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The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute

Frances the Mute is the second studio album by American experimental progressive rock band, The Mars Volta. A fun fact about this band: the "Volta" in the band's name comes from a term in a book by Federico Fellini, which he defines to mean "a changing of scene, or a turnaround". The "Mars" part of the name just came from the band's fascination with science fiction. What does these two words mean together? Who knows. The Mars Volta stands out to me as a band due to the unusually loud, chaotic, and powerful nature of their music. Progressive music is often chaotic, but The Mars Volta takes it to a whole new level. You will be listening to one of their songs, and suddenly BAM! Cement truck of guitars and synths to the face! In addition, the amazing and unique vocals of Cedric Bixler-Zavala bring a lot to the band's music. His voice is extremely powerful and is able to quickly and flawlessly switch between standard rock vocals to s...

Cattle Decapitation - The Anthropocene Extinction

This is an album review that I'm very surprised I am doing. When I do these reviews, I often cover extreme genres, such as black metal or experimental noise, but these are always genres I have a history of enjoying. However, Cattle Decapitation is grindcore, a genre that, in the past, had always eluded me. I went into this album fully expecting to hate it, but I was very surprised to find that not only did I not hate it, I loved it! I went on to listen to several other albums in their discography, and found that I liked pretty much all of them. I guess I'm a fan now. Anyways, now I'm here to share this album with you. As I said above, Cattle Decapitation is grindcore, or more specifically, goregrind a fusion of grindcore and death metal. If you aren't an avid metal fan, you may be asking yourself "What is grindcore?" and "Why should I listen to it?". To answer the second qu...

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic

King Crimson is a classic 70s progressive rock band with a unique jazzy sound that makes their music very fun and interesting. If you have heard of King Crimson at all, you probably at least know of their first album, In the Court of the Crimson King , and its popular song, "21st Century Schizoid Man". Although that album is undeniably great, I actually prefer this album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic . The first song on the album, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part I", begins with a peaceful soundscape made by the sound of wooden wind chimes. Eventually, this transitions into the sound of frantic fiddles. The tension slowly builds as the fiddles get louder and some guitar and improvisation on what sounds like a found object drum kit is added in. Suddenly, a loud, sludgy guitar riff blasts through, completely taking you off guard. Like a lot of king Crimson songs, this one is full of interesting exp...

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