De-Loused in the Comatorium
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| Entertainment Weekly | (A-) link |
| Pitchfork Media | (4.9/10) link |
| Popmatters | (Positive) link |
| Q | link |
| Robert Christgau | (C+) link |
| Rolling Stone |  link |
| Stylus Magazine | (B+) link |
De-Loused in the Comatorium is the debut studio album of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta. Released on June 24, 2003 on Gold Standard Laboratories and Universal Records, De-loused is based on a short story written by lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and sound manipulation artist Jeremy Michael Ward. The album is an hour-long tale of Cerpin Taxt, a man who tries to kill himself by overdosing on a mixture of morphine and rat poison. The attempt lands him in a week-long coma during which he experiences visions of humanity and his own psyche. Upon waking, he is dissatisfied with the real world and jumps to his death. The story of Cerpin Taxt alludes to the death of El Paso, Texas artist - and Bixler-Zavala's friend - Julio Venegas. (Ominously enough, founding member Jeremy Michael Ward was found dead in an apparent heroin overdose one month before the album was released.)
Two songs from the album, "Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)" and "Cicatriz ESP," first appeared in 2001 as the band's very first demo recordings with bassist Eva Gardner and drummer Blake Fleming; notably, the early version of "Cicatriz ESP" (then known as "Cicatrix") was slower and much shorter (4 minutes) than the album one (at 12 minutes being the longest track on the album). Both tracks can be legally obtained through The Comatorium's trading forum.
De-Loused became, both critically and commercially, the band's biggest hit, eventually selling in excess of 500,000 copies despite limited promotion, and was featured on several critics' "Best of the Year" lists.[1] The album was ranked number 55 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time.[2] "Drunkship of Lanterns" was named the 91st best guitar song of all-time by Rolling Stone.[3]
The music contained in De-Loused is distinguished by its enigmatic lyrics, latin and jazz rhythms, and Omar Rodríguez-López's frenetic guitar riffs, which are often harshly dissonant. The title of this album is taken from the lyrics of the song "Eunuch Provocateur" on the band's previous release, Tremulant. The cover artwork is by Storm Thorgerson.
Track listing
All songs by Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Son et Lumiere" | 1:35 |
| 2. | "Inertiatic ESP" | 4:24 |
| 3. | "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" | 7:31 |
| 4. | "Tira Me a las Arañas ("Throw Me to the Spiders")" | 1:28 |
| 5. | "Drunkship of Lanterns" | 7:05 |
| 6. | "Eriatarka" | 6:20 |
| 7. | "Cicatriz ESP" | 12:29 |
| 8. | "This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed" | 4:58 |
| 9. | "Televators" | 6:19 |
| 10. | "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" | 8:42 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Ambuletz" | 7:03 |
Australian edition bonus disc
These songs are the same songs that appear on Live EP.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)" (live BBC session) | 9:29 |
| 2. | "Drunkship of Lanterns" (live BBC session) | 9:38 |
| 3. | "Cicatriz ESP" (live) | 16:08 |
| 4. | "Televators" (live) | 7:18 |
Personnel
The following people contributed to De-Loused in the Comatorium:
Band
- Cedric Bixler-Zavala – vocals
- Omar Rodríguez-López – guitar
- Jon Theodore – drums
- Jeremy Michael Ward – sound manipulation
- Isaiah "Ikey" Owens – keyboards
- Flea – bass (Only on 1st 2 studio albums)
Additional musicians
- Lenny Castro – percussion
- John Frusciante – additional guitar and synthesizer treatment ("Cicatriz ESP")
- Justin Meldal-Johnsen – stand-up bass ("Televators")
Recording personnel
- Rick Rubin - producer
- Omar Rodríguez-López - producer
- Dave Schiffman - recording
- Andrew Scheps - additional recording
- Phillip Groussard - assistant engineer
- Darren Mora - assistant engineer
- Rich Costey - mixer
- Lindsay Chase - album production coordination
- Vlado Meller - mastering
- Steve Kadison - mastering assistance
Artwork
- Storm Thorgerson - cover design, art direction
- Peter Curzon - cover design, graphics -
- Rupert Truman - photography
- Dan Abbott - illustrations
Singles
- "Inertiatic ESP" (2003)
- "Televators" (2003)
Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Billboard 200 | 39 |
External links
- De-Loused in the Comatorium Storybook (via tmvfr.info)
- Mix Online article - Technical report/interview on the making of De-Loused in the Comatorium.
- Song by Song Interpretation and Album Review
- Omar Rodriguez Official Website
References
- ^ Acclaimed Music - De-Loused in the Comatorium
- ^ Chud Forums
- ^ The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time: Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-01-24. "The Mars Volta brought prog rock into the 21st century with this thrilling blast, and Omar Rodriguez Lopez announced himself as one of this decade's great young axmen, mixing Gang of Four riffs with Hendrix virtuosity, Latin rhythms and gallons of reverb."