Login for Favorites
EDIT INFOThe Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
Tweet
Album Details
- Artist: The Mars Volta
- Album: Frances The Mute
- Label: GSL/Universal
- Year of Release: 2005
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-04-19
RecommendI've already heard comparisons between The Mars Volta and Yes. Frances The Mute isn't going to change that at all. In fact, if you thought De-Loused was big in the way of concept albums you won't know what to think of Frances The Mute. To start things off, we are presented with a walloping 13 minute "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus" brought to you in four parts: "Sarcophogi", "Umibilical Syllables", Facilis Descenus Averni", and "Con Safo". If I have managed to scare you off with the first song then you totally won't appreciate the hugeness of Frances The Mute. Because if Cygnus wasn't enough Omar and Cedric will scare the shit out of you with one of the other multi-part tracks, "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" (4 parts), and "Cassandra Geminni" (5 parts). This ends up being well over an hour worth of prog-rock like you have never heard before. Sure, these guys take bands like Yes and King Crimson as influences but Mars Volta is fresh and cutting edge. Frances The Mute actually loses a point for being just a little to pretentious than they need to be. There are minutes that pass by with very little happening. This already brilliant rock opera of sorts could have been brought under the one hour mark and made into a perfect album. Just how many times do you need to hear a car drive by? I have "The Widow" whittled down to a nice 3 minutes by taking off the last two just filled with sampler noodling. That's a major beef with one of the freshest albums I have heard this year. I love the thick Latin feel of "L'Via L'Viaquez". It's got everything you need in one 12 minute song. Omar and the crew really reach to new levels with this collection of songs. Approach with the pretentiousness fresh in your mind and you will be able to enjoy Frances The Mute quite nicely. I am amazed that Omar and Cedric co-existed with the guys from Sparta at one time. These are two completely different beasts now.
User Reviews and Comments
Log In or Register to Rate Albums
User Rating:
Write your own review
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Log In or Register to Rate AlbumsReview:
on 2007-07-14 lmartini Said:
Wonderful review, again I’d just like to add the concept part for anyone interested. The album Frances the Mute was inspired by Jeremy Ward, the band’s sound technician who passed from an apparent heroin overdose a month before the release of De-Loused in the Comatorium. It’s based loosely on the characters described within a diary Ward found in a car he’d repossessed back when he was a repo-man. Ward noted that his life and that of the author were very similar, the most notable being that both he and the author had been adopted. The diary tells of the writer’s search for his biological parents using a collection of leads, the album tracks being named after each of these people. Ward was in the course of completing it prior to his death.
Rating: 8/10
