoyable for everyone to listen to, myself included. I like to think I do a pretty good job composition wise, but when it comes to mixing and creating a more distinct sound each song around, it's just not there.

I'm currently in the midst of learning how to utilize the sytrus to its best potential thanks to a tutorial written by Blackhole12: http://blackhole12.deviantart.com/art/
Sytrus-Synth-Creation-Part-6-77083383

http://blackhole12.newgrounds.com/

I seriously would recommend listening to his music as it is some of the best I've heard here on Newgrounds. All Alone and On the Edge are by far my favorites by him. I owe him a great deal of gratitude for coming out with that tutorial which has covered basically every aspect and left me to go through some experimentation of my own.

So anyways. Here's my plans - I'm going to be working on, and releasing game over and victory music for rishabh005's game sometime in July, hopefully. Then I'll probably go on hiatus and work on learning more of FL, which by the time I release my next track should bring something fairly impressive, I hope at least. No need for me to hype all this up and then bring something completely bull shitted.

Onward again.

The Mars Volta: Octahedron (48:26)

What can I say? It's The Mars Volta. I may be slightly biased here, as they never fail to impress me and I do find everything they do absolutely incredible. Octahedron is definitely a change from recent Mars Volta albums, as it disengages from their sporadic attitude and heads more straight forward. There are a lot of nice softer, acoustic songs on this album which is a nice addition to their song list.

Since We've Been Wrong (5:43)

The first thing you hear when you turn on Octahedron, a few notes being strummed gracefully on an acoustic guitar, then Cedric's voice comes in singing quietly and beautifully. For about half of the song it remains a good chill feel, but then Thomas Pridgen comes out on the drums, surprisingly more straight forward (Joking). I enjoyed the quietness and then the build up of energy later, it's not too intense or too boring though.

Teflon (5:04)

I will never know where the origins of words like Teflon come from. Perhaps that's Cedric's secret and out not to know. Teflon is spacey much like past Mars Volta songs, a personal love of the music of mine. Like much of Octahedron, Teflon is pretty straight forward. Teflon is pretty slow as well as far as tempo goes. Again, it's another nice relaxing song, easy to chill to.

Halo of Nembutals (5:30)

30 seconds of silence, in my opinion, isn't the best way to start a song. This song sort of breaks the flow of the album, making you wait in line before you can hear it. It's also pretty slow and quiet right in the beginning, again like a lot of Octahedron. However, when the drums kick in, the whole song's path changes. Cedric's vocals within the verses reminds me of a distorted Waltz, if I'm allowed to describe them like that, or like a marry-go-round. The ending of this song has a more traditional Mars Voltar feel, a piano playing seemingly random notes, and Thomas Pridgen's more trademark style playing alng with it, quick sixteenth hi-hat and bass drum combination in short burst.

With Twilight As my Guide (7:52)

You could look at this as the sequel to Halo of Nembutals in a way, as it quickly picks up rights after and in vocal rhythm it's very similar. It's very quiet with a nice vibrato in the background for much of the song. There are some nice vocal harmonies produced by Cedric in this song as it produces, which is something I've never heard in past albums. Overall, this song is just another nice relaxing song, nothing that awe sparks you too much but not something you would really turn away from either.

Cotopaxi (3:38)

The shortest song and probably most popular single from Octahedron. This may be the fastest paced song on Octahedron. It stands out the most in its sound because its more energy based and more noise. Cotopaxi definitely could get you pumped. It has a nice break in the middle where things do seeminly slow down and quiet down, but they shortly pick up and restore the energy. The chorus and verses are easily memorable, making this one of the best songs on the album.

Desperate Graves (4:56)

This is, in fact, my favorite song on the album. It combines the more traditional aspects of The Mars Volta with this albums more straight forward portions. If you listen to the chorus, you can definitely hear things that sound like they could have been ripped out of an album like De-Loused in the Comatorium. I wouldn't have minded more of the album sounding more like this song because it has nice verses, choruses, vocal melodies, and changes. I loved everything on this track from drums to th guitars, to Cedric's amazing lyrics.

Copernicus (7:22)

Cedric's voice is nicely supporte by a chorus effect in this song. Right in the opening the song opens with the words "Close the doors..." mixed in a vocal harmony. It's a beautiful opening that adds to the feeling of the song and later. One thing that gave me chills first time through this song, and even still, is when Cedric speaks very silently, "Left dangling in the wind." If anything, this will be the most memorable slow quiet song on this album, as it isn't as stand still as others. It progresses and even conforms with electronic drum sampling, a real shocker seeing as at first it really doesn't sound as if it fits in. Notable as well is the piano that later comes in to support the vocals and seemingly plays along with them, going off now and then to create a brighter environment. Just before the last minute though, Cedric ends the build up with the chilling phrase "Left dangling in the wind" again. This is definitely a great addition to the album.

Luciforms (8:21)

Finally, The Mars Volta closes out with this unpredictable song. It begins quietly, picking up from Copernicus. It's seemingly silent, with a distant hum in the back, building up and waiting for something to happen. Suddenly a slight crescendo builds in and Cedric's voice comes in, wobbling around through various effects phasing through your speakers. Then Thomas Pridgen smacks a nice rim shot in at 2:10 and the build up is over, leading into what seems like a distorted jazz song. For big time fans of The Bedlam in Goliath this is something for you. For first time listeners this is a song to listen to just to get a brief glimpse of this talented band's capabilities. It fuses piano, more jazzy drums with a distorted guitar. Omar place one amazing solo at the end of this song leading to the outro, where everything seems to start to wind down. This song is everything the album has built up to, and suddenly the outro flails out to silence with piano and other effects. Just as you may imagine everything going silent, a snare roll kicks in triggering the music to restart for about a minute before dying down again. This song, like Desperate Graves, doesn't fail to disappoint.

Overview

All in all, I'm fairly happy with this album. I'll admit that it wasn't totally what I was expecting, but fans can't really expect The Mars Volta to pitch out music like The Bedlam in Goliath or Frances the Mute every album. I'm glad they drove for this more acoustic sound, it proves just what they're capable of. My only disappointment in this album is that there is a lack of energy. Most of the songs seem like something I would just chill to or relax with. Songs like Desperate Graves and Cotopaxi really fuel this album with excitement and the different changes that are necessary. Still, I'm very much pleased and I would definitely recommend this to anyone, fan or not of The Mars Volta.


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