HEAVY METAL HISTORY: De-Loused In The Comatorium – The Mars Volta
What do you do after dissolving one of the most defining acts in all of post-hardcore? You assemble a troupe that will go on to set the standard for progressive rock in the 21st century, that’s what. Between Relationship Of Command (2000) and De-Loused In The Comatorium, the early 2000s was a fertile time for core duo Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-López, releasing two albums that to this day are THE MARS VOLTA‘s greatest works.
When THE MARS VOLTA reformed and released a self-titled record in 2022, it would have been fair to assume it was a fresh start for a band who hadn’t been active for a decade. That record was a stripped back affair, surprisingly straight-forward for a band better known by their sprawling epics and densely packed layers of instrumentation. All signs pointed to this being a new beginning, THE MARS VOLTA 2.0.
But then they returned to the stage, and instead of shunning their past, Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-López embraced it; almost half of their reunion tour set was De-Loused In The Comatorium, with the rest made up of bits and bobs from a few other records. For comparison, at their last show in 2012, De-Loused didn’t feature at all. With time to reflect on their legacy so far, it seems the band is proud of their debut full-length record for the classic it is, bringing it back to the fore 20 years later for diehards to revisit it and for newcomers to experience it properly for the first time.
With hindsight, the album acts as a kind of overture for THE MARS VOLTA‘s oeuvre. The 12-minute Cicatriz ESP still shines brightest among the band’s longer songs, more organic than the lengthy Amputechture (2006) cuts, and more accessible than Frances The Mute’s (2005) Cassandra Gemini, which clocks in at 32 minutes. On De-Loused, they feel looser and come closest to capturing the live spirit of the band, which typically features Rodriguez-López conducting everyone in free-flowing jam sessions. They hit the sweet spot with Cicatriz ESP, giving the song space to breathe without coming across over-calculated or (relatively) overindulgent.
Similarly, the chaotic Eriatarka is a precursor to The Bedlam In Goliath (2008) and all its frenzy. The scattershot percussion makes for an incomparable chorus, held together by Bixler-Zavala‘s knack for finding hooks among the musical melee. Only THE MARS VOLTA could knock out a refrain with lines like “trackmarked amoeba lands craft / cartwheel of scratches / dress the tapeworm as pet” and make it sound catchy. Unlike The Bedlam In Goliath, De-Loused’s most chaotic moments never overshadow the band’s musicality. Even when everything goes a bit mad in Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt, it comes at the end of the record, acting as a purposefully deployed narrative decision instead of a frequently showcased element that loses impact the more familiar it becomes.
And again, the radio-friendly Televators hints towards the hushed Octahedron (2009), an album where much of the cacophony is turned down in favour of crystal clear vocal and guitar lines. Televators is an early indication of the restraint the band went on to show on Octahedron – what the band refer to as their “acoustic” album – and last year’s self-titled, on which only two songs stretch past the four-minute mark.
Revisiting the album 20 years later, it is a surprise to discover the ingredients of mostly everything that followed it. And yet, by peppering these elements more tastefully across a record instead of going overboard with any one idea, it makes for a more fulfilling listen. They have other great albums, but none are as consistently satisfying and engaging as De-Loused, which shifts gears every few minutes in a way that illustrates the amount of ideas flowing from Rodriguez-López and Bixler-Zavala at the time.
Also flowing from Bixler-Zavala was some of the most puzzling lyrics you’re likely to hear. Apparently a concept album about a man called Cerpin Taxt falling into a coma following an overdose of morphine and rat poison, it would be a lie to say this plot line is in any way obvious. It would take a literary professor to decipher Roulette Dares as being about an out-of-body experience, or that Drunkship Of Lanterns refers to the protagonist finding himself in a submarine graveyard (thank you, genius.com). For those who don’t care to sit with a dictionary while listening to music, Bixler-Zavala‘s lyricism adds to the band’s enigmatic profile. Like poetry, it’s a reminder that art is to be felt more than it is to be understood.
Inspiring everyone from MASTODON to LIZZO, and being praised by the likes of James Hetfield (METALLICA), Neil Peart (RUSH), and Steven Wilson (PORCUPINE TREE), the far-reaching impact of THE MARS VOLTA and De-Loused In The Comatorium speaks to just how well it’s crafted. All things considered, it is quite an odd record: the lyrics are impenetrable, its sounds are unfamiliar, and it takes repeat listens just to get a handle on it. But it found its way on to Rolling Stone’s 50 greatest prog rock albums list, and appeared in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die book.
Wisely, the band has never tried to recreate De-Loused. As a mission statement, it set THE MARS VOLTA up to create more experimental and expansive work, but there is something special about a band in its infancy sounding so full of life. To this day the record sounds curious and hungry, necessary at the time to silence the cynical naysayers still reeling from AT THE DRIVE-IN‘s demise. Its success undoubtedly gave Rodriguez-López and Bixler-Zavala the confidence to get even weirder, finding inspiration in the strangest of places – although The Bedlam In Goliath did not, in fact, turn out to be conjured from conversations held over ouija board.
Unlike the phoned-in AT THE DRIVE-IN reunion, it seems that Rodriguez-López and Bixler-Zavala are all-in with THE MARS VOLTA. Last year’s self-titled record was a success and they continue to tour the world. At the heart of that tour is their debut, now twenty years old. It is still one of the highest benchmarks for prog rock in the 21st century.
De-Loused In The Comatorium was originally released on June 24 2003 via Motown.
Like THE MARS VOLTA on Facebook.