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Octahedron

The Mars Volta

Octahedron

Fifth album from the American prog rock experimentalists

ADM rating[?]

5.6

Label
Mercury
UK Release date
23/06/2009
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  1. 8.0 |   Q

    Print edition only

  2. 7.0 |   musicOMH

    Opens up more possibilities than we might have thought for the Mars Volta. It shows that for the first time they really can do restraint, without compromising the overall impact of the instances where things are let rip
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  3. 7.0 |   Spin

    Most consistently compelling slab since 2005's salsafied Frances the Mute.
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  4. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Lacks sparkle enough to raise it above previous creative highs – it’s a recommended affair, at times truly scintillating, but it doesn’t quite deliver to the extent where all caution can be tossed to the breeze. Still, at least it’s not an acoustic album. Imagine the horror
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  5. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    The Latino band temper their excesses with the tautness of a lean Led Zeppelin; the result is excellent space-rock brought right down to earth
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  6. 6.0 |   PopMatters

    A solid album that probably has two slow songs too many. While previous albums tended to lean too far towards indie-prog insanity, this one leans too far in the other direction. But the band is still doing basically the same things they always have
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  7. 6.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Haunted by heartbreak and more focused on soulful vocal emoting than on cool time signatures and guitar flip-outs
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  8. 6.0 |   Scotland on Sunday

    The panache of the singing, and the radiant complexity of the music, drive the album forward. And it's the subtle touches, no less than the sweeping ones, that leave an impression
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  9. 6.0 |   Pitchfork

    The Mars Volta feeds some very specific needs in its fanbase. There's a certain kind of listener that, maybe once a year or maybe every day, wants music that sates the same impulse that makes people gorge on spectacle-scale cinema or devour the entire Dune series in a few weeks
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  10. 6.0 |   Clash

    It's certainly admirable to take things in a different, musically ‘mellower’ direction, but The Mars Volta simply haven't dragged themselves far enough down their chosen path.
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  11. 6.0 |   Uncut

    Print edition only

  12. 2.0 |   The Quietus

    They're as bloated as ever, but have for the most part cast aside the detonations and tangents that give their songs paradoxical charm. So what's left when you remove the giddy excess from a band like this? Alas, not much.
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  13. 1.0 |   No Ripcord

    Every other Mars Volta album has jumped out at me at least once. This album passes by without a single interesting note, without one thing to engage a casual listener, devoid of anything worth going back to
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The Mars Volta: Octahedron

  • Download full album for just £7.92
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