Overall Rating: 10+
//This is a review/analysis that is separated in four distinct parts. The first one being the introduction to the whole thing, focusing more in the context, the second focusing on the music, the third one explaining the concept that the lyrics present, and the fourth one being a conclusion, but also a much more condensed review of the album//
Talons Scratch My Suite
The rupture of the iconic post-hardcore group At The Drive-In seemed to still be a burden and an annoyance to Omar and Cedric, even four years after it happened. With news of the band splitting into two parts, with The Mars Volta and Sparta, the fans seemed to look for the same type of energy and style of music coming from both directions. Sparta was the one closest to the style that most fans wanted, being an alternative rock/post-hardcore project, but it wasn't the same in the sense that a lot of key factors were still missing, having some minor success. Omar and Cedric on the other hand, had derailed their music towards a more experimental and unique place with the creation of The Mars Volta. Both their EP and debut album had pushed through a lot of difficulties and managed to find a surprising success with the public. The music was complex, layered, cryptic in meaning, energetic, but still accessible to those who gave in to the experience and decided to sit all the way through, starting off one of the most unique, varied, and dynamic projects of the 2000's. However, fans and journalist still wanted to know the reason of their change in attitude or motivation that lead to their beloved band to end. But every time that they were asked that, Omar and Cedric always gave a similar answer: At The Drive-In simply changed directions
The public seemed to be demanding what they wanted to see from them, Omar and Cedric going wild onstage just for the sake of it, instead of waiting for something new. Both of them were simply tired of that energy, of the music, and they were seeking to create something new. They didn't like the fact that they needed to have band meetings in order to get permission to improvise was thought as ridiculous. In the end it was all about wanting to do what came naturally, improving and changing the formula whenever they felt like doing so, everything lead by sudden motivation and instinct, without the need to consult with anyone. The thrill and excitement of not knowing what would come next at every turn, with one author/director leading in studio, but eventually becoming a collective where anyone was able to take the lead on a live setting. In many ways, they seemed to be fulfilling that desire ever since the early days of The Mars Volta.
Their live shows carried a completely different energy compared to their previous major project, but still being intense, energetic, and carrying a lot of different layers, with every member having an important part in order to carry these new style of songs forward. As what happened with ATDI, they wanted to replicate that live tone on their studio records. And even though they had the power to get loose this time around, they were still troubled by different factors. Tremulant was dealing with limited production values, and De-Loused was limited due to Rick Rubin's decisions regarding the vision that the band had (which was something even longer and more experimental, with different values to the final mixing, but all of this was considered as appropriate for an audience by Rubin, cutting out a lot of the things that eh thought were extra). And even though both projects ended up being something fantastic (with De-Loused coming out as one of the most diverse and unique projects to ever come out, certainly a completely powerful debut album for any band), the artists did not seem satisfied with the final product. However, their debut had been successful, which gave the band a lot more liberties, and they were determined to make their sophomore album the way they wanted to.
Finally, they were able to be completely free with what they wanted to do in studio since their experimental days in ATDI. The direction of the new album was being led by the band doing whatever they wanted to do, looking to differentiate themselves from what they thought a big portion of artists were doing: doing what the public wanted them to do. They were called as to have "sold out" to a major label, but they knew what they were getting into by signing with universal. It wasn't about selling out, it was more about being aware that they could write their own contracts and establish things clearly in order to have their freedom. No producers to control or manipulate their vision, with Omar himself taking it upon recording and production duties in order to get things the way he wanted them to come out. Material for this follow up, both musical and conceptual, had been in preparation even when De-Loused was being recorded. Recording started in 2004, lasting a total of ten months, and their second album, taking the name of Frances The Mute, finally came out in early 2005.
Frances The Mute was much more daring and loose than their previous material was. They took all the elements from De-Loused and expanded them to reach a completely new level musically and conceptually (due to the fact that it was the band's second concept album). Every member was exploited and fleshed out to a completely new degree with their respective parts, creating a new branch of their sound that was not seen before. It was still The Mars Volta, but it was much more challenging to the listener, carrying a lot more layers and details that managed to be crafted on a way that nothing felt out of place. Experimental with its flow, with its compositions, with the story that was being told. The sound of the record replicated that frantic and intense, non-stop, live sensation, but still keeping the polished production and mixing, with a lot of surprising features to complete the sound and vision of Omar, done in memory of their beloved friend but also as a way to show that they were a band that was interested in pushing forward with their vision, doing whatever they wanted onstage as well as in their studio efforts.
Everything had a reason to be, and, as a whole project, it was not as accessible as De-Loused was. Those decisions were the things that separated those who had the patience to sit through what they had to offer and those who saw everything as "instrumental wankery". Despite all that, Frances The Mute still came out as a full experience available for anyone to try out. It had a lot to unpack between all those layers, and just like before, lyrics and music were different beasts (but this time around they complemented each other on a much better way), and each one impresses even more upon closer inspection.
The Ocean Floor Is Hidden From Your Viewing Lens: The Music
All of this might end up coming out either terrible or great depending on the perspective of the listener, but that was the main intention. It was them doing what they felt like doing, without feeling the need of crafting a masterpiece, it was just doing things their way, expressing themselves freely with their music by blending all their inspirations into a thing that was their own, with them satisfied with the final result. Anyone was welcomed to experience what they had to offer, just asking for patience in order to witness the surreal and wonderful sounds that they had constructed.
But all of that did not come to be all of a sudden. The concept for the story of the album, as well as some musical drafts, are said to be from very early on in the band (even with members admitting that Blake Fleming was responsible for setting some of the rhythms on songs in Frances), but it was slowly polished on a more confident way with the passing of time. The music was being written and refined even with Omar touring with the band during the promotion of their debut album, trying out bits and pieces live during the jam segments in some songs (such as pieces of Facilis Descenus Averni on Drunkship of lanters, Con Safo in Take The Veil, or bits from Plant A Nail In The Navel Stream and Faminepulse on the long versions of Cicatriz ESP), or straight up debuting some full new compositions in the form of acoustic pieces (like what happened with The Widow), expanding those concepts slowly with each new set, leading to how they would end up being presented on the sophomore album.
The recording process was very unique for them, and it would be the beginning of their usual routine for every album after that point. Their intention going to studio was a lot different with At The Drive-In, with Cedric thinking of it as a failed attempt at democracy, having all songwriting credited to the band as a whole, compromising the integrity of the art-form by not recognizing the true author, leading to tension and regret later down the line. With The Mars Volta this was much more simple and straight forward: Omar leads, Omar writes all stuff, bringing the skeleton in guitar to Jon in order for him to dissect it and build it up from that point, with all the members adding their parts individually until the final product was done. However, after Omar presented to them his vision, the rest of the work and talent depended on the members themselves, personalizing each segment in their own way, carrying their own energy and creativity while keeping the established backbone. It all became a collective effort that specially showed on a live setting, where anyone is able to take the lead with the instrumental jams and see if the rest can follow along. It was good chemistry more than anything, and that is what held the band together on that iconic lineup.
Their influences would also become a very important part in how they created that unique sound that only belonged to them. Each member had different musical taste, from Cedric liking Bjork and Throbbing Gristle, Jon being into black metal and classic bands like ZZ Top, Ikey having a big appreciation for pop music, Juan being into different styles of music, or Omar having that big passion for salsa. What was seen on the last album still had a strong presence, with different bands like Genesis, King Crimson, Barrett era Pink Floyd, Faust, Miles Davis or Can (specially this one, considering that Damo Susuki would come to work with Omar for a solo project), but the stronger presence of all the rest of elements lead to a tighter identity, grabbing from a lot of places and creating a particular sound (and even though they are cataloged as Progressive/Experimental Rock, their sound was very dynamic between the genres and moods that it touched, leading to a very unique style of music that doesn't really know a time or a place). But even then, it was that difference in musical and media taste that made things interesting for the members, because everyone had their own style of playing, but they still managed to go well with each other. The use of different arrangements and guests expanded this sound and polished it even further, with the end product being a varied, but still recognizable, musical concept.
Frances The Mute was recorded with the Miles Davis style of recording in order to get the best out of all the musicians that participated on the record. Since Omar was taking charge of production, everyone played their parts individually in front of him, without contacting the rest of the band or knowing what the rest of the instrumentals would sound like, only using a metronome to keep rhythm, playing things slowly at first in order to get the members to memorize their parts, with the tone or motivation being something that were not explained (similar to how David Lynch makes the actors perform on a very specific scene, without giving context and asking them to perform specific actions), in order to get every member to interpret their parts in their own way, with their own energy, getting to a point where Omar thinks they are ready to record (and even then, taking as few takes as possible in order to get the most "genuine feeling" for the piece).
Recording duties lasted for ten months, being done between touring. Jon Theodore started as the main focus of attention building upon Omar's guitar demos, being very methodical with how things were structured, bringing some of the most complex and layered compositions to date (and definitely some of Jon's best drumming on his time with The Mars Volta), establishing the rhythm on a way that both of them felt as proper for the songs, then it was all followed by Juan's bass and Omar's polished guitar, Ikey's keyboards (who wasn't very happy with the new recording method that was being employed), and then the rest of arrangement and percussion with Marcel and the guests. None of the members, or any of the people involved, really knew how the entire final product would turn out to be, but it was all more a leap of faith than anything, trusting Omar as the director who used the takes he considered as adequate for the piece, and seeing the final product when this one was considered as "done. Cedric explained it in the best way possible:
" It's really being in a state of being willing to give up to the producer your scratch tracks, as opposed to really working on it and refining it. I think the state that I'm in is having to be on my toes, and being able to instantly do something. Sometimes it's three or four in the morning and I'm calling Omar and saying, "Get our engineering. Wake 'em up. I've got an idea!" He's the same way, so we were constantly on our toes. It's nerve-wracking sometimes. A little stressful."
But still, by trusting Omar's vision, some of the best performances of every member came to be, creating a long album that had a lot to dissect in the way it was presented, with different moods on every instrument, but still maintaining a coherence with as a band (it has even been cited as the record that some members are the most proud of). A lot of songs were reported as composed during these sessions, but six made it out as the polished final products. However, problems still happened this time regarding the elaboration of the physical packaging of the album. Since all the six songs made up for ninety minutes of music, it would have needed to be presented on two discs, something that the label wasn't able to afford with the band, so one of the songs was removed from the final product, leaving the final version of the record with five songs in total (but even then there were some minor problems with the final CD case, with some titles or sentences misprinted).
However, the song is still considered important by the band, so many fans accept it as the original opener for many different reasons. In any case, the six songs that came out from those recordings are some of the best experimental/progressive rock to come out in the 2000's, a polished concept that has a lot to unveil beneath all the details that it offered. Intense, complex, unpredictable, unique, and simply mesmerizing. Frances The Mute was truly an accomplishment in most aspects of the band, and the compositions that it presented are most certainly something worthy of admiration.
++Frances The Mute++
The original title of the album was supposed to be Sarcophagus, but since one of the songs (one that the band considered crucial in order to decipher the concept behind the story told on the record) was removed, they decided to tie it all together by naming the album with the title of the missing piece. However, this song was not discarded from their catalog at all. It was released twice officially in single form, it was still played on live shows (something that was not usual for their "B-Sides", so its attachment to the main release was certainly strong), and its lyrics being included on the official CD version. Both official releases of the song came out the same day as the vinyl release of the album, and they were both attached to a different version of The Widow (with it being released as the B-Side of The Widow's single). But one of these was released as a main single attached to the triple vinyl edition of the album, being more proof that these two were certainly related without any doubt (sharing part of the artwork already seen on the CD booklet, and coming with a sound manipulated live version of The Widow).
Frances The Mute is, in many ways, a microcosm of what the entire album would be. This time the long songs were separated in different segments, almost as if they were strict movements, each one of them having distinct feeling to them, but still holding on together on a great was as just one big song being dynamic with it's tone, and also presenting atmospheric soundscapes that took its time to build up tension or set up a certain mood before transitioning to the next song. The lyrics were tied together with the vocal performance as another instrument that was used to have coordination with the music, and the final product can definitely be considered one of their most polished songs to date. The movements that this song presents are three, and every one of them has something special to offer.
A. In Thirteen Seconds
Right away, one of the deal-breakers of the album is presented. Frances The Mute uses long interludes/transitions between tracks. People usually argument that if those long atmospheric soundscapes would have been removed, the album would have had enough space left for this song to be included. Truth is that, even with fan edits of this being a thing or simply presenting an abridged version of the song, removing all this space, the result isn't quite the same. It feels much more rushed, much more sudden, with not a lot of balance between the quiet moments and the explosions of sound, something that didn't fall within their vision. One complaint about their last album was that it had little space to breathe, few calm moments to balance out all the intensity that was going on, and in many ways that seemed to be improved with this release, with these segments serving a lot of purposes for the entire experience. First of all, and as it was mentioned, they brought balance to the album, presenting these calm bridges that connected every song, setting up the tone or building up tension before the next long song came to play. Second of all, they helped to keep the flow of the album as something constant and without breaks (even on the vinyl releases, where these interludes where looped at the end and brought back at the beginning of the next side), also helping out with the setting of this being a "concept album". It is definitely something that asks for the patient of the listener, and it is understandable if people don't think these fit within the narrative or flow of the album, but their inclusion is certainly a vital part of the experience.
A first taste of this type of interludes comes right at the beginning of this track. Four minutes of bell tolls that keep building up within what seems really simple at first. The looping sounds of these bells have their atmosphere added with the inclusion of many other different samples, and a little before the four minute mark, some sound manipulation is added to the mix (setting up something that would be seen at the end of the song as well as in the rest of interludes). It all has a haunting tone, that builds up longer than one would expect, and then when the listener thinks he gets accustomed to the tension that was achieved, it transitions into the main part of the song, almost like a sudden explosion. The drums and the guitar are the main focus, being the main elements that lead the track, with the simple bass-lines being calm with what is being presented. Cedric's vocals take a lot of influence from different places, but they have a powerful tone that does its best to go along and stand out with the music. The use of different pedals between layers of the same guitar, as well as different vocal layers, add a lot to the track, setting a dynamic rhythm that varies a lot within the main tone of the track. It all leads to a guitar solo that replaces the vocals in volume, to then suddenly end the first section.
B. Nineteen Sank, While Six Would Swim
Acoustic guitars take the spotlight, the mood is changed, but the haunting and tense tone is still present. The use of different layers interacting with each other is intensified, with the vocals following along, agonizing with the mellow tone that they display, with Ikey being introduced with some notes, while Juan's bass is present in the background. The interaction between the whispers, the different guitar chords, it all serves a purpose with the tone of the lyrics. The use of distorted vocals is introduced, something that would take a big role within the rest of the songs (and even then they would expand this with future albums). The electronic guitar is introduced once again, within that mellow tone, while the vocals seem to build up slowly to a minor climax, then dying down, but suddenly introducing the drums showing a section full of coordination between all the instruments, building up to a different volume in the acoustic guitar, getting the atmosphere more tense, and then switching to electric into the final segment.
C. Five Would Grow, And One Was Dead
Here the tone changes once again, with things still following that coordination between the instruments, with a much more intense performance overall, setting this as the final climax of the song, with all rising in tone and displaying their emotion. After this, another interlude is presented, using the acoustic chords used in Sarcophagi, another movement seen on other tracks, thus connecting itself musically and conceptually with the main album. The guitar is distorted, as if it was being emitted through a radio, while some sound manipulation seen briefly at the beginning can be heard, finishing the track with these soundscapes looping in the distance.
Frances The Mute is a track full of details despite how simple or ambitious it might seem at first, and it is certainly an improvement on what many of their previous songs tried to do. The production and mixing is much more polished, with a perfect harmony between the instrument who carry the song forward and the ones who are there to back them up with the rhythm, but when the time comes to present a climax, everything takes the same tone and it all comes together on a very intense and powerful way. If one is patient enough with what is being presented, there is a big payoff awaiting, specially with the atmospheric segments that seem to be something extra, but that set the tone and mood of the track without the need to taking a moment of silence, keeping a consistent and well structured flow. It all has a reason to be, and every element comes together into this style of lengthy tracks in order to provide more to the listener. Certainly a musical accomplishment that manages to be surprising while being varied with its tone and moods, while still keeping a coherence between the different segments. Immersive, intense, haunting, and certainly enjoyable.
It is difficult to determine the placement of the song within the original tracklist of the album, since the appearance of Sarcophagi as its final segment suits it to be either an opener or a closer (that is why it is commonly labeled as "track 0"). But the most accepted assumption between fans, and even with some hints from the band itself, is that this was meant to be the original opener of the album, connecting itself directly with Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus. A lot of attempts at reconstructing the album have taken place by different fans, but even if taken as an individual piece, this is one of the band's most complete tracks. However, the tracklist in the official release is different, but even lacking this piece it still is one masterful experience of an album. And most of that can be credited with the way it grabs the listener attention as soon as it begins.
++Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus++
A. Sarcophagi
As an opener, this song starts off on a very simple and misleading way, with a beautiful acoustic guitar, introducing different layers in order to create a sort of build up along side Cedric's calm vocal melodies, lasting almost a minute, adding some minor distortion just to then take the listener off guard and explode with its intense and energetic melodies.
B. Umbilical Syllables
This is The Mars Volta's official card of presentation with this new album, a much more frantic and explosive sound that uses all the elements it has to its disposition in order to create a layered song that is impressive with its unusual song structure, its unusual time signatures, and its fantastic performances. The use of different backing vocals to add to Cedric's tone, while the coordination between the guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards take place. The time signature is difficult to decipher, but it all hold together incredibly well, offering a carefully crafted track that goes verse by verse building up momentum at first, with teases to the chorus, just to then get into that place on a sudden way, exploding with the vocals, calming things down with the guitar, and then move back to the initial loud tone. And after the second chorus, it all seems to go into a chaotic place, but it keeps going on a calculated manner, transitioning into a much calmer segment, serving as bridge to the third section of the track.
C. Facilis Descenus Averni
This is the segment that was played instead of the atmospheric middle section of Drunkship of Lanterns in the live shows of the band. A very calm and atmospheric segment at first, with the drums going along with the bassline and the simple guitar riffs, introducing a modulated guitar solo on top of it all, with the drums slowly picking up elements to add to a build up that keeps going, catching the listener of guard, not letting him now when this build up will pay off. With the cymbals the volume seems to increase slowly, with the guitar layering on top of itself, adding to this build up that just changes in volume with the vocals taking the spotlight. David Campbell's wonderful orchestral arrangements keep adding to this experience, and while it keeps adding elements, it helps to build up tension and expectation, with Cedric's bleeding vocals fleshing out the vocal notes on different layers, leading to an intense drum and guitar solo, frantic and very chaotic, but still falling within that coordination, just to then return to the main chorus of the song. The payoff is worth it, with the chorus being much more intense than before, culminating on Cedric's vocals screaming out in tone, and everything becoming a convoluted and organized chaos, with many things happening at the same time, but still giving place to the final section with the bassline.
D. Con Safo
Juan's bassline, having a lot in common with 70's rhythm bass such as the one seen in King Crimson's "The Sailor Tale", leads the way between all the fading instrumentals and the soundscapes that are being presented slowly. Recordings of the street outside of Omar's house are introduced, helping to set the conceptual and musical tone for the next track, calming things down with the use of electronic samples and sound manipulation. It calms the tone and changes it without the need of stopping the flow of the album, building up with the samples and the car noises, shifting from all the adrenaline into a different tone that still maintains the tension.
This track is nothing but incredible, and a wonderful opener to such an experience (having a lot of impact every time, specially in the first listens). All the elements that are presented are balanced in many ways, creating a coherent track that, even if it consists on four different sections, holds together on a very tight way. There are a lot of things to take from here, with different build ups that payoff in their own satisfying way. Energetic, intense, and highly complex (with its song structure and time signature being a thing that is still debated to this day among fans, with only the end part being confirmed to be in 5/4 by Alderete himself); but still something accessible and enjoyable, surprising the listener with all the organized chaos that it presents. Even the decision of adding the atmospheric interludes is something essential, calming things down before presenting the mellow tone of the second song of the album.
++The Widow++
Starting off with as an acoustic piece with different backing guitar tones being subtle in the distance, while Cedric mellow vocals build up slowly to an explosive chorus with all the instruments being introduced. Juan's bass stays after to keep rhythm, keeping the mellow tone but building up once again to a chorus that transitions into a different section, with Flea's trumpet melodies complementing Omar's guitar solo, but it all stays in the tone established at the beginning, only building up in intensity, with Ikey's keyboard in the background right at the end, just to then leave everything to fade right into the next atmospheric interlude. A sample distorted and manipulated in different ways for two minutes, setting a tense tone with all the loops and ambiance effects, to then give place to the third track on the album.
With just three minutes, the shortest song on the album is as intense and layered as the rest of the songs on the album. The most successful single of the band gives a taste of the complex that the band added to what seemed like simple ideas, using a lot of elements to turn a song into their own, with their own way of making a mellow acoustic track into something unpredictable and dynamic with how the instruments are used. A great and small taste of what the band was able to do, and certainly engaging on its final result.
++L'Via L'Viaquez++
A second guitar solo from Frusciante breaks this atmosphere, leading straight back into the intense instrumental seen at the beginning. This time, it is all shorter, with only one of the bridges being used in order to lead to the ambiance segment. Everything seems to go normal, but then Omar's frantic guitar comes in along side a distorted soundscape in the background, with Jon's irregular drumming serving as the backbone of this segment. The string arrangement takes a big segment here, with Cedric's soft vocals contrasting all of this, leading into a small, but still fascinating, drum solo leading to the final section of the song. The ambiance comes back ones again, with Cedric's vocals being manipulated in studio, distorted and delayed (something seen on the single, but present here, and something that would later be expanded by the band on future records, but having a haunting and watery effect here), serving as bridge to a piano solo by mister Harlow, with different elements coming in, like Omar's watery guitar on top of Marcel's calm percussion. The vocals get more and more modulated, getting a more watery feeling with the different field recordings of people talking being added, leaving these twisted vocals as the final piece of the track, ending everything on a sudden way, and leaving the atmosphere calm before the next track comes in.
L'Via L'Viaquez shows the band being proud of their roots, of their musical taste and identity, by using their influence on a much more explicit way, but still managing to shift the tone and composition into something of their own, making the concept of a highly energetic rock song with latin elements into something that is pulled off on a fantastic way. Catchy rhythms, impressive performances, and a conceptual consistency with the rest of the record. Truly an accomplishment.
++Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore++
A. Vade Mecum
A calm atmospheric section, using the field recordings of coqui (small frogs native from Puerto Rico), as the main part of this, building up tension for four minutes, implementing Cedric's haunting background vocals and other distorted elements until transitioning into the main section of the track.
B. Pour Another Icepick
The main song was a songs structure somewhat reminiscent to one of Miles Davis's electric era songs. Omar's acoustic and electric guitars, with Flea's trumpet solos, all complementing the haunting atmosphere, before the mellow vocals come in, accompanied with the subtle and soft violin and chello arrangements. The bass resonates in the distance, while the watery guitar keeps leading the main focus to the vocals. With the chorus, all raises in volume, but the mellow tone returns, with the trumpet still appearing on the distance. After a while, the drums come in to build up momentum with the instruments, culminating on a loud and melancholic rendition of the chorus serving as the climax of this segment.
C. Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)
The instrumental section here is kicked off by the string arrangements leading into the manipulated guitar coordinating with the trumpet, leaving space for Flea to perform some small solos that increase in volume at the end. It all leads the way into some radio noise, very similar to the one seen at the end of the single.
D. Con Safo
That radio noise/distortion leads into the reprise of the Con Safo instrumental, with the guitar and bassline coming in to build up atmosphere (along side some strings that have an evident King Crimson's "Easy Money" arrangement influence), finishing off Miranda on a very different tone than how it started.
Miranda is the longest break on the album. A song that aims to shift the tone completely from everything that was seen until that point. It still has the loud segments with the impressive musical compositions and the powerful vocals, but it is all very calm and mellow in tone. It is certainly a long calm before the storm, before the longest and most intense song on the album takes place. Showing off a lot of the band's influences at the time (in fact it being very reminiscent of a Morricone film track, someone that they were inspired by a lot, even using A Fistful of Dollars as the intro track to their shows). Every member has their own small part in Miranda, and while it certainly doesn't have that frantic energy, it does stand out as one incredible track thanks to the performances that it provides.
++Cassandra Gemini++
(This is the track that has had the most problems with every issue of the album. On the CD it was misprinted as "Cassandra Geminni", and separated into seven sections, despite the back of the album showing only five. The vinyl version was no big help either, splitting it into two parts in order for it to go along with the rest of the songs. The digital version showed the rest of the tracks with their respective segments into just one song, but Cassandra was split up into seven sections, with every one renamed and changed. In reality, this is one giant thirty two minute song, and its mostly accepted that it contains five movements, so that is the version that will be seen here)
A. Tarantism
The Con Safo build up misleads the listener once again, and the first section of Cassandra Gemini starts abruptly, exploding into a very intense segment lead by the potent vocals, the bombastic drums, the frantic and complex guitar, and the subtle bass, having small climaxes where Cedric's voice builds up in tone, repeating these three times, before finishing this frantic and intense introduction, leading the way into the second segment of the song.
B. Plant A Nail In The Navel Stream
Distorted vocals come in, presenting Adrian Terrazas's flute (after this he would become an official member of the band), coordinating with the rest of the instruments. The guitar riffs are more irregular now, but they still feel balanced within the track, being played until Terrazas's saxophone mark a transition into a bombastic chorus. This is repeated one more time, before this next chorus extends itself, implementing different guitar interactions, introducing the bridge into the third segment of the track.
C. Faminepulse
Omar's first intense guitar solo should be indicative enough of the things that are about to come: more than twenty minutes of instrumental bonanza. A display of everything that The Mars Volta were until that point, showcasing their ability to twist a song structure into something unique to them, being unpredictable, intense, varied in mood, but coherent as a complete song. This is the segment that people either love or hate, asking for a lot of patience on a non-stop demonstration of talent and chemistry coming from the band. It is also the part where the live feeling from the concerts of the band starts to show, even production wise. The first and last part of Cassandra Gemini were recorded at a studio in L.A, with the jam that is presented after Cedric's vocals fade out being extracted from a long jam session recorded live in Australia and manipulated in studio by Omar. Here, the production shifts in tone, being something that many people won't like, but still, it is something done out of artists vision, and the way that it is pulled off is certainly outstanding.
Up to this point, it is something that must be heard in order to be understood. To many, including the one who is writing this review, this is the peak of The Mars Volta in studio form. The sudden changes, the use of the many elements in order to bring a complete sound into play, with every member giving their all with their performance, it is certainly an impressive achievement coming from them. It doesn't feel as long as it is, only increasing on tension and intensity with each passing moment, with everyone having their respective moment to shine.
It may not be the thing that does it for many people, along side many of the other things used across the entire album, but coming from a band that only wanted to express themselves freely and without boundaries, not worrying about what the critics or the fans said, and just taking their sound into the direction they felt like it, it is without a doubt something incredible to witness, and I couldn't praise it more if I tried to. A statement of a personal attitude and an artistic view that is made possible thanks to all the members that decided to trust the "director" in order to take the best from then and put it into one of the most eternal and fascinating pieces of music to come out from the 2000's.
D. Multiple Spouse Wounds
And after that long section, the structure seen on the second segment is brought back, lead by the frantic saxophone of Terrazas, but all of it is performed with much more emotion and many more elements added. It all serves a new purpose, since its used on a different way with a new buildup thanks to the strings and the different layers added to the vocals and the guitar, feeling chaotic but still maintaining order, leading to the fifth and final segment of the track.
E. Sarcophagi
The acoustic guitar from the beginning of Cygnus is brought again. This time, the vocal performance is different, much more agitated, contrasting the opener with this closer, going full circle and marking the end of this long non-stop experience.
++
The music that The Mars Volta managed to craft with their second album was an evolution of their abilities, as well as a way to showcase their true artistic vision to the world. It wasn't meant to appeal to everyone, but it was them doing what they wanted, polishing the songs with time and reaching a point where they were pushed beyond their limits onstage and on studio. Omar's direction was the backbone, but everyone had an important role to fulfill, and they did it with some of the best performances given by all the members. It was not nonsense being played just for the sake of impressing people, since they elaborated these tracks in order to be played live as well, pulling them off on jaw-dropping ways (even the long Cassandra Gemini would be played on its entirety live, showing that there everything had been methodical and carefully crafted in order to achieve that particular feeling of "organized chaos"). Every element had a reason to exist, maintaining a coherence, a tone, a mood, and a flow that would be very different with any of these elements removed from the formula.
But this musical bonanza wasn't the only thing pushing the record forward. Between the performances there was the idea of this as the second concept album from the band, with the cryptic and surreal imagery telling a much more condensed and psychedelic story. These lyrics had been constructed to complement the tone and the direction of the music, as the final touch that perfected all the album. And within that deep story relied a completely different beast that belonged to a world of its own.
I Won't Forget Who I'm Looking For: The Concept
There is no doubt that one thing that characterized The Mars Volta were the surreal and cryptic lyricism that accompanied every song. This started to be a thing in the early days of At The Drive-In, and it would keep evolving from that point. But The Mars Volta was much more loose and psychedelic, while maintaining a structure that worked for the end product, having a lot of detail, symbolism, and meaning upon closer inspection. De-Loused marked the first attempt of Cedric expressing himself the way he wanted to, creating a narrative dedicated to his old friend, Julio Venegas, while building lyrics around the music that was composed for the album. However, in order for the story to be understood, one had to look at the dense and complex short tale that came with the vinyl something that not many people were aware of. But things were aiming for improvement, and considering Cedric's varied influences, it would all evolve into a much more condensed and straight forward narrative, this time inspired by a particular experience of his old friend Jeremy Michael Ward. Eventually, this would all culminate in Frances The Mute being the band's second concept album.
Just like the musical aspects, there was a big evolution and polish involved compared to their first studio effort. Following the path of De-Loused, the lyrics are more imagery based, but there is a big change. While the debut relied on the literary piece in order to provide a full narrative, the lyrics of Frances are able to stand on their very own. There is not a big focus on the literary meaning of whats being displayed, its more about the images that they represent, making it something much more condensed regarding the story but also coded and open to interpretation. In combination for the music, the tone and the mood is set, but the images flow loosely, making it like a surrealist movie with a lot of messages opened to interpretation being crammed in. In Cedric's own words: " Our music would probably be a really dark ocean, so you may not know where you are. It's not so literal. It's like a David Lynch movie".
The inspiration from this new concept came from a very particular place that had been in the works ever since the band was starting with their career. Omar, Cedric and Jeremy lived in Anikulapo by the time At The Drive-In disbanded, looking to start fresh with The Mars Volta. Since they were still far from being able to make a living out of their music, all of them were taking part-time jobs in order to cover their common expenses, as well as the drugs that they were consuming at the time. Jeremy was working on a car repossession company, as a repo-man, while still being dedicated to the classic sound manipulation and performance with the new El Paso project. One day he found a diary on the backseat of a car he was repossessing, but what caught his attention were the big similarities between him and what was written: the story of a man who seemed to be looking for his real origins.
Jeremy himself was adopted, he never got to meet his true parents or his biological roots, so his name and identity were forgotten and overwritten by those who took him behind their wing, so empathizing with the person who had written the diary was fairly instantly. However, the story told in the diary was incomplete, and most of the people, including the original owner, remained nameless. In order to sort of "complete the tale", Jeremy decided to name the original author, a twenty five year old prostitute drug dealer whose investigation had lead him to find out that he was born out of rape, as Vismund Cygnus. His mother, who Jeremy named Frances (the use of the name Frances, might be a reference to Frances Farmer, actress who opposed to the practices of film studios back in the 40's, but that ended up deteriorating her life due to alcohol, eventually spending time on many psychiatric hospitals, being subject of brutal therapies, but also subjected to tortures and sexual assaults), was a mute that raped by powerful men and murdered while giving birth, or at least that was the information that L'Via, his biological aunt, provided to him. He eventually gets contacted by Miranda, his supposed grandmother, giving him the rest of the details he needs in order to unveil the truth. Vismund then decides to disguise himself as a woman, taking the name Cassandra Gemini, in order to take revenge for the actions committed to his mother.
Jeremy himself was adopted, he never got to meet his true parents or his biological roots, so his name and identity were forgotten and overwritten by those who took him behind their wing, so empathizing with the person who had written the diary was fairly instantly. However, the story told in the diary was incomplete, and most of the people, including the original owner, remained nameless. In order to sort of "complete the tale", Jeremy decided to name the original author, a twenty five year old prostitute drug dealer whose investigation had lead him to find out that he was born out of rape, as Vismund Cygnus. His mother, who Jeremy named Frances (the use of the name Frances, might be a reference to Frances Farmer, actress who opposed to the practices of film studios back in the 40's, but that ended up deteriorating her life due to alcohol, eventually spending time on many psychiatric hospitals, being subject of brutal therapies, but also subjected to tortures and sexual assaults), was a mute that raped by powerful men and murdered while giving birth, or at least that was the information that L'Via, his biological aunt, provided to him. He eventually gets contacted by Miranda, his supposed grandmother, giving him the rest of the details he needs in order to unveil the truth. Vismund then decides to disguise himself as a woman, taking the name Cassandra Gemini, in order to take revenge for the actions committed to his mother.
After Ward decided to conclude the story on a way he saw as fitting, it was just bringing it to life with all the unique style of the band. The ideas started to come up since the days of De-Loused, but the sudden death of Jeremy changed the foundation of all the members that formed the band. It was no longer just about continuing what Jeremy had started, but also holding a close friend inside their memory and their music. This loose story was the root for the lyrics of the project, something that would serve as inspiration and backbone of the tone that ended up being presented. But instead of looking at the album as an idea, they saw it as a character, a resurrected body based on the thoughts of a stranger seeking to find the truth. Cedric and Omar decided to keep the narrative that was already established and complement it with the soundscapes and compositions in order to somehow bring the scenes and characters to life.
The songs were the first thing to end up being polished, with the lyric writing having a very particular process this time around. A lot of it was written on the spot at a time where Omar and Cedric were living together. Omar had a collection of TVs that he would stack and put different movies, like The Magnificent Seven or some Kurasawa films, in order to seek inspiration. Cedric would listen to the music first and then try coming up with the lyrics implementing elements from the diary. Things weren't constructed right away, writing down gibberish at first and then fixing them to make them into coherent words and sentences (sometimes the gibberish was kept due to Omar's consideration that those first impressions went better with the music). For Omar, the album served as some sort of journal, a search for their roots. The fact that they were always touring, moving from place to place and encountering different culture clash, feeling that there is no real beginning or end. For Cedric Frances could be about finding the missing piece, trying to look for biological family as opposed to maybe realizing your family is whoever is around you at the time, creating a corpse that comes to life and becomes its own thing, a gigantic open-ended question, as opposed to a solid meaning or concept. The result was very loose and expressive, looking more to invite people to come up with their own interpretations on this big narrative, considering that the ideal way to present the project.
The songs were the first thing to end up being polished, with the lyric writing having a very particular process this time around. A lot of it was written on the spot at a time where Omar and Cedric were living together. Omar had a collection of TVs that he would stack and put different movies, like The Magnificent Seven or some Kurasawa films, in order to seek inspiration. Cedric would listen to the music first and then try coming up with the lyrics implementing elements from the diary. Things weren't constructed right away, writing down gibberish at first and then fixing them to make them into coherent words and sentences (sometimes the gibberish was kept due to Omar's consideration that those first impressions went better with the music). For Omar, the album served as some sort of journal, a search for their roots. The fact that they were always touring, moving from place to place and encountering different culture clash, feeling that there is no real beginning or end. For Cedric Frances could be about finding the missing piece, trying to look for biological family as opposed to maybe realizing your family is whoever is around you at the time, creating a corpse that comes to life and becomes its own thing, a gigantic open-ended question, as opposed to a solid meaning or concept. The result was very loose and expressive, looking more to invite people to come up with their own interpretations on this big narrative, considering that the ideal way to present the project.
Besides the musical influences, their main inspirations came from cinema, from directors such as Jodorowsky, Luis Buñuel and David Lynch, with their imagery and aesthetic inspired by the surrealism of those films. The end result was disorienting, full of details, open to interpretation; looking to create something that shakes things by the very foundation, leaving those who decide to check that work of art with something to remember. But that blend of cinema and music got extended even further, with the band not considering the interludes/in-between parts of the songs as such (as some minor filler that didn't get any sort of significance in the final album). To them it was all one long project with no sort of mindless pauses, having that ambiance as a way to suggest that there are things still happening while there is a build up for a major scene/song to happen. That blend of film with their music and lyrics resulted on a big focus on imagery lead by the sounds that were displayed, creating a very unique "movie for the ears". They wanted the "movie" to come out as a sort of black and white noir film, but it ended up becoming colorful as time moved on, and it was all sealed with Storm Thorgerson's colorful, mysterious, and haunting artwork (a man on a car with his face covered, as if he had no awareness of the direction he was heading to). The story that Jeremy found in the diary is completed and expanded in the album, with some impressive results at conceptualizing it, and being dedicated to their beloved friend and bandmember. As explained before, six songs were written, and even though only five made it to the final cut, the self titled song held coherence and consistency with the rest of the tracks, musically and lyrically, as the opener of the entire experience.
The final product was a story that blended incredibly well with the music that was being presented, with an evolving plot-line that was able to stand on its own as a complete narrative with a very dark and surrealist tone, full of open details. The tale of Vismund Cygnus, the man who lived a questionable finding out what he believes is the truth and seeking revenge by his own hand against those who hurt his biological family.
//What comes up next is a lyrical analysis in order to present what can be understood from the story, it is preferable if people decide to interpret the plot-line in their own way, but what comes here is what I consider the most consistent and understandable line of actions. Sentences or parts of the lyric explanation will be marked by numbers in order to be linked with the lyrics that are being analyzed//
The final product was a story that blended incredibly well with the music that was being presented, with an evolving plot-line that was able to stand on its own as a complete narrative with a very dark and surrealist tone, full of open details. The tale of Vismund Cygnus, the man who lived a questionable finding out what he believes is the truth and seeking revenge by his own hand against those who hurt his biological family.
//What comes up next is a lyrical analysis in order to present what can be understood from the story, it is preferable if people decide to interpret the plot-line in their own way, but what comes here is what I consider the most consistent and understandable line of actions. Sentences or parts of the lyric explanation will be marked by numbers in order to be linked with the lyrics that are being analyzed//
++Frances The Mute: The Mother++
A. In Thirteen Seconds
The build up of the beginning is lead by bells, almost resembling those of a church, establishing the veil of haunting tension and mystery of things to come. The perspective of Frances is introduced, assumed to be dead, despite the fact that she was aware of that faith, predicted to her by her own captors (1). Perhaps it was her own fault that things ended up the way they did, by falling in love and having an affair with those who would end up leading her to her death (2). Perhaps the love interest was a priest, but the guilt and remorse for those who were involved in the sin was unbearable (3), leading to Frances being stabbed with an icepick (4).
Point of view changes to that of the living son of the woman who was murdered, Vismund Cygnus, who removes and covers his scars, signs of his birth as a failed abortion (1). He imagines his mother talking to him during her pregnancy, being comforted and told that those who raped her and stole her purity would never harm him (2).
B. Nineteen Sank While Six Would Swim
(Title being a hint to the line "25 Wives in the lake tonight" seen on Faminepulse (Plant A Nail In The Navel Stream for the digital version), perhaps implying that there were more victims from these violations and murders)
The church would find out about the pregnancy of Frances, leading to her death, and the birth of Vismund Cygnus (1). The fetus was born out of a failed abortion, so his face was marked by scars of this incident (2). Frances's body was disposed of, to never be discovered by anyone (3). However, there was a witness to all of this, hidden inside a closet, looking at all of these events (4). Vismund reflects about his past, believing that those who killed his mother are the same as animals who kill for instinct (5). It was all settled, Cygnus was determined to take revenge for what was done to her mother (6). As for her mother, she was murdered in cold blood and on a cruel way, with someone coming into the church to find her unconscious after giving birth and then stabbing her, tying a rope around her legs and letting her body hand for seven days (7).
C. Five Would Grow And One Was Dead
This part is the one that leaves people in most confusion, one that is interpreted in multiple ways. But considering what would come right after in the story, this can be interpreted as both the witness, later revealed as Frances's sister L'Via, leaving the scene in denial of everything that had happened, looking to forget it all (1-2), or as Cygnus, who survived the abortion performed by powerful people to his mother, but ended up crawling into a life full of crime and unethical behavior on a dangerous environment (1-2) (something vaguely comparable to the broken windows theory).
The final section of the song, however, used the chords of Sarcophagi , but lacking vocals and being run through radio static, implying the passing of time before transitioning to the main story with Cygnus.
The build up of the beginning is lead by bells, almost resembling those of a church, establishing the veil of haunting tension and mystery of things to come. The perspective of Frances is introduced, assumed to be dead, despite the fact that she was aware of that faith, predicted to her by her own captors (1). Perhaps it was her own fault that things ended up the way they did, by falling in love and having an affair with those who would end up leading her to her death (2). Perhaps the love interest was a priest, but the guilt and remorse for those who were involved in the sin was unbearable (3), leading to Frances being stabbed with an icepick (4).
It's been thirteen seconds since you all last said (1)
I've become the apparition you predicted for my death (1)
You said that flirting brings you closer to the end (2)...
...And like a stain of bricks goes dancing by your head (3)
Plucked from an icebox, grafted on my skin (4)
My coat has hid the marks, mink hits the shovel fix (1)...
She said, "I'll never let them hurt you, I'll never let them in (2)
What you took from me is mine, and what is mine I'll never give" (2)
B. Nineteen Sank While Six Would Swim
(Title being a hint to the line "25 Wives in the lake tonight" seen on Faminepulse (Plant A Nail In The Navel Stream for the digital version), perhaps implying that there were more victims from these violations and murders)
The church would find out about the pregnancy of Frances, leading to her death, and the birth of Vismund Cygnus (1). The fetus was born out of a failed abortion, so his face was marked by scars of this incident (2). Frances's body was disposed of, to never be discovered by anyone (3). However, there was a witness to all of this, hidden inside a closet, looking at all of these events (4). Vismund reflects about his past, believing that those who killed his mother are the same as animals who kill for instinct (5). It was all settled, Cygnus was determined to take revenge for what was done to her mother (6). As for her mother, she was murdered in cold blood and on a cruel way, with someone coming into the church to find her unconscious after giving birth and then stabbing her, tying a rope around her legs and letting her body hand for seven days (7).
...Her ash, a serpent infancy (1)
And his eye patch pussed through a gape of sand (2)...
...And you'll never find her body now (3)
In a closet festered in secret air (4)...
...Mingle with the carnivores, you've something both in common now (5)...
...Swollen throat and karma debt (6)
Set foot inside a parlor, to find her drunken by receipts (7)
He held her by the ankles, gutted at the nave. Yes gutted and depraved (7)
He tied a rope around her legs. And let her hang for seven days (7)
C. Five Would Grow And One Was Dead
This part is the one that leaves people in most confusion, one that is interpreted in multiple ways. But considering what would come right after in the story, this can be interpreted as both the witness, later revealed as Frances's sister L'Via, leaving the scene in denial of everything that had happened, looking to forget it all (1-2), or as Cygnus, who survived the abortion performed by powerful people to his mother, but ended up crawling into a life full of crime and unethical behavior on a dangerous environment (1-2) (something vaguely comparable to the broken windows theory).
This never happened, but I saw you leave (1-2)
And crawl into a bed of broken windows (1-2)
The final section of the song, however, used the chords of Sarcophagi , but lacking vocals and being run through radio static, implying the passing of time before transitioning to the main story with Cygnus.
++Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus: The Bastard Son++
A. Sarcophagi
Cygnus, all grown up, laments that he has never been able to know his true roots, his origin of life (the "ocean floor"), is something covered in darkness that he is not yet able to see through (1). Cygnus lives in full of pain and sorrow, because all his life he had been trying to overcome the scars left behind by the uncertainty of his true origins to no success whatsoever (2).
Cygnus, all grown up, laments that he has never been able to know his true roots, his origin of life (the "ocean floor"), is something covered in darkness that he is not yet able to see through (1). Cygnus lives in full of pain and sorrow, because all his life he had been trying to overcome the scars left behind by the uncertainty of his true origins to no success whatsoever (2).
The ocean floor is hidden from your viewing lens. A depth perception languished in the night (1)
All my life I've been sowing the wounds. But the seeds sprout a lachrymal cloud (2)
B. Umbilical Syllables
Ever since he was a child, suffering surrounded Cygnus. All the pain and sadness built up like a poison inside of him, wanting to get out from where he was in order to seek for answers (Niño prepárate, que vas a sufrir/salte veneno/salte de aquí/labios temblando/vas a sufrir). Cygnus is seen looking through corpses in order to get any clues about his birth. He is frustrated by this (1), due to the fact that the bodies were on a poor state due to the need of the mortician to get rid of the load of work he had(2). Looking through countless bodies, Cygnus is determined to find anything that aids him with his search (3)
My nails peel back (1)
When the taxidermist ruined, goose stepped the freckling impatience (2)
And all the brittle tombs, five hundred little Q's. I'm splitting hair to match the faces (3)
Eventually, Cygnus finds some clues, he was the product of a failed abortion (1), all leads by a lineage of people who were used to these sort of crimes (2). Despite finding out all of this, a lot of information is still missing, feeling as if fierce talons were trying to cover something by getting rid of him (3). But even then, Cygnus was given a second chance as life, reborn as a sort of depraved phoenix, and he was not letting that go to waste (4).
Now this trail don't lie. An abortion that survived (1)
A lineage of bastard mastacation (2)
And all the severed proof, and talons scratch my suite (3)
These are the feathers that replace them (4)
Knowing all this, Cygnus is determined to leave his life behind in order to find out the truth even if it takes all his life (1). He is now reborn from rage, with raging blood flowing through his body (2). He was lied to all his life by her adoptive mother, who he doesn't feel like trusting anymore, and he is now looking for the answers in order to discover the truth (3).
Come on now. All night, I'll hunt for you (1)
Sangre sonando. De rabia nací (2)...
Who do you trust? Will they feed us the womb? Chrome the fetal mirage (3)
As Cygnus learned more and more about his past, the obsession started to get rid of that second chance that was given to him, as if it was a poison corroding his freedom (1). The clues are not enough to figure out who his mother was, and he wasn't taken care of by any of his biological family, so finding any sort of leads was important in that regard (2).
I found the remnants of a crescent fang, it cleaned my wing down to the bone (1)
Umbilical syllables left to decode. There was no cradle I can taste it (2)
However, Cygnus was no innocent person either. His life, full of vice and addictions/"plagues", such as smoking, as well as practicing questionable professions (1). Still, all the hints to his past that he managed to obtained were covered in lies, so those addictions came well in order to avoid reality with the more information that he stumbled upon (2).
Bring me this plague...those nicotine stains on his every word (1)
My scavenger quilt will only hide the truth. Bring me, bring me this plague (2)
Vismund is waiting patiently in order to find out more about the truth, hoping that knowing the names of his family members will allow him to connect them in order to discover what happened (1). He still suspects people to be covering what happened to his mother, and he suspects his mother to have been drowned in the river. But even then, with all the uncertainty, he knows one thing: his conception was violent, and her mother was murdered as soon as he was born (2).
I count the days to find what was left behind (1)
Only these names I clutch will lead me to my home (1)...
...Mothers and feathers start to drown the living proof (2)
I can't remember these lakes of blood, Wrapped in a blanket there sweats a cut (2)
The soundscapes presented after the song ends present street sounds, perhaps implying that Cygnus has started to move in search for answers. Cars, kids playing and running away from something, even if it was just sounds from Omar's street, it serves as a nice way of putting Cygnus's journey into motion.
++The Widow: The Observer++
The song dedicated to Jeremy Michael Ward, as it was established in many concerts. The perspective changes once again, now to that of The Widow, a woman who has been looking at Cygnus's actions from afar and is aware of how wrong and sinful they are. She describes Cygnus as someone who has problems speaking because of the condition of his lungs due to smoking, but he also may be addicted to other drugs (1). But despite being aware of all this, The Widow hears him, or remembers him, all the time, and his presence is something she can't seem to forget (maybe even being in love or having some sort of sexual affair with him) (2).
Hints at Cygnus being a drug dealer are dropped, and even more, all those who buy from him become addicted to his product, even getting to the point of having injuries caused by the poison that they consume, maybe caused by injecting the substance directly to their skin (1). However, despite all these wounds in the customers, Cygnus seems to be perfectly aware of how addictive the drugs he sells are (2). But even then, he wanders the streets regularly, like a snake prepared to deliver his poison to anyone that is determined to get it, giving in to their sinful desires (3).
Later on in the story it is revealed that Cygnus is also a prostitute (and maybe the poison he sells can also be linked to that part of his life), and maybe that is where the affection from The Widow towards him comes from, not ashamed of anything in the world (1), feeling as if they will never be alone as long as Cygnus is by their side (even going so far as to choose death instead of another night without the warmth that is given to them, considering the fact that Cygnus left that part of his life behind in order to search for answers, implying that The Widow might have killed themselves as seeing that their lover/the thing they are addicted to, is gone) (2).
The shortest song on the album, but also a very particular one. Being inspired by Cedric's mom's vision of the devil when she was young, looking at an ice cream vendor who she couldn't remember the face from, but also couldn't get the image of his chicken feet out of her head. With Zavala combining that with a dream of his own, where he encountered his father and he smeared black pudding on his face". It was also one of the two songs on the album to receive a music video. The band had stated that, with their intention of this resembling a film, a movie about the entire album could be made with no problem. The film influence leaked to the music videos coming from this album, but this one particularly, having a style reminiscent of surrealist cinema. That is why when it came for the artists themselves to direct the music videos, it became something important in order to further understand what was going on with the story, to get more pieces in order to interpret things on a more complete way (they even wanted to make a video for one of their long songs, but it wasn't too "commercial/friendly" for television at the time).
The song dedicated to Jeremy Michael Ward, as it was established in many concerts. The perspective changes once again, now to that of The Widow, a woman who has been looking at Cygnus's actions from afar and is aware of how wrong and sinful they are. She describes Cygnus as someone who has problems speaking because of the condition of his lungs due to smoking, but he also may be addicted to other drugs (1). But despite being aware of all this, The Widow hears him, or remembers him, all the time, and his presence is something she can't seem to forget (maybe even being in love or having some sort of sexual affair with him) (2).
He's got fasting black lungs, made of clove splintered shards (1)
They're the kind that will talk, through a wheezing of coughs (1)
And I hear him every night, in every pore, and every time he just makes me warm (2)
Hints at Cygnus being a drug dealer are dropped, and even more, all those who buy from him become addicted to his product, even getting to the point of having injuries caused by the poison that they consume, maybe caused by injecting the substance directly to their skin (1). However, despite all these wounds in the customers, Cygnus seems to be perfectly aware of how addictive the drugs he sells are (2). But even then, he wanders the streets regularly, like a snake prepared to deliver his poison to anyone that is determined to get it, giving in to their sinful desires (3).
Look at how they flock to him, from an isle of open sores (1)
He knows that the taste is such, such to die for (2)
And I hear him every night, on every street, the scales that do slither deliver me from (3)
Later on in the story it is revealed that Cygnus is also a prostitute (and maybe the poison he sells can also be linked to that part of his life), and maybe that is where the affection from The Widow towards him comes from, not ashamed of anything in the world (1), feeling as if they will never be alone as long as Cygnus is by their side (even going so far as to choose death instead of another night without the warmth that is given to them, considering the fact that Cygnus left that part of his life behind in order to search for answers, implying that The Widow might have killed themselves as seeing that their lover/the thing they are addicted to, is gone) (2).
Freeze without an answer, free from all the same (1)
Then I'll hide, 'cause I'll never, never sleep alone (2)...
...Let me die, 'cause I'll never, never sleep alone (2)
The shortest song on the album, but also a very particular one. Being inspired by Cedric's mom's vision of the devil when she was young, looking at an ice cream vendor who she couldn't remember the face from, but also couldn't get the image of his chicken feet out of her head. With Zavala combining that with a dream of his own, where he encountered his father and he smeared black pudding on his face". It was also one of the two songs on the album to receive a music video. The band had stated that, with their intention of this resembling a film, a movie about the entire album could be made with no problem. The film influence leaked to the music videos coming from this album, but this one particularly, having a style reminiscent of surrealist cinema. That is why when it came for the artists themselves to direct the music videos, it became something important in order to further understand what was going on with the story, to get more pieces in order to interpret things on a more complete way (they even wanted to make a video for one of their long songs, but it wasn't too "commercial/friendly" for television at the time).
The music video for The Widow was the one with the most production value added to it, having some of the most elaborated imagery up to that point. Things fall fairly within what could be seen with the lyrics, with Cygnus being a drug dealer that a lot of people in town are aware of, having a very elegant manner that is notices even by a Widow who retells his actions. Carrying the drug he sells into the city (on something resembling an ice cream cart) and making everyone addicted to it, seeming to be aware of how addictive it is. Targeting those who seem the most innocent or clueless of the situation, symbolized as children. Every new person that comes to judge him is marked by him and made into a new customer, even if they decide to do so from very afar. The town is twisted and full of odd actions from the townsfolk. The church is a place where the priest seems to be revered himself, with bones being brought to him as a sort of sacrifice (perhaps representing all the dead bodies that the church's actions caused), along side a snake, representing sinful actions on everything that happens across the video (and perhaps even representing the fact that people become addicted to the drug and give in to a snake, to their sins, giving away their connection to God). An addiction that makes people cry the same substance that they are consuming, since they are aware of the true coast of the drug. In the end, Cygnus himself walks alone, with no one being with him on his journey, but he himself is addicted to the drug, crying the same way as everyone who was addicted to the things they sold.
++L'Via L'Viaquez: The Sister++
In the middle of his journey, Cygnus finds his biological aunt, L'Via (then finding out that Miranda is the name of his grandmother), who changed her last name to L'Viaquez (1) because she witnessed Frances getting killed by the priests and thinks that the church is looking for her (2). However, L'Via does have information to give to Cygnus, the main thing being that he was born the same night when her mother died (having the knowledge of a missing relative being a pain for both of them), and that the only thing that remained from her was the dress that Frances was wearing while being stabbed, with L'Via washing off the blood in order to keep it as a memory (3).
L'Via. Hija de Miranda. Tu apellido se cambió (1)
L'Via. Sin ojos me quieres dar una historia sin mi madre (2)
Solo tengo que decirte. El dolor de nohe dice. Solo se quedó el vestido, Le lavé la sangre (3)
Due to the fact that L'Via believes that the church is after her in order to kill her in order to eliminate the only witness of what happened to Frances (2), she is always on the run (1). Cygnus then, now knowing what happened to her mother, tells her that she can finally take a rest, to open her eyes and look at him, because her dreams of revenge will be fulfilled by Cygnus, promising that those who killed Frances will pay for their actions (3).
L'Via. No dejes de descansar. En la calle caminas ¿quién te va a perseguir? (1)
L'Via. Te quieren matar. Dientes de machete, cabeza de gallo (2)
L'Via, Durmiendo en paz. Abre los ojos, todo cambiará (3)
L'Via. Soñando de venganza. Y yo te lo juro, lo van a pagar (3)
Cygnus rests for a short period of time, but he has no time to waste while moving closer towards those who committed the crime (1). It has been twenty five years since he was born that faithful night (twenty five also representing what was seen on Frances The Mute), and all the bodies and injustice are still restless due to what had been done to them (2). L'Via seems to be restless as well, and even when she devoted herself to the church (drinking the blood, and eating the body of Christ), she can't help but to cry for what happened to her sister (3). Words and promised from the church crawled into L'Via's thoughts, as a form of comforting her, telling her that they wouldn't hurt her at all, but she still doesn't seem to trust them (4).
Sólo tengo una hora, y me duermo terminado (1)
Por veinticinco años pasaron, siguen los cuerpos aquí temblando (2)
Tomé la sangre, comí el cuerpo. Mis lagrimas quiebran el espejo (3)
When all the worms come crawling out your head. Telling you "Don't you be afraid " (4)
L'Via was blackmailed by the church and forced to stay quiet for fear of getting killed (1), but it is implied that Frances and L'Via were not the only victims of these people. It seems that more victims suffered the same faith as the sisters (either raped, killed, or silenced), and they all seem to look for justice (2). Vismund finds other cases, other bodies, uncovering a history of violence and extortion from the people who killed his mother (3). But even as he finds more and more destruction on his path, he has one thing clear on his thoughts, he won't forget the murderers who he is looking for (4).
Blackmailed, she fell off every mountain (1)
The ones they tightly wrapped in tape (2)
In her eraser sang the guilty, as it made the best mistakes (2)...
...Urgent plea of escape. A mouth to mouth on the chalkboard, written in fingernail distaste (2)
And with every body that I find, and with every claymore that they mine (3)
I won't forget who I'm looking for, oh mother help me I'm looking for (4)
This song was the second single, and the second and final track to receive a music video. This time around, production value was dropped, and what is used more here is an incredible amount of surreal imagery with different symbolism, so "decoding" all of this is very much subjective. Still, getting lead by what could be seen from the story, some things can be interpreted in certain ways. At the very beginning of the video, representation of priests and religious objects are shown surrounding moving corpses/different bodies inside the ground, as well as people with chicken heads (considering that the chicken might also be a metaphor for sacrifice and that that particular imagery is described in the song itself). A silhouette of a kid running around can also be perceived, perhaps representing Cygnus himself. A lake of blood, with bodies floating with the current, symbolizing a history of violence and murders. The imagery of priests, different women, and dancing corpses, is stronger with every passing moment, but it is all tied to the same symbolism: Death. A figure crying on the top of skulls, displaying tragedy, and again implying that there are a lot of victims. Images of eyes are hidden all throughout the video, as if they were symbolizing someone witnessing something they were not supposed to. Definitely going along well with the lyrical content of the song.
++Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore: The Grandmother++
A. Vade Mecum
The sounds of the coqui of Puerto Rico imply calm after a long journey, Cygnus has found another crucial piece in the puzzle: the whereabouts of grandmother Miranda. The title itself might have more weight to the lyrical content, implying that Miranda was once part of the church, but that she became an outcast, ignored, and treated as a dead person, just as if she were nothing but a meaningless ghost who lives haunted by the past.
B. Pour Another Icepick
Miranda would like to have another chance at looking at any of her daughters in order to talk to them one more time (1), even if it was about the tragic things that happened (but now that Cygnus is in front of her, she is finally prepared to have that difficult and painful conversation). However, just like L'Via, Miranda thinks that she is being spied on, so she couldn't find any way to contact her family due to fear to those who she thinks are after her (2). That group of dangerous people, the clergymen, is represented once again as Owls/Crows/Chickens, who constructed a specific environment meant to stop and tear Miranda, and maybe others that were trying to unveil the truth (these ones implied as failing in doing so), apart. However, Miranda was not stopped, and despite the things done too her, she kept fighting on in order to stay alive (3). The church's influence did a lot of things to tear Miranda's life, even killing her own blood, Frances, with an ice pick the night Cygnus was born (4).
Miranda was aware of the existence of Cygnus, knowing that he and his mother were separated when he was born (1). However, even after such a long time since everything happened, the corpses are still noticeable to her, but even with the traces left behind by the church they would do anything to kill those who know in order to maintain the silence (2). Miranda knows about everything that the church has done, thus why she might have been a part of the church at one point, and she knows that her daughter wasn't the only victim from their actions. There were more women involved, killed by being drowned on a lake to cover the church's actions, but one day those actions would leave for all the piling blood to take their revenge upon them, and that is what Miranda truly wants (with that day being near, with Miranda telling Cygnus those last details he needed in order for him to fulfill his promise to L'Via) (3).
The chorus is the most important part of the song, the one that explains why she seeks revenge but why she wasn't able to speak the truth. Miranda wanted everyone to know what happened, but no one listened, as the church had a lot of weight with all the citizens, who followed orders without hesitation. Miranda was ignored, or even silenced, thus why her need for justice grew stronger with the passing of time.
B. Pour Another Icepick
Miranda would like to have another chance at looking at any of her daughters in order to talk to them one more time (1), even if it was about the tragic things that happened (but now that Cygnus is in front of her, she is finally prepared to have that difficult and painful conversation). However, just like L'Via, Miranda thinks that she is being spied on, so she couldn't find any way to contact her family due to fear to those who she thinks are after her (2). That group of dangerous people, the clergymen, is represented once again as Owls/Crows/Chickens, who constructed a specific environment meant to stop and tear Miranda, and maybe others that were trying to unveil the truth (these ones implied as failing in doing so), apart. However, Miranda was not stopped, and despite the things done too her, she kept fighting on in order to stay alive (3). The church's influence did a lot of things to tear Miranda's life, even killing her own blood, Frances, with an ice pick the night Cygnus was born (4).
I always wanted, to eat glass with you again (1)
But I never knew how, how to talk without walls dropping on the eave (2)
The nest they made couldn't break you. Along the fallen, scowled a fence of beaks (3)
But the temple is scathing, through your veins they were scaling (4)
Through an ice pick of abscess reckoning (4)
Miranda was aware of the existence of Cygnus, knowing that he and his mother were separated when he was born (1). However, even after such a long time since everything happened, the corpses are still noticeable to her, but even with the traces left behind by the church they would do anything to kill those who know in order to maintain the silence (2). Miranda knows about everything that the church has done, thus why she might have been a part of the church at one point, and she knows that her daughter wasn't the only victim from their actions. There were more women involved, killed by being drowned on a lake to cover the church's actions, but one day those actions would leave for all the piling blood to take their revenge upon them, and that is what Miranda truly wants (with that day being near, with Miranda telling Cygnus those last details he needed in order for him to fulfill his promise to L'Via) (3).
...Separating the mother from child (1)
She can bat a broken eyelid, raining maggots from its sty (2)
And with the traces that she leaves, she will skin you out alive (2)...
...And the dam she will break, make an ocean from this lake, as they siphon off all our blood (3)
The chorus is the most important part of the song, the one that explains why she seeks revenge but why she wasn't able to speak the truth. Miranda wanted everyone to know what happened, but no one listened, as the church had a lot of weight with all the citizens, who followed orders without hesitation. Miranda was ignored, or even silenced, thus why her need for justice grew stronger with the passing of time.
And when Miranda sang
Everyone turned away
Used to the noose they obey
++Cassandra Gemini++
A. Tarantism
We are not aware of how long has passed since Cygnus visited Miranda, but one thing is certain, revenge is the thing that is driving him now. However, perspective seems to change, maybe to that of the so called Cassandra Gemini as an alter ego to Vismund, but things still follow a path set by a desire to provide justice by one's hand (so being sure if Cygnus is the one telling this side of the story is hard to decipher, since there seem to be multiple people involved from this point onward, being that this last track is the one that holds the most cryptic lyrics out of the bunch, but also being the one with some of the most important elements to the story. Still, this is a best attempt at maintaining everything on a coherent way with the rest of the story). Vismund has promised and decided to take revenge on the people who murdered his mother, but he realized he became just like them, just like those people who he hates. He would end up, or has ended up, considering that the tone and mood of the music resembles the intensity seen much later down the song, as nothing more than a killer.
B. Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream
The perspective changes, and we are now presented to another narrator: a decrepit and perverted man who falls victim of a prostitute that gives him a lap dance and a sexual service. She was an "old decrepit prowl", but the man still decided to perform the sexual act in a very rough way, placing his hands on her torso, almost as if he was humping her. But after all that is done, she ends up damaging the man who had used her for her own pleasure. It is not specified if she was a killer, but perhaps she kept the bodies, or memories, of men as her own trophies (just like the men who wanted to be with her wanted to keep her as a sort of trophy to themselves). She has a certain elegance, a fancy way of acting, but her heels, the trail she leaves behind, scream of death (sarcophagus heels). It can only be assumed that the prostitute who commits these action is none other than Cassandra Gemini, and she might me the trans alter ego taken by Vismund Cygnus in order to take revenge on the men who murdered Frances, the mute silenced with death by those who committed sinful actions to her (the reason why the theory of why Cassandra is the same person as Vismund is lead by the fact that this point of view of perhaps a woman committing some murders is not heavily changed throughout the song, and knowing that Cygnus is the one seeking revenge, then associating the two into one identity makes sense for a lot of people).
Point of view changes again, with Vismund falling to his knees, as if he was praying, because everything was taken away from him in birth, seeking revenge the bible scriptures being used as weapons to take advantage from innocent people (1). He is blinded by rage (2), not only because her mother had been killed, but also because her body had been tried to be hidden and disposed of in the Morgue (something he was suspecting when searching bodies at the beginning of his journey) (3). He has promised to kill everyone that participated in those acts (4). All those who survived where threatened or "comforted" by the church, but those words turn into dangerous worms causing panic and fear to those who try to escape, just like what happened with L'Via, unable to live a normal life due to those things, invading her sight, her words, and her thoughts. (5)
But even then, knowing all of that and being aware of the fact that he wants to take revenge, something is still not clear, and his dark thoughts and actions seem to blind him even further, as if something was hiding from him.
It seems like someone is speaking to Vismund. He knows that Vismund left his life behind in order to pursue this dream of avenging his dead mother, being something that seems to drain him completely (1). Anyone would tell Cygnus that this search was meant to fail, that it would bring him nothing in reward (2). He is told that his mother was most likely a whore, who got herself involved in that problem by flirting with the one who would end up killing her, realizing how wrong her actions were too late, just as she was giving birth to Cygnus (3).
Cygnus finally confirms it and has no doubt about it: her mother was murdered when he was born, and he was tried to aborted. But knowing the truth doesn't free him from his pain, and he has decided to leave everything once again in pursue of vengeance, thoughtless violence, without feeling anything, not even remorse or compassion.
We are not aware of how long has passed since Cygnus visited Miranda, but one thing is certain, revenge is the thing that is driving him now. However, perspective seems to change, maybe to that of the so called Cassandra Gemini as an alter ego to Vismund, but things still follow a path set by a desire to provide justice by one's hand (so being sure if Cygnus is the one telling this side of the story is hard to decipher, since there seem to be multiple people involved from this point onward, being that this last track is the one that holds the most cryptic lyrics out of the bunch, but also being the one with some of the most important elements to the story. Still, this is a best attempt at maintaining everything on a coherent way with the rest of the story). Vismund has promised and decided to take revenge on the people who murdered his mother, but he realized he became just like them, just like those people who he hates. He would end up, or has ended up, considering that the tone and mood of the music resembles the intensity seen much later down the song, as nothing more than a killer.
I think I've become one of the others
B. Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream
The perspective changes, and we are now presented to another narrator: a decrepit and perverted man who falls victim of a prostitute that gives him a lap dance and a sexual service. She was an "old decrepit prowl", but the man still decided to perform the sexual act in a very rough way, placing his hands on her torso, almost as if he was humping her. But after all that is done, she ends up damaging the man who had used her for her own pleasure. It is not specified if she was a killer, but perhaps she kept the bodies, or memories, of men as her own trophies (just like the men who wanted to be with her wanted to keep her as a sort of trophy to themselves). She has a certain elegance, a fancy way of acting, but her heels, the trail she leaves behind, scream of death (sarcophagus heels). It can only be assumed that the prostitute who commits these action is none other than Cassandra Gemini, and she might me the trans alter ego taken by Vismund Cygnus in order to take revenge on the men who murdered Frances, the mute silenced with death by those who committed sinful actions to her (the reason why the theory of why Cassandra is the same person as Vismund is lead by the fact that this point of view of perhaps a woman committing some murders is not heavily changed throughout the song, and knowing that Cygnus is the one seeking revenge, then associating the two into one identity makes sense for a lot of people).
There was a frail syrup dripping off his lap danced lapel
Punctuated by her decrepit prowl, she washed down the hatching gizzard
Soft as a mane of needles, his orifice icibles hemorrhaged by combing her torso to a pile
Perspired the trophy shelves made room for his collapse
She was a mink hand job in sarcophagus heels
Bring me to my knees, read the sharpened lines (1)
All my arms bled me blind (2)
Faucet leaks in shadows, spilling from Morgue lancet caressed your fontanelle (3)
I've sworn to kill every last one (4)
Panic in the shakes of the wounded, panic in the worms (5)
Onto the floor, and out of your mouth and out of your eyelids (5)
But even then, knowing all of that and being aware of the fact that he wants to take revenge, something is still not clear, and his dark thoughts and actions seem to blind him even further, as if something was hiding from him.
No there's no light.
In the darkest of your furthest reaches
It seems like someone is speaking to Vismund. He knows that Vismund left his life behind in order to pursue this dream of avenging his dead mother, being something that seems to drain him completely (1). Anyone would tell Cygnus that this search was meant to fail, that it would bring him nothing in reward (2). He is told that his mother was most likely a whore, who got herself involved in that problem by flirting with the one who would end up killing her, realizing how wrong her actions were too late, just as she was giving birth to Cygnus (3).
All your dreams splintered off, leech by leech on this catafalque (1)
Anyone will tell you, yes, anyone, chance had me setting a trip wire alarm (2)
Your mother flirted with disease, when she skinned that costume by its navel strings (3)
Cygnus finally confirms it and has no doubt about it: her mother was murdered when he was born, and he was tried to aborted. But knowing the truth doesn't free him from his pain, and he has decided to leave everything once again in pursue of vengeance, thoughtless violence, without feeling anything, not even remorse or compassion.
Shockless shackles free you, volt face cons
Abandon you again. I won't feel, not this time
C. Faminepulse
Cygnus knows the complete story now. He was born at night, while her mother was stabbed and killed by the clergymen who raped her, leaving him as nothing but a failed abortion (1). He sees that part religion as a flawed thing, giving people hope, but ultimately damaging them like they did with his family, and he would like the clergymen to taste the same pain (2).
Brick by brick the night eclipsed, pricked by cuticle thorns (1)
Dried the sleep of nursery slits, into this life I'm born (1)
Heaven't just a scab away. I'd like to see you after just one taste (2)
Cygnus survived that faithful night, but the clergymen did nothing concerning his life. In that regard, and wanting to take revenge, he wants them to know he is still alive, and he is going after them.
Let them see it has begin. The others I've become.
Her mother lived a sinful life, full of vice and questionable actions that ultimately lead to her demise, further seduced by sin itself, but Cygnus's life is no different, he is living in a very similar path as the one her mother walked on.
If you should see the dice. Charmed with its snaked choked eyes
You'll wear the widows weeds, because they're just your size
It was just about time before Cygnus got to this point, but even if it took long, he looks the nature of his birth as a deformity, with no fate besides the one he seemed to be fulfilling (1). He has everything prepared to complete his vengeance, and its more like an addiction than anything at that point (2)
...A limbless procreation, let the infant crawl deformed (1)...
...And now when the craving calls I'll scratch my itchy sheath (2)
L'Via found out about Frances's affair by the words and whispers of others, but she decided to keep quiet and cry in secret (1). The night of her sister's death, L'Via saw her being drowned on the river and being performed a failed abortion (2). And the followers of the priest who had raped and killed Frances obeyed without objection, destroying the evidence and the lives of those families who were related to the priest's affairs, letting everything burn with no remorse (3).
She fell for the whispers, sister flooded deaf tears (1)
That night tore a river, in her barren womb mirror (2)
And his multiple sons with their mandible tongues (3)
Set crucified fires to petrified homes (3)
The clergymen seemed to be aware of all these actions, but they were apathetic about it (1). They knew that Cygnus had survived and tried to kill him, unsuccessfully of course, as well as trying to get rid of all the evidence (2). They benefit from covering all this, letting their influence untouched and strong (3). They even seemed to be aware that L'Via had been a witness to all of this, but they either ignored her or decided to take care of it later (blackmailing her), but she didn't receive the same faith as her sister in the end (4). All the evidence was disposed of, and conceived from that murder was Cygnus, Vismund Cygnus (5).
(Another big interpretation of all this is that, due to the use of "talon scratches" in Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus, these are real owls. They were waiting to eat Cygnus after, leaving some scars on him while L'Via fled the scene she had just witnessed, but ending up leaving him alive. It is still a valid interpretation, but doesn't follow too much the path of the man story)
And the owls they were watching, and the owls didn't care (1)
Then the owls came a'knocking, placenta in their stares (2)
They will feed on all the carnage, leftover from the flood (3)
And in the corner of their eyes, fled sister L'Via (4)
...Conceived from the stabbing was Vismund Cygnus (5)
There were more victims of these vile people, probably twenty five, something which was hinted early on, who fell victims of the church that seemed to be their salvation at first, but ended up giving in to temptation, perhaps even being stabbed in the same way as Frances, just to then be drowned on the lake, disposed of along side the evidence to keep the good image of the church intact.
25 wives in the lake tonight. Raw bark in the water of the marble shrine
25 snakes pour out your eyes. Yeah, the ice picks cumming on the marble shrine
25 snakes are drowning
Vismund seems to have finally got the revenge he wanted, or seems to be getting close to get it. He aims to inflict the same damage to all those who he saw as guilty, because he thinks that they made the victims suffer the same way Jesus did (1). Their death is getting near, and there is nothing they can do to avoid it (2). There seemed to be no refuge in the church for those who were wounded, full of murderers and rapists, but Vismund aims to make them feel as if their sins wouldn't be forgiven, and they wouldn't be shielded even inside their safe churches (3). Only their death awaits them, a punishment to eliminate all their breath as if it happened to be some sort of divine punishment (4). But still, with that rage and desire for vengeance, Vismund knows that her only chance at having a true family was buried with Frances, controlling her and Vismund's life even after death, and the crows would come to him once again, bringing nothing but pain (5). It seems that nothing but darkness awaits for him, and it feels as if something was still covering a bigger truth (6).
You can't bend your crooked arms, or fold your punctured proof (1)
The air is growing cold, and there's nothing you can do (2)
Soon there'll be no gauze, inside the confessional (3)
Only rows of crows, defrocking every breath (4)
One day you'll remember, behind the melting cones (5)
You've always had a family, in the burial of your home (5)
Night forevermore. And I peel back all of my skin. Peel it back let it all run (6)
D. Multiple Spouse Wounds
The promise of justice is repeated once again, as if it had been already fulfilled by Cygnus (I'd like to see you after just one taste), however, the darkness and uncertainty still remain in his life. His search, the truth, his lifelong journey to seek his origins, it all resulted on hollow bloodshed that still left him unsatisfied, living in the darkness. He got out of that long journey with nothing, his life, his motivation, it was all just a lie.
In the darkness of your furthest reaches (You ain't got nothing, your life was just a lie)
E. Sarcophagi
And just as if it were a dream, just as if everything that had happened so far: the people Vismund encountered, the revenge he took upon the priests, the life he left behind; it was as if everything was just a lie, a product of his imagination. We can't know for sure if everything was just an illusion caused by his drug addiction, or if all the things happened but Cygnus just can't seem to recall them at all, but one thing is for certain: it all came back full circle, to a state of never-ending uncertainty, with Cygnus lamenting not knowing, or perhaps wanting to forget, his past. No reward, no answers, nothing is certain. Crying in the night, with more wounds than ever before, uncertain of what is real or what is fiction, in complete and utter solitude.
The ocean floor is hidden from your viewing lens. A depth perception languished in the night
All my life I've been sowing the wounds. But the seeds sprout a lachrymal cloud
++
And that is how the story of Frances The Mute comes to an end. The way that Cedric and Omar were able to adapt Jeremy's anecdote with the unknown journal, turning it into a surreal and cryptic narrative that unveils crude and impressive imagery, is nothing short but respectable. It is not much just a story about revenge in cold by a bastard son seeking justice by his own hand, but something that touches addiction in many different forms. Vismund Cygnus being someone who is a drug dealer, aware of how addictive his product is, but also addicted to finding out the truth about his past. Both of these dominate his life, and once he starts unveiling his true origins, he becomes addicted to his anger and to take revenge upon those who killed his mother. The Widow is addicted to him, addicted to the warmth that Cygnus brings to her, killing herself when she finds out he will be gone from her life forever. L'Via and Miranda, both addicted to the past and to revenge as well, with those two being the things that ruled their lives with fear. The church itself, using religion as a way to fulfill their own sexual addictions. Cassandra, what can be interpreted as Cygnus alter ego, prostitutes for money, but is also addicted into taking the life out of the men who she sleeps with. It is that addiction that brings them nothing in the end, living an unfulfilled life, full of fear, pain, and panic; sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness.
It all comes full cycle on a fantastic narrative that does what all good concept albums should do: leave things open to interpretation, while complementing the music with the lyrics, transmitting different emotions while having a consistent set of characters and actions going on in a surreal world full of details. Frances The Mute was not only The Mars Volta's highest musical achievement, but it also showed their full potential in executing a concept in the best way possible. It was a balance between the incredible compositions, the haunting soundscapes, and the enigmatic lyrics. The story they provided was immersive, and they managed to pull it off on an excellent way. Jeremy's memory was honored, and the band moved on with their musical career steeping things up even more, expressing themselves as freely as they wanted to.
Truly, something fascinating to witness as a whole.
Frances The Mute
The Mars Volta's second album is, without shadow of a doubt, a complete masterpiece in the style that was unique to the band. Every element presented on their debut album is expanded and polished here, with the band applying all their influences and abilities into songs that were crafted following their own creative and personal vision. A lot of people who criticize then want more of the raw and frantic energy that At The Drive-In had, as if Omar and Cedric had an obligation to replicate that part of their lives, but that really wasn’t the case, and there really isn’t a point in comparing the two. The Mars Volta showed with this record that those days were behind, presenting a different energy, much more intense and complex on its arrangements, open to live improvisation and to a methodical formula for writing the music.
It was completely free from people outside the group who conditioned their vision, and Omar was able to record and produce the album in the way he saw fit, pushing all the members beyond their limits and bringing a long experience of an album that asks for the patience of the listener in order to deliver a big and rewarding payoff. There is a carefully crafted balance between the explosions of adrenaline and the mellow passages, with atmospheric interludes that keep this as a non-stopping experience that knows no breaks, but that knows how and why every element is used the way it is. If any of these elements were to be removed, the final product would be much different, since they help with both the music and the story being told through the lyrics that were themselves molded on top of the structure of the instrumental, while also being something that was dedicated once again to their beloved friend and ex-bandmate Jeremy Michael Ward. Presenting the story of Vismund Cygnus, a twenty five year old prostitute drug dealer whose investigation had lead him to find out that he was a failed abortion who was conceived out of rape, while her mother, Frances, was killed the same night of his conception. By contacting his aunt, L'Via, and his grandmother, Miranda, he gets enough information about those who took his mother's life, swearing to avenge his mother, disguising himself as a woman, taking the name of Cassandra, in order to fulfill his wishes for revenge. The lyrics adapt to the instrumental arrangements, being the main focus of the album, and they become both another instrument (due to Cedric's simply incredible and unprecedented vocal performance) as well as a world of its own, making up for one of the best concept albums to ever be crafted in music.
The music itself is simply a unique universe, being the perfect balance between all the influences that The Mars Volta had since their early days. From the heavy psychedelia and guitar precision from bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Pink Floyd, to the personality in how everything is presented ending up in creating a musical world unique to the artist, inspired by acts like Magma or CAN, the technical and theatrical elements on the music, coming from Genesis and King Crimson, to embracing their original roots with their prominent latin influences (with even Omar's childhood hero Larry Harlow participating on the record), to even adapting their heavy jazz fusion influences, mostly notably coming from Miles Davis' electric era, on both the way the music was recorded and how new elements were implemented into the music. It all results on tracks that simply have all their pieces fitting together. From the calm and misleading opening of Cygnus, leading into a frantic and powerful song, the bittersweet emotion conveyed on an energetic way during The Widow, the latin roots being appropriated and transformed into the lively and erratic L'Via L'Viaquez, the bleeding and beautiful melancholy of Miranda, and the colossal and continuous instrumental climax of the monster that is Cassandra Gemini (and even the self-titled single, following along with the spirit of the album, having been removed due to the lack of space on the final packaging, but still being maintained as a vital element to get the complete experience).
Frances The Mute presents itself as one of the most forward thinking albums that can't really be compared to anything else, but that just takes from many places in order to create a layered, complex, and immersive experience. It is the final statement that an artist dedicated to his creative goals, artistic visions, and with an evident love for his music can manage to create. Not only is it a behemoth of an experience that has a monumental thirty two minute pinnacle serving as the climax for an album that already started showcasing everything that it could achieve, fleshing out that potential from beginning to end, but it was also the culmination of everything The Mars Volta had been working on until that point. All the influences are blended into one dynamic, engaging, non-stop flow of punches to the brain, the ear, and the soul of the one who is listening. An experience that seems to violently shift between atmospheres and tones at random points, just for the listener to eventually figure out that it is all intentional. It all has a reason to be, every element has a reason to exist, and it even goes to the length of reusing motives and ideas in order to go full circle, to enclose this as a world of its own, to show an otherworldly conclusion to what was an already otherworldly experience, simply majestic in every possible aspect.
It is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it doesn’t have to be. It is not a record for everyone, since the long songs and the long interludes ask a lot of patience from the listener, which can see them as mindless filler or "instrumental/prog wankery". The layers of detail, of a non stop flow that has an unconventional way of structuring itself, offer something that will not be of the liking of a lot of people, but it does have a lot to offer to those who know what they are in for. They were not aiming to create a masterpiece or something that pleased audiences, it simply was their own and unique way to express themselves, using those long songs and those long interludes as a way to craft a record in the way they wanted to, with no creative limitations. It is completely understandable if people see this as flawed or pretentious, but for many this is a band on their absolute peak. Despite everything looking like a mess for some, it is simply an organized chaos, and their live shows are more than enough proof of that, with the band replicating all these elements, and even fleshing them out to a further extent, with long concerts that were free and loose in experience, but that were lead with the passion and technicality that were some of the main components to the unique spirit of the band. A band that gave their all in any setting, showing a strong chemistry and ability with their music.
The Mars Volta were a group that didn't fall into any sort of name or label, being something quite unique that was lead by the vision of artists distinguishing themselves from what they considered as the norm in music. With the use of their many and varied influences, they created a sound that knew no age, that was timeless in how creative and isolated it was, free in spirit, and layered in execution. They invited anyone to witness the move like soundscapes that they had created. Frances The Mute was not only a staple on their career, but on the world of progressive rock and music in general, being a one of a kind project that will never meet a match in any aspect, simply because getting to this level of personality and intention in creating an album is incredibly hard. It cemented them even further as a band that had a lot to offer with their particular vision, being something that will never be replicated in history. It is a unique experience that has to be heard in order to be fully understood.
A complete and absolute masterpiece.
amazing review
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