The Mars Volta - "De-Loused in the Comatorium" - C/D?

Stone. Cold. Classic.

Best thing they ever did as The Mars Volta, IMO.

Frances the Mute is amazing too. Amputechture is goofy but great. Bedlam was bloated and spotty, didn't bother with last two. My favorite band in 2005

i don't think anything mars volta did is classic but i love that you guys do. i am happy they exist

tremulant ep still goes so hard and i've come a place where it's their best release

completely perfect ep

To answer the question of the OP: It's the only Mars Volta I ever really liked.

I know a guy who recently bought the 1-of-1, original cover art pieces for De-Loused in the Comatorium — both the gold head and the severed head versions — and now has them framed and hanging on his wall, which still kinda blows my mind.

they added the pre-release version of comatorium to their bandcamp: https://themarsvoltaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/landscape-tantrums-unfinished-original-recordings-of-de-loused-in-the-comatorium

i listened to this version about 1000 times on a burned CDR before the album came out

total classic btw

jon theodore is a fucking beast, his drumming on this still blows me away as much as it did when i first heard it

Did not know about the original versions now on their bandcamp, thanks!
Good old alb, though takes some getting used to, worth it.
Included with some other outliers in a Voice round-up I did back in Nov. ov '03:
Mars Volta. Whose big bananaspots slip electrically elsewhere: through stabs
of light (purple bursts of trans WhoZepYesRush-
QueenQueensJaneRageSystemRedHotFugaziSantanaAtTheDrive-InEmoScreamo trajectory),
which nevertheless tend
to bounce off crystalline towers of voice, on account of "Joycean wordplay" in
the midst of Revelation. It's a challenge, but appropriately so. For inst.
(one of their easier pieces), song-title "Cicatriz esp" can refer to headshrink
and/or vaccination mark: Either way, you're in goood hands, Mr.
De-loused at the Comatarium blackhole-visionary guy. Whose defiantly
creative/self-destructive internal cosmography (runs) rings through
ricochet-maze/shields of gloved ones Mars Volta's implosively arty art. Once, before
artist-junkie-De-Loused dedicatee Julio Venagas woke up and finally succeeded in killing
himself, he and MVs/ex- At The Drive-Ins Cedric and Omar were friends, and it shows.Awww. It's true!

Very fun album. Cedric is a good instagram follow for old wrestling clips, though his recent Will Smith take was lame

Also, from my Pazz & Jop comments on 2011 picks:
Thought I had more about Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Telesterion, but it's sharp-edged, fluid analog musk, more astute than noodley, any purple more blended than The Mars Volta's reigning peacock screams. Latin rock with jazzy tendencies, rec to fans of early Santana, Rock En Espanol, whatever just went out of print on Shadoks. A personal Best-Of; you can stream it on Spotify, and a ton of his other albums here:
https://orlprojects.bandcamp.com/

(Zechs Marquise, Omar's younger brothers' band, also has a 2011 album. Getting Paid. It's uneven, but worth checking out here: http://zechsmarquise.bandcamp.com )