Amputechture
Amputechture often moves more slowly than its busy arrangements suggest. The Mars Volta’s third studio album gives its grooves, melodies and quieter passages more room, while keeping the long structures and strange turns that define the band. It is still a demanding record, but its strongest moments come from the space between the bursts of activity.
The eight tracks cover a broad range. “Vicarious Atonement” opens in a loose, spacious mood, and “Tetragrammaton” then expands into one of the album’s largest pieces. Layers of guitar, keyboards and shifting rhythms keep the sound changing. The difficulty is that the movement does not always feel necessary. Some sections are easier to admire for their playing than to remember as parts of a song.
“Meccamputechture” finds a better balance. A recurring vocal passage gives it a recognisable shape, while small changes gradually lead into more open playing. When the familiar section returns, it has more force because of what surrounds it. “Viscera Eyes” is another clear highlight. Its funk-driven rhythm and heavier guitar work provide a solid base for the band’s more unusual ideas. Both tracks show how useful a strong groove can be in music this complex.
The shorter pieces help as well. “Vermicide” offers a more direct route through the album, while “Asilos Magdalena” brings acoustic guitar and a gentler vocal performance to the front. Cedric Bixler-Zavala remains an expressive singer even when the meaning of the words is hard to pin down. At the other extreme, “Day of the Baphomets” makes the instrumental detail central, with an active bass introduction and exchanges between saxophone and guitar.
At around 76 minutes, Amputechture could use a tighter edit. Its long passages sometimes hide the melodies rather than strengthen them, and it is less immediate than the best individual tracks suggest. Yet the combination of warmer tones, firm grooves and sharp changes in scale gives it plenty of character. Fans of extended progressive rock will find a lot to explore here, as long as they are comfortable with a few stretches that wander.
