Noctourniquet by The Mars Volta

Released:  March 27
Rating:  73.85
Genre:  Neo Prog

This is sixth album in 9 years (my second) for the former members of the Texas band At The Drive-in.  Holding true to the axiom that my favorite albums tend to get a mix of critic reviews, Noctouniquet received critic scores from 4 1/2 stars to 2 Stars.

According to Spotify, the related artists range from Led Zepplin to Bjork, to Tom Waits, Pink Floyd and Yes. I don't get a clear sense of any one thing, so try to imagine all of these artists, tossed in a blender, and what comes out is the Mars Volta.  I may be mistaken, but I also hear a little Tommy Shaw (from Styx) in the vocal.

I don't think there's a better way to describe their music, except maybe for a few examples.  Click the song titles for a hyperlink to youtube to hear the full song:

Aegis (intense)
In Absentia (industrial noise rock)
Imago (my favorite - mournful)

I researched both the band's name and the album name for this entry.  The short answer is:  Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez are not your ordinary rockers.  Mars Volta is a combination of Mars ("we're just fascinated by science fiction ") and "Volta is taken from a Federico Fellini book about his films, what he characterizes as a changing of scene, or a turnaround; a new scene to him is called Volta. Y'know, changing of time and the changeover."  Noctourniquet is a "mental mantra to stop the night from bleeding, because nighttime is synonymous with darkness and bad things happening."