After 12 years, six albums, and a whole bunch of songs with titles like “Conjugal Burns” and “Vicarious Atonement,” post-hardcore prog-rock, which is totally a thing, titans the Mars Volta have split up.
The Mars Volta have broken up, singer Cedric Bixler Zavala announced last night in a series of tweets. “I can’t sit here and pretend anymore,” he wrote. “I am no longer a member of the Mars Volta.”
The lyricist didn’t explain what led to the split, apart from writing that he had favored launching “a full-scale American tour” for last year’s album Noctourniquet, while bandmate Omar Rodríguez-Lopéz didn’t. Instead, the guitarist started another group, Bosnian Rainbows. (Via)
The writing’s been on the wall since the group announced a hiatus in September 2012, not-so-coincidentally the same year Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López revived the fondly remembered At the Drive-In for a series of dates, including an appearance at Coachella. As for Mars Volta’s legacy, they only had one well-known hit (“The Widow”), but were a great live band with a huge, dedicated fanbase full of lovers of knotty, intricate rock. They’ll be missed.
