To look at The Mars Volta and even remotely grasp their style, one must understand the idea of progressive rock. The constant experimentation, the embracing of techniques like elaborate song structures and musique concrete. This band signifies the very core of its genre, and while the purists might complain about the lack of lengthy arrangements in later endeavors, music enthusiasts should applaud the changes present on both last year’s The Bedlam In Goliath and their latest, Octahedron. Plain and simple, The Mars Volta has mutated and everyone all saw this coming, but unlike past efforts, the changes here should be welcomed.

Octahedron represents a new phase for The Mars Volta, a transition into subtlety and accessibility. The opening track and first single “Since We’ve Been Wrong” is representative of this phase, as the song gently eases out from silence than greeting a signature Omar Rodríguez-López/Cedric Bixler-Zavala accompaniment. “Since We’ve Been Wrong” gives off a Rolling Stones feel a la December Children, channeling “As Tears Go By” during the verses before coming home again on the chorus. It’s acoustically warm in a way only The Mars Volta can provide, and alienates neither newcomers nor long-time fans.

During the course of the album, you get the sense that it was a one-shot recording, as nearly every track seamlessly cross fades into the next. Octahedron is like all the band’s past work in that it is a full-contact album where you either immerse yourself completely, or you lose yourself in the unspoken chaos. The downside with The Mars Volta has always been a polarization of sorts — the listener loves it or hates it, seldom do we see the in between (not counting “The Widow” or “L’Via L’Viaquez”). This album attempts to bridge the gap, giving hipsters and casual fans alike something to discuss on common ground.

Something the band hasn’t abandoned is a cohesive theme for each album. With a title like Octahedron, it makes sense that there’s only eight tracks, as anyone knows an octahedron is an eight-sided polyhedron. But it’s deeper than that, of course. What the overall theme is could be left to interpretation, indicative again of The Mars Volta. Based on the song titles alone, one could assume the link is human nature or the human aspect of seeking control in chaos. “Halo of Nembutals” could be a cryptic sermon on suicide, as Nembutal is the trade name for a barbiturate used in China for the death penalty (in the states for physician assisted suicide); certain lyrics within “Since We’ve Been Wrong” imply questioning the meaning of life; “Copernicus” is named for the Polish astronomer who proved the Earth was not the center of the universe, possibly referring to the human characteristic of wanting to be the center of attention or gaining overall control of one’s surroundings.

As with any release by this band, everything seems left open to interpretation and that adds a certain charm and mystique to each effort, despite moving away from long and complex song arrangements (though one could argue Octahedron as a whole is the lengthy song arrangement). In any event, the heaviest on this release is also the other single, “Cotopaxi”,  which brings us back to keeping in touch with a new audience — this one being a subset of those who prefer more bang and crash in their prog rock, such as the likes of Mastodon. This is well suited, since “Cotopaxi” would feel at home on Crack The Skye to some degree, and thereby (probably unintentionally) says to the audience, “Try a little of this too…you might enjoy it.”

The overall sound present on this album plays against all expectations of a band whose line up has been an ever changing one, as the cohesion amongst Omar, Cedric and company present a fluid motion. Not once on this record does a track feel out of place, not once do the well-known essences of Latin and classic rock influences fail; instead, it all shines through the madness that is The Mars Volta. From the beautiful opening to the explosive sounds of “Luciforms”, each song holds its own while simultaneously meshing well with their counterparts — a staple of long form musical pieces, and also of progressive rock concept albums.

Despite how you read the running themes on this album, or your claims about how drastically different Octahedron sounds compared to De-Loused In The Comatorium or Frances the Mute, the fact remains that The Mars Volta has triumphed yet again. Octahedron comes off as a bit more condensed than its predecessors, but only so slightly as to be barely noticeable. If one were to forgo looking at the track list entirely, the number of songs would be lost on the unsuspecting — and in the case of The Mars Volta, quality definitely takes precedent over quantity.

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