It’s always a special time when The Mars Volta releases a new project, and the last time we got one was with their self-titled comeback back in 2022, and then an acoustic version a year later in the form of Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon. No one was expecting another brand new album a year and change later from the latin progressive rock Texans, but here we are. With no build-up or hype, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and his partner in songwriting crime, Omar Rodríguez-López, have just dropped their ninth album under The Mars Volta: Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio (Dirty Profit; The Eyes Of The Void).
I’ll admit, even though I do revisit the eighth self-titled comeback album from time to time, my Mars Volta will always be from the classic albums like Deloused in the Comatorium, Frances The Mute, and Amputechture. In my humble opinion, those albums are untouchable pieces of progressive rock that have never really been topped.
This new one is much more synthy initially, feeling a bit half-baked at times. It builds to a few incredible moments like “Cue the Sun,” but as a whole, it takes quite a while to take off. The build-up in the first half, from “Fin” to “The Iron Rose,” never really reaches the moment of freakout prog I was craving but goes into a subtle bassy jam. So for the most part, we’ve got moody synths, lo-fi-hip-hop-sounding drums, and Cedric using his vocal chops to build atmosphere over one big track. Lucro sucio is essentially a drawn-out electro-jazz album with hints of the prog-rock we love from The Mars Volta.
Much of this album feels like one jazzy hour-long jam that bleeds in and out of each other as Bixler-Zavala waxes poetic in his remarkable way. I’m all for Bixler Zavala’s twisting, lyrical prose, like on “Morgana,” but for it to really hit, we need moments of that experimental, almost sinister guitar from Rodríguez-López, and it’s lacking on this new album. This style was also subdued on the self-titled, but it’s virtually non-existent on Lucro sucio.
“Alba del orate” gets a bit heavy for a moment with a huge delayed modular chord and then loses itself with some sputtering instrumentation and quiet guitar work. But where are the other big distorted guitar moments? We get a taste of it on “Un disparo al vacío,” but it’s so low in the mix that the raw, frantic nature of past Mars Volta guitar moments is lost. Maybe that vibe is gone in this new run of Mars Volta, which has been traded out for more Latin-inspired instrumentation and chiller grooves.
That latin flair is very present with the drumming, bongo/ conga percussions and acoustic guitar on “Voice in my knives,”– a perfect example of the psychedelic fusion The Mars Volta is adept at. This vibe again continues with “Poseedora de mi sombra,” which is a continuation, adding a horn section to “Voice in my knives.” I’m not sure why this had to be two songs, but hey, that’s prog rock and The Mars Volta’s M.O. We also have a few electro interludes, like “Mito de los trece cielos” that kind of sound like the Volta just found synths patched they liked the sound of, rather than having them make sense to fall on an album.
Save for maybe three tracks on this thing, Lucro sucio seems like a way more chilled-out jazzy Mars Volta, which makes sense. Our guys are pushing 50. Still, part of me wishes for another freakout prog record, but even if we don’t get one, I can always revisit the early 2000s work.
