With previous album titles including “De-Loused in the Comatorium,” “Amputechture,” “The Bedlam in Goliath” and “Octahedron,” it’s hard to know what The Mars Volta is talking about most of the time. Now a pop quiz, music fans: Which of these is the actual title for The Mars Volta’s upcoming sixth album?
1. Sadomastodon
2. The Anti-Corpse Brings Down the Stars
3. Aduequitters
4. Golgothan Bacchanal
5. Noctourniquet
If you chose No. 5, you win a phantom high-five. The prog revivalists have said that “Noctourniquet” is a concept album inspired by such varied sources as the DC Comics villain Solomon Grundy (“…born on a Monday”), 1980s UK alt-rockers The Godfathers, and the ancient Greek hero Hyacinthus. The band’s main maestros, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, also produced the album.
The album’s release coincides with the recently announced reunion of Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez’s previous band, the Texas post-hardcore outfit At the Drive-In, who are back together after an 11-year vacation. That means the Mars Volta boys could be pulling double-duty on the road, or will have to favor one band over the other. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, here’s a taste of a new song as performed in Helsinki this summer:
The track listing for “Noctourniquet” is as follows:
1. “The Whip Hand”
2. “Aegis”
3. “Dyslexicon”
4. “Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound”
5. “The Malkin Jewel”
6. “Lapochka”
7. “In Absentia”
8. “Imago”
9. “Molochwalker”
10. “Trinkets Pale of Moon”
11. “Vedemalady”
12. “Noctourniquet”
13. “Zed and Two Naughts”
The album will be released March 27. At the Drive-In is scheduled to play the multi-weekend Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif. in April.
Are you excited for the new record? Or are you more into the At the Drive-In reunion?