The Mars Volta

The Mars Volta was an American prog rock band formed in El Paso, Texas in 2001 by guitarist Omar-Rodriguez Lopez and singer Cedric-Bixler Zavala. By far one of the most iconic bands of the 2000s, they pretty much took prog rock, smashed it into a million tiny pieces, and then rebuilt it for the 21st century; their style consisted of fast paced almost punk like energy and ridiculously technical chromatic guitar solos (essentially, they're just about the heaviest you can be and still be considered a rock band and not a metal band).
They grew out of Omar and Cedric's previous post-hardcore outfit, At The Drive In. In 2001, At The Drive In abruptly broke up, and Omar and Cedric decided to go in a more complex direction, thus, the Volta was formed.
Their 2003 debut, De-Loused In the Comatorium, was a massive success, and has gone down as a modern rock classic. It told the story of Cerpin Taxt, who enters a week long coma after overdosing on a mixture of morphine and rat poison.
Frances the Mute followed in 2005, and featured the 32 minute leviathan of a song Cassandra Gemini, which was meant to be one single song before the stuffshirt execs forced them to split it into movements because otherwise they would only be paid for an EP (even tho the record was 76 minutes long). 
They released several more albums after, Amputechture in 2006, The Bedlam In Goliath in 2008, Octahedron in 2009, and Noctourniquet in 2012. In early 2013, Cedric and Omar began having disagreements over everything, and Cedric announced on Twitter that he was no longer a member of the Volta, effectively ending the band. In early 2018, however, Cedric has stated that the Volta will "be back soon" once they finish up all activities for At The Drive In.
Category:2000s
Category:New Bands
Category:Bands