octahedron is the recorded equivalent of the mars volta saying ‘if you didn’t get it the first time, we’ll say it again, but slower.’ yet, even if they’re dumbing things down a bit, this is the most interesting they’ve sounded since frances the mute. they’ve withdrawn towards a kind of accessibility here with much slower songs and by employing more conventional song structures. the album even follows a structure, complete with rise, climax and falling action; however, the mars volta’s inaccessibility never really stemmed from their complex structures, or lightning-speed riffs, rather, it was their abandonment of the dub-laden grooves from their first record that made them sound rigid and boring. while they might not be back to their rhythmically-challenging, groovy selves, octahedron proves at the very least that the mars volta are capable of being interesting when they’ve been forced to change and rethink things.
Filed under: Album Review , 2009, octahedron, the mars volta
