I was just kidding, but yeah, I thought it was mediocre for the Volta at first, but I've been listening to it again in the past few days, and there's so many little details, and this isn't even CD quality yet. It's really a great record, I think. The only thing that kind of deters me is that its like Omar is faintly soloing EVERYWHERE in the record. Like in the intro to Meccamputechture, various verses, everywhere. It's straight ill, yo.
Oh, so it wasn't a decoy album... I guess their official release will sound way better, I hope. But I still think it's a bit mediocre. If you see that list of people who worked on it I just can believe it sounds like this. In my opinion they should shorten their songs a bit. 5 to 6 minutes is okay but 11 minutes is kinda too long for me if 5 minutes of it is solo/noise. Normally I like long songs like on Tool's 10,000 days album. It's a good album but not great for a Mars Volta album but maybe that'll change when it's on CD quality. I don't know.
Jon Theodore has left the Mars Volta for the Red Hot Chili Peppers tour. No realy pinpoint info has been released on if it's permanant or not. Blake Flemming, orignal drummer of the Mars Volta will be his replacement. DO NOT say TMV have ended and praise Jon and make it all Omar's fault. Sure, Jon was good, but he wasn't TMV. Do not knock Blake Flemming down. Do not do say anything negative about the band.
Well, fuck. I really didn't expect him to go despite the rumors. Hopefully he'll be back for the solo tour so when I see them he'll be with them. But seriously, you can say negative things about the band, just get your facts straight first like you would with any other band. They're not god. Just close.
yeah, but it's getting repetitive. the people who bitch about how much omar sucks or his guitar is to loud are now greiving over someone that wasn't really a key factor.
Oh, yeah, I agree with you on that. I thought you meant the band as a whole. Because if I want to say Panic! At The Disco sucks, that's fine, and if people want to say The Mars Volta sucks, that's fine too. Just so long as you give reasons. But yeah, I agree with you on the Anti-Omarists on the Comatorium and stuff. I hope someone bootlegs the first show, and gets it on the 'net quick. I really want to hear these songs live.
Holy shit...thats the worst new I've heard in a long time. How can you say Jon didn't play a key role? His incredible drum beats and rhythms MADE many TMV songs....Take the Veil?? Cicatriz??? Drunkship of Lanterns??? Cygnus??? and much of the stuff off their new albums. Jon was part of what brought the whole band together and he helped Omar with much of the music. Also, he is an irreplaceable part of TMV's live shows, which has a lot of jamming and his drumming sets up the grooves and takes it into different territories. Anybody in a band that jams know that a good drummer is the integral part of this process. I hope that this is only temporary for this tour but damn I was looking forward to seeing him live!
He isn't a key factor giving the fact that he can be replaced. No offense to him, he's a excellent drummer, no one can top Take the Veil or L'Via. And there was no real mention about him doing studio work with the band. He could possibly be a session drummer and Blake will do it live.
I don't really agree with that. IMO he is basically as essential as Omar or Cedric to the band's sound. Even moreso than Juan or Ikey even though they are very integral as well. Jon's drumming is TMV, and I don't think they can find someone else to duplicate that. Maybe to copy it (if they are really good) in a live setting, I'll have to see, but if Jon doesn't do anymore studio work with them it'll be a tough haul for TMV I would think. From what I've heard from Blake on A Manual Dexterity he's a good drummer but we'll have to see if he can cut it.
So Blake Fleming did the drumming on the original Volta demos, which I had never heard before I realized this. So I downloaded them, and he's actually a very good drummer, considering the recordings weren't of very good quality. Here they are. Listen to the Roulette Dares demo at least, I think I actually like that version better than the live or De-Loused versions, regardless of drums, if it was better recording quality. Maybe with Blake back they'll play it that way live. It'd be amazing.
Thats a great mix in some ways! The keyboard is so much more prominent as is the bass! But the vocals are weaker and the guitars are too much in the background overall. I'd have to say the drumming is quite good though! I hope Blake can offer a lot to The Mars Volta and be entertaining to see live.
Somehow, not listening to this album as a whole, and just focusing on individual songs helped me to love Amputechture. I listened to it straight through twice, and it was meh. I then just went back and played random songs and their subtleties became clearer and I now love this whole album to pieces. Meccamputechture, Viscera Eyes, Day of Baphomets or Tetragrammaton have to be the favourites.
I personally like it as a whole, but I also like it individually, which is something I can't say about Frances The Mute. My favorite songs on the record are Meccamputechture, Day of Baphomets, and Vicarious Atonement. I really like Tetragrammaton too, but I think it just drags on unnecessarily, but there are moments that are some of the best on the record. Overall, I think it's a good record. It still hasn't grown on me to the point where I like it better than Frances The Mute, but it's pretty close to De-Loused.
I'm waiting for the retail version so I get to hear the full album. It fells at the end of some tracks like there's parts missing.
Oh, there definitely is. Unless Omar was going for the whole "abrupt ending so it sounds like crap" approach. But I guess he used it on Miranda. Except it didn't really sound like crap because of that riff.
Here is a "review" from a member of the Comatorium that went to the first show on the new Mars Volta tour: "ok soooo...setlist: day of the baphomets vermicide cygnus widow frances the mute tetragrammaton asilos magdalena viscera eyes roulette dares tmv was better than ever. cedric's vox were aaaamazing, blake was awesome, and the jam at the end of roulette made for an excellent closer- very hi energy. overall, great show. and i met omar and blake. yay! blake was absolutely amazing, played jon's stuff well and added his own special groove to the jams." That's probably the most amazing setlist ever, even though it's missing Take The Veil. I can't wait for them to go on a solo tour. It'd be a great show to see for my first major concert.
Take the Veil and Drunkship instead of Asilos (since it's not accoustic). But Day of the Baphomets is a amazing opener. Blake was on fire. And the lighting setup was trippy when you close your eyes. Headlining tour should be longer though.
Yeah they should take out Asilos or Vermicide (even though they are good songs) and put in another De-Loused song like Take the Veil or Drunkship of Lanterns. I have a feeling Cicatriz and Cassandra Gemini won't be played on this tour though especially the latter! I'm excited about hearing Adrian Terrazas on tenor sax, apparently he really rips it up on Day of The Baphomets like on the album version when there is a crazy guitar/sax duel! Can't wait for the show and I am glad abot hearing good things about Blake too! Thats great and I hope everyone will give him a warm welcome!
If you take out The Widow (I understand why it's there, but still), replace it with Televators, and add in Eriatarka and Apparatus, and it's a kickass set. Not near enough De-Loused material from the setlist posted. Unless they're actually changing up setlists on this tour, which I've noticed is uncommon for TMV to do over the years I've followed them. They switch up songs maybe 4 times in an entire tour usually.