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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Frances The Mute
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 294 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Universal
Release Date: 01 March 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
The psychedelic prog-rock outfit led by Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez return with a second ambitious album, which follows the death of band member Jeremy Ward.
Also By This Artist: Amputechture De-Loused In The Comatorium Octahedron Scab Dates The Bedlam In Goliath
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: At The Drive-In: Relationship Of Command
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Alternative Press
It's already the most riveting album of 2005--provided you're ready to carve a wide enough hole in your consciousness to accept it. [Mar 2005, p.130]
E! Online
If you've got the time to dig in, Frances the Mute proves a cohesive, intricate and expertly layered experience.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Whereas the somewhat timid and searching De-Loused in the Comatorium was all about surprising audience, critic, and probably the band itself, Frances the Mute is a self-assured organic animal that should come as no surprise to anyone.
Read Full Review >Spin
Frances explores an explosive groove Comatorium only implied. [Mar 2005, p.83]
Playlouder
Miraculously the lyrics never sound like the pompous shite they undoubtedly are. They fit the music and make the whole picture even more laughably and absurdly brilliant.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
It’s not prog rock. It’s not punk rock. It’s not emo. It’s not indie. It’s just music, and it will incinerate your mind if you let it.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Perhaps the only match for the cerebral weirdness and eventual beauty of Mars Volta's lyrics is their music itself.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Listen to Frances The Mute without any prog-induced prejudice... and it emerges as the triumphant sound of a band bound only by their imagination. [Apr 2005, p.86]
Paste Magazine
Frances bursts at the jewel-case hinges with Comatorium’s trademarks: musical inventiveness and wildly emotive vocals.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Insane, extraordinary. [Mar 2005, p.95]
Blender
This is a visceral, powerful muso's record, a nerve-jangling explosion in a drum clinic. [Apr 2005, p.111]
The Wire
[An] overstuffed sound hurricane. [#255, p.58]
Rolling Stone
The Mars Volta's second album is an exhilarating transgression: concussive, nonlinear rhythms; mad-dog guitar algebra; bloody-nightmare suites sung in bilingual free verse. In short, the beastly spawn of Radiohead's OK Computer and Rush's 2112.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
Proponents of Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute will claim that anyone who doesn’t like the album simply can’t handle the lyrical depth and amazingly multi-layered musical complexity; critics who pan the release will claim it’s overlong, indulgent, and -- did we mention indulgent? The truth, as usual, falls somewhere in between.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
On the whole, the record sounds more like the blueprint for a stunning live show than like a viable document of a top-flight hard rock band.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Frances The Mute smells like another concept album, is far too long and so pretentious as to be farcial. Amazingly, it's also mighty entertaining. [Mar 2005, p.91]
Magnet
During its most commercial moments, Frances ventures dangerously close to System Of A Down, without the nu-metal grandstanding or fake volatility. [#67, p.106]
Billboard
The 77-minute-long "Frances" unfolds upon multiple listens, sometimes threatening to collapse under its own pretensions (meandering musical passages, sound effects), but ultimately, it is an ambitious and rewarding album.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
Within this impressive, ambitious, often stupid whole, are moments of melthing human beauty. [29 Feb 2005, p.65]
Filter
Frances the Mute documents the Mars Volta as a passionate and explosive band that has grown capable of taking the music in a hundred different directions. [#14, p.96]
Entertainment Weekly
The CD has moments of undeniable beauty and power; it may prove to be one of those "difficult" records that repays with repeat listens. [4 Mar 2005, p.72]
PopMatters
Discipline is a crucial factor in good progressive rock, and despite Theodore's brilliant drumming, Rodriguez's flashy guitar, and Bixler's lyrical skill, there's very little of that discipline here. [Avg of two scores: 80/40]
Read Full Review >The Guardian
You have to give them credit for ambition, though, because you're not going to find this particular witches' brew anywhere else.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
The music combines the kitchen-sink inclusiveness of psychedelia with the swerves and jolts of the hip-hop era, to approach the ravenous eclecticism of Latin alternative rock. [27 Feb 2005]
Read Full Review >Dot Music
An incredibly accomplished record, a true testament to the band’s imagination, intellectual curiosity and outrageous musical talent.... Unfortunately, “Frances The Mute” is also awful.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala are fantastically talented musicians and arrangers. But until they rein in their astronomical pretension, they'll always look more important than they truly are. [#9]
Splendid
With Frances the Mute, the Mars Volta have unfurled a big and bold artistic statement... Unfortunately, that bold artistic statement is rife with pomposity and glimpses of prog-rock at its most horrifically self-indulgent.
Read Full Review >Drawer B
Everything that was great about De-Loused in the Comatorium is blatantly absent, while all of the negatives now protrude like barnacled tumors.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 294 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Max M gave it a10:
Stupid-ass critics. Cokemachineglow?! Who the fuck?..... And pitchfork?! Please. This album is a work. I would have been satisfied with just the 29/16 time signature part in Cygnus... Vismund Cygnus. It is amazing how the Mars Volta can turn a supposedly complicated time signature into a smooth, catchy, and amazingly simple part of the song. Also, the 32 minute long Cassandra Gemini was a work of genius. The lead guitar, drums, bass, and keyboard blended perfectly together. Those dumbass critics need to pull their heads out of their asses and listen to more progressive rock. Rock doesn't have to be easy to listen to.
Joseph H. gave it a9:
It is a great leap forward from Deloused. The vocals are worlds better -- Bixler-Zavala actually sounds like he means what he's singing. The drumming also shows great improvement. The only bad thing about the album is the overlong instrumental sections, which were trimmed to the exact length they needed to be on Deloused, but now sprawl over upwards of 7 minutes.
Michael W. gave it an8:
Lacks the cohesion of De-Loused but still an excellent album. You can really follow the progression of their sound.
Mitch J. gave it a10:
A masterpiece a brilliant album that accomplishes more in ten seconds than any other band could in a career.
Justin H. gave it a0:
This album is absolute garbage. Picture the worst elements of both Rush and Santana and spread the heap out far enough to cover 77 minutes and you'll have a good idea of what you're getting into. Some of the tracks, like "L'Via L'Viaquez" are laugh out loud funny, while others (such as the allegedly homoerotic "The Widow) are just plain boring. If this sounds like innovative new music to you, then welcome to the 70's.
karius k gave it a10:
This is one of the most amazing albums ever released. Anyone who says different should go get an Ouijia board and try and get Goliath to eat their flesh
Michael T. gave it a10:
Although not my fave Mars Volta LP it does contain my fave song in Cassandra Gemmeni (sic) It still gets a score of 10 out of 10 as it's The Mars Volta. Looking threw various reviews it seems that a lot of people who give the Volta bad ones seem to whinge that it's not as good as At The Drive In. Well boo hoo. The fact of the matter is I quite like at the drive in but I think The Mars Volta are a gagillion times better. I just made up the word gagillion. Its a bit like the word bizillion or other words of there ilk its basically a word to mean a high number.
