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User
Soundoffs 18
Album Ratings 878
Objectivity 59%
Last Active 11-09-22 2:34 am
Joined 05-17-17
Review Comments 18
| | The Mars Volta Ranked | | 1 |  | The Mars Volta
Frances the Mute
The best balance of the band's multifaceted sound and some of the most stunning song compositions of all time. 10/10. | | 2 |  | The Mars Volta
Amputechture
The band leans further into its Latin influences and is all the better for it. Everything besides the palette cleanser closer is essential here. Best production of the band's career too. 10/10. | | 3 |  | The Mars Volta
De-Loused in the Comatorium
This was behind Noctourniquet until I got it on vinyl recently. The album sounds awful on streaming and CD, but on record the textures come out and I can appreciate what the band was going for. This leans a little too far sonically into ATDI territory to be a debut statement from a new band for me, but the songwriting is excellent and on vinyl, the rhythm section is given the room to shine that it deserves. Tracks I used to think were weaker are a lot stronger in my eyes now, my main complaint being that the band hadn't completely found its sound yet and some of the more experimental passages aren't as well integrated as they would be on future albums. 8/10. | | 4 |  | The Mars Volta
Noctourniquet
Nice to hear Cedric get honest with his lyrics and ditch some of the cryptic nature of them for once. The instrumentals are textured and lush. The only weak part for me is that the production complements the softer and clean parts better and the more aggressive parts sound buzzy and unpleasant rather than having the punch they were intended to. Still, those moments are few and far between, still an 8/10 album. | | 5 |  | The Mars Volta
The Bedlam in Goliath
Wonderfully aggressive, with an unstoppable 5-track opening run. On paper, this should be my favorite TMV album, but there is some subpar tracks in the second half. One of few TMV albums that doesn't justify its length despite many classic tracks. 7/10. | | 6 |  | The Mars Volta
Octahedron
I wish the band had leaned into a more stripped back approach with this one, as they promised by calling it their "acoustic record". The best tracks here follow that idea (Twilight as my Guide and the opener), while the rest are slower tempo rock songs that range from middling to great. An album that doesn't live up to its potential but is solid when in the right mood. 6/10. | | 7 |  | The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta
The highlights here are stronger than on Octahedron, but it also contains some of the band's most irritating material, and suffers from a severe lack of direction. The singles would hint at a greater focus on electronics and Latin sounds, but this follows the same formula Octahedron with even more divided results. Tracks 8-10 are a ROUGH listen, which is a shame because the rest is an improvement on the above formula, songwriting wise. 5, maybe 6/10. | |
BAT
11.30.23 | Frances used to be my favorite but when it comes to hitting the early volta craving, deloused just has less downtime. Amp and bedlam are about tired for me but I'd say bedlam a better flowing car listen, amps kinda like each song(cept the boring ass last track) holds up on its own merits but it's sequencing makes it a bit of a hard listen in one sitting, works better on vinyl. Bedlam just all bangers but easily their noisiest record. Nocts grown on me but got some skippable tracks, and I'd place octa at worst but teflons a top volta banger. I've only heard the new volta like a dozen or so times and it's on par with Oct, I just wish the drums were mixed a bit louder. | ThyCrossAwaits
11.30.23 | Oh damn I’ve never completely agreed with a ranked list on Sputnik until this one
5 and 6 could switch places for me, but ehhh. Spot on homie | ShapeOfJizzToCum
11.30.23 | Imagine ever having Noct ahead of De-loused holy shit owie.
I go back in forth with Deloused or Frances as the best so I'll say
Frances=Deloused>Amputechture>Self Titled>Noctourniquet>Bedlam>Octahedron.
Self Titled took some growing on me but it's a really nice record and easily better than anything on fuckin Bedlam or Oct for me, which both have a couple pretty cool songs that are still mostly ruined by many of the choices they make in production. And I really like Empty Vessels from Noct, gorgeous song, amazing, the rest of it is like okay but still mostly just feels like shittier more overproduced and annoying versions of better shit they did earlier in their career.
Self Titled I could at least appreciate for being different enough that they weren't trying to emulate a better version of themselves and there's just some nice fucking songs on there that sound good and aren't bogged down by trying to be super zany arty guys aka shrill and annoying as fuck. | JMNewcomer25
11.30.23 | Not a bad ranking at all. Frances shits on everything else obviously but I always like seeing Amp.get more love | cylinder
12.01.23 | Will never understand putting any of their other albums above 3 | Donchivo
12.01.23 | Great Ranking! Mine would be
1. Frances
2. De-loused
3. Amputechture
4. Bedlam
5. Noctourniquet
6. Octa
7. S/T | loulou
12.01.23 | Wow, I have the same ranking ! Great job ! | furpa
12.01.23 | Respectable. Noct gets hella underrated honestly, some of their overall best tracks on that record. In Absentia, are you kidding me? Incredible.
Also Frances #1 forever. Probably my favourite album of all time. | JohnnyoftheWell
12.01.23 | 5 is too high and 2 is 1, but otherwise this ranking is impeccable | Veldin
12.01.23 | Bedlam
Frances
Deloused
Amputecture
Noctourniquet
Octahedron
Self titled | blazebaileyfinnegan3
12.01.23 | Deloused, Frances, and then everything else. | JMNewcomer25
12.01.23 | De-loused was only scratching the surface in terms of their capabilities as a band. Frances took all the great qualities of De loused and amplified them. Tracks were bigger, meaner, catchier, smarter, more cinematic, more intense.The tight salsa grooves mixed with the ferocious guitar solos on L'Via? Please. Almost every individual track on Frances has more machismo and intensity than the entirety of De-loused. | cylinder
12.02.23 | Disagreed hard, to me Deloused was always a lot more intense than Frances and always seemed a lot better composed. Frances has some brilliant moments, but so much senseless twaddle in between. Whereas on Deloused everything feels like it has a purpose. Or at least like 90% of it, there is some wank on Deloused too, I will admit that lol | JMNewcomer25
12.03.23 | @cylinder fair enough. I guess it comes down to whether you consider the quieter and more ambient moments senseless twaddle or If you think of it as effective atmosphere building. I personally love hearing field recordings, ambience and all that jazz and I always admired Frances for having all that extra space and in my opinion using it to create an intense atmosphere and the long ambient sections for me make the anticipation and the eventual bursts of energy that much more special.
Different strokes for different folks I guess. To me, Deloused is a band created from the ashes of post hard-core roots still shaking off the remnants of the past while trying to combine that style with a more prog approach, whereas Frances was them honing in their skills and finally forming an identity, with a bigger blend of styles and influences, and perfecting the previous formula in the process. | ShapeOfJizzToCum
12.03.23 | Woke ones know they are both equally incredible for the different things they bring to the table. | BlazinBlitzer
12.06.23 | I've seen more listeners come around to Frances as the best TMV album, but I think I'll always be on the side of De-Loused in that debate. | Donchivo
12.06.23 | For me S/T somewhat was a botched opportunity by making it too brief and too concise. Many of those songs are beautiful but are so crammed with 0 room to breathe. there are virtually no instrumental sections and very little parts where there is no singing. I appreciate the boys for doing something new, being daring in that way, but they overdid this brevity thing for me. If they gave some rooms a little more breathing room, it would easily be better than Octahedron in my book | Donchivo
12.06.23 | @Cylinder: I agree about the wank and twaddle ratios in Frances and de-loused, but I wonder how one can love TMV at all if she/he doesn't like wank and twaddle?
I love Frances specifically for its openness |
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