Critiquing The Mars Volta’s Latest Acoustic Album: ‘Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon’ continues to reveal the less eccentric side of this once experimental powerhouse
There’s no denying they are still brimming with talent, but any long standing fans of this convention breaking outfit might be a bit disappointed by their latest (quite vanilla) acoustic version of their first independent album The Mars Volta released last year.
Anyone who’s been a fan of The Volta since their first album knows full well that they are kings of the extraordinary, thrive in going against the norm, and quite frankly have created some brilliantly weird music. Maybe it was my teenage appreciation for breaking conventions, but listening to Deloused in the Comatorium for the first time blew me away with all its unexpected peculiarities; and what I loved about the albums that followed was discovering all the quirky offbeat moments that really set them apart from anyone else. Their acoustic version of The Mars Volta album released last year – Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon – does not have that same impact as any previous albums. This is made even more surprising due to the fact it’s their second release on independent label Clouds Hill, since breaking up with their perennial major label Warner.
Perhaps it’s the fact that it’s an acoustic album that makes it more vanilla – although the original version, The Mars Volta, is definitely fairly dumbed down too. As much as it pains me to say it, there is nowhere near the same level of energy, strangeness and distinctiveness as in their former works. In their older albums you literally had no idea what was coming next, and that was much of the excitement. Without wanting to completely shit on this latest addition, I certainly felt as if I knew exactly what was coming next while listening to this album, with slow, soft and vaguely predictable renditions making up the majority of the songs.
That is not to say there is no talent here by any means, with Cedric’s masterful vocals impressive as ever, hitting those high notes like any other Volta classic. The instrumentation is still not to be dismissed, with songs like flagship Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon bringing some jazz vivacity that almost has you wondering what’s going to happen next – the weirdness almost gets unleashed in this one – and to be honest it is a great song. The Requisition, although it begins somewhat ‘normal’ enough, soon teases with a bit of their scattyness we all know and love, with its frantic strumming and rapid syncopated rhythms; I would say this one is my favourite song on the album. NoCaseGain also teases with a bit of their hallmark abnormality, but just doesn’t quite hit the target.
While much of the rest of the album is a little samey, and nothing particularly out of the ordinary; there are some catchy numbers like Graveyard Love which to be honest displays more vocal and instrumental talent than most chart singles. Cedric really sings his heart out in Vigil, and the opening track Blacklight Shine is probably the most ordinary song on the album; although, again, it does have its catchy elements.
This is not a ‘bad’ album by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s clear that The Volta are still as gifted musicians as ever. But if you were listening to this expecting it to take you on a brilliantly erratic journey of weird wonder – like much of their existing work – then, well, don’t. It could be the lack of digital synthetic production that makes this not nearly as unusual, as it is an acoustic album. The style brought out here is still uncanny Volta, just not nearly as experimental as usual. But perhaps this was their intention anyway, as of course bands with albums spanning decades rarely stay the same and follow the same sound for their entire careers, I guess that’s just part of the journey. I’m certainly interested in hearing what they come up with next though, so it seems they’ve still held on to their mysticism anyway.
