By GEORGE KIELTY, Gibbs High

Grade: ****,  4/5 asterisks

I still remember the first time I heard Inertiatic ESP. My brain bled a little bit from the incessant guitars and seemingly divine sound echoing out of the cavernous throat of lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and I wasn’t really sure I liked it. Now, having gone through their first album, De-loused in the Comatorium, a few times, I know exactly how I feel about the Texas group’s sound. While the precursor band, At the Drive-In, had some nice sounds, the Mars Volta is one of those bands whose sound you cannot get away from.

Their new album, Noctourniquet, contains a lot of familiar favorite sounds, with the psychedelic guitars, backing synth and ever-present drum beats, while also bringing some different feelings to the table. Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound being one of the tracks that, while reminiscent of tracks such as Televators, does different things for the mind than the easier recognized belts and power percussion of The Whip Hand. Empty Vessels has a subtlety to it unmatched, with a steady prog-rock beat but an almost trancelike riff throughout. Mind the growing feedback screeches, though, as unfamiliar listeners may not be so used to the roughness with which Volta records.
Another piece of work is the album’s namesake track, almost at that awful point of repetitiveness that so many artists teeter on, but dashing back from the edge with some delicious lick. There are computer beeps and barrel drops and some more nasty feedback, but once again, they somehow found a way to make ugly things sound so, so good. Kudos, as usual, Volta.

If you don’t really want to buy the whole album but want to see if maybe you’d like the sound, I’d recommend the two tracks above, plus Dyslexicon and Lapochka. Happy listening, folks!