Released: 2022

Genres: Latin Rock, Art Pop

The Musiquarium’s The Mars Volta Review Score: 6 out of 10

It had been 10 years since The Mars Volta’s last album, Noctourniquet, and in the time between then, Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala had reformed At the Drive-In and released that band’s first album in 17 years. It wasn’t a very successful reunion, despite the album being surprisingly good and the band broke up again soon after, though it opened the door for a Mars Volta reunion, which finally happened in 2022.

Instead of the progressive hijinx they were known for in the 2000s, the band’s eponymous album is well-produced and expertly-performed pop music with a Latin touch. The production here is really good — in fact, it might be one of their best-sounding albums yet, but musically, it’s rather neutered when compared to their original body of work, completely devoid of the boldness and kinetic chaos that the group achieved in their prime.

I’m not inherently against reinventions and I understand wanting to achieve commercial success and accessibility, but The Mars Volta got rid of everything they did so well in the past on this record, with too great of a focus on Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s vocals (who is a great singer, but not suitable for pop music), as well as a general sense of convention. As any other band, this might have been a great record, but as a TMV album, this is not what fans waited a decade for and it simply bored me.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view The Mars Volta on Discogs.

Back to the 2022 Album Guide or The Mars Volta Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard