Octahedron - The Mars Volta
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Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 54 Ratings

  • Summary: The fifth album for the rock band is its first with Warner Bros.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 25
  2. Negative: 1 out of 25
  1. Though 'Teflon' boasts Rush-like guitar thunder and violent lyrics (“Let the wheels burn, let the wheels burn, stack the tires to the neck with the body inside”), the group returns to dark balladry on 'Desperate Graves' and 'Copernicus,' two more highlights from a haunting album full of twilight poetry.
  2. 80
    This is, however, their most mellow, reflective and tempered release yet. [Sep 2009, p.95]
  3. Is Octahedron the band's best album? No, but if you dig on MV's unrepentantly "big" and meandering suite-driven concept-album thing, you won't necessarily be disappointed.
  4. 'Cotopaxi' and 'Desperate Graves' are the Volta's most straightforward carbon-burners since Frances the Mute's 'Cygnus ... Vismund Cygnus' yet lack structure and memorable hooks, while the introductory ballad 'Since We've Been Wrong' soars closer to the Eagles than Led Zeppelin.

See all 25 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 24
  3. Negative: 3 out of 24
  1. one of the most incredible albums i've ever heard. second only to deloused in pure quality and vision. made all the better because it comes after the massive disappointment that was bedlam in goliath. gone are the terrible, disruptive effects on Cedric's voice. now all that remains is pure musical beauty and genius. just the right balance of slow songs and fast songs. if i can level one complaint at this album, it is that there isn't one standout song that is better than the rest. they are all incredible. buy this now or i'll cut you Expand
  2. From Their first album to their fourth album, The Mars Volta's sound have always sounded the same. Each with a different style but nevertheless it usually sounds all the same. But this album, Octahedron, The Mars Volta went for a different kind of sound. More acoustic, more slower burning songs, and some really dark lyrics. More darker lyrics than usual. And the verdict is, a very solid album. This album proves that they can do anything musically and it will still sound very good. All In All, the least of any Mars Volta album, but still a very good album that shows that The Mars Volta still has it going for them. B Expand
  3. MattR
    7
    A surprisingly calm effort from the Volta. I love how they can change their sound from album to album without compromising the integrity of what The Mars Volta is all about. This could be the calm before the storm, LP#6 will be a masterpiece. Expand
  4. j30
    2
    I never thought I'd listen to a boring Mars Volta album, but here it is, the completely forgettable Octahedron. The two points is for Cotopaxi, a song that belongs on a better, more concise album. Even Omar Rodriguez Lopez in a Rolling Stone interview said the album was boring. Collapse

See all 24 User Reviews