The Mars Volta return in 2025 with a follow-up to 2023’s Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón. While the band will never be able to return to the dark chasms of their original 2000s stint, their new album, Lucro Sucio; Los ojos del Vacio, out April 11th, is a return on investment for fans of the band.
Their ninth overall studio album, The Mars Volta, crossed their T’s and dotted their I’s this time, and the resulting sound is more put together and distinct. Plus, there are no wandering ten-minute tracks that would push the album’s length. The eighteen-long track list clocks in at just under fifty minutes, meaning a full listen requires less diligence than some of their expressionist Art Rock earlier sounds *cough cough* 2005’s Francis the Mute.
Clouds Hill is the label producing this new album, and they tout that The Mars Volta have never stood still in their musical evolution. This shows that exploratory experimentation is a point of pride for the band. They are switching up their sound and even language to what best fits them. The commitment to the Spanish language for the titles on this album must have some correlation to the Latin Jazz sound that haunts it. That being said, Guitarist/Keyboardist Omar Rodríguez-López and Vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala are both from El Paso, Texas, and have Spanish language experience, so the romantic language seems just to be another new avenue to explore for artistic expression.
It can also be argued that Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacio sounds better than Dirty Money; Eyes of Darkness. Taking this into consideration, the Spanish language influence dies out past the titles, with English as the predominant language of the lyrics. In such a secular musical world, it would not hurt for The Mars Volta to adopt a new tongue for their lyrics, especially if the titles already fit this mold.
Watching The Mars Volta live is an exquisite experience; their lighting and sound engineers deserve all the love in the world for their ability to turn a concert set into an otherworldly experience. The doldrums of a psych rock world descend onto the viewer with swaying multicolored lights and reverberating echo that circles the stage with aura. Luckily, the band is in no short supply of tour dates. They just finished a tour with the nu-metal band The Deftones, where they revealed some of their new songs, and will be starting a new tour from October to the end of November with twenty-five separate dates across North America. Seeing them live, maybe under the influence, maybe sober, is something you do not want to miss.
For a band that began as a Prog Metal extravaganza, The Mars Volta’s music post-reunion is a bit of a curveball. While they had a hardcore start in the Y2K days, the musicians have decreased in size and energy. With a focus on Progressive and Psychedelic Rock, The Mars Volta is a long way from their days of screaming anger. Interestingly, the message remains similar despite the much lighter sound. A LSD hot air balloon ride over the Gulf of Mexico is a good description. They have been tweaking and releasing this new sound since about the time of the 2020 pandemic. What do you say about the new mask they donned after their nine-year stint of silence from 2012 to 2021, and more specifically, what about this album, Lucro Sucio: Los ojos del Vacio?
Firstly, it is some genre-defining work, the voices of angels are at play to make an ethereal sounding backbone, but The Mars Volta seems conflicted in deciding what they want to produce. While there is a lot of ascended musical choreography, transporting the listener to a realm meant for crystal clear meditation, the clean waters of aether music are turned brackish by the sounds of steel drums, which, alongside the flute, add an island vibe to the sound.
Could The Mars Volta be performing their existential mix at a Caribbean seaside resort? Listen to “Lucro Sucio” or “Enlazan los Tineblas” to get an idea of this island vibe; it is not terrific or terrible, just a little off kilter. There is a lot of experimentation just in these songs. In fact, the musicians rely on the listener to jump around with them as they transition from caribe to electronica to crashing drums with only a sexy sax to guide them. The new Prog Rock is a mix of high-pitched baritone and Cuban steel drums for The Mars Volta.
Overall, Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacío is a strong release, but the band is stuck in an experimental whirlpool they have yet to pull themselves out of. The songs flow better, making the overall album more compact and digestible, and while many will love what we hear, they may still want more. For this reason, CrypticRock gives Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacío 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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