Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez are still tagged as ex-At The Drive-In. This isn’t appropriate, because although they were members of that band, there are now six Mars Volta albums since those days.
In turn, the debut LP from the pair’s Antemasque project is an obvious departure from The Mars Volta’s fiddly future-prog.
It’s unclear what exactly the issue was, but it’s fairly obvious Rodriguez- Lopez despised At The Drive-In. This record’s been touted a return to Cedric and Omar’s punk roots. In some ways it is – many songs feature fast, consistent tempos and are over in a jiffy, plus there’s not a huge amount of messing around on the guitar – but it’s entirely without At The Drive-In’s loose, manic delivery.
The main connection between them is that At The Drive-In’s name comes from a line in Poison’s ‘Talk Dirty To Me’. Here, ‘50,000 Kilowatts’ is an ode to glam metal power ballads, featuring an appropriately cheesy us-against-the-world chorus. Album highlight ‘Drown All Your Witches’ is an earnest homage to acoustic Zeppelin, which is admittedly an incongruous inclusion.
Antemasque welcomes back conventional song structures and nearly legible lyrics. However, like The Mars Volta’s recent releases, it ultimately fails to excite.
2.5/5.
Antemasqueis out now through Nadie Sound/Caroline.
