Album Reviews
When At The Drive In started playing reunion shows, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-López was quick to point out it was nothing more than a nostalgic cash grab and that there would not be a new album. Fast-forward a couple of years and we find ourselves listening to “in•ter a•li•a”, the band’s first new music since 2000’s “Relationship Of Command”.
In case you were wondering, the band does sound less explosive on their new album. Which is perfectly normal. You can’t keep up that kind of reckless abandon for twenty years. But don’t run away just yet. “in•ter a•li•a” has a lot more to offer than The Mars Volta’s last couple of releases. Opening track “No Wolf Like The Present” shows a band still capable of writing the kind of sonic outbursts that grabbed everyone’s attention when they first heard “Arcarsenal”.
From there on, At The Drive In keeps the amps turned up to 11 in single “Governed By Contagion”, the proggy “Tilting At The Univendor” and the improvised explosive device that is “Hostage Stamps”. And over it all vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala sings, shrieks, screams and whispers the kind of lines that read like a Pitchfork review. So no, At The Drive In no longer sounds as unhinged and unpredictable as back in the day. But years of experience have sharpened their songwriting skills. And as “in•ter a•li•a” proves, there is a lot to be said for that as well.
Track listing:
- No Wolf Like The Present
- Continuum
- Tilting At The Univendor
- Governed By Contagions
- Pendulum In A Peasant Dress
- Incurably Innocent
- Call Broken Arrow
- Holtzclaw
- Torrentially Cutshaw
- Ghost-Tape No.9
- Hostage Stamps
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
