When emo-punk quintet At the Drive-In disintegrated in 2001, it joined that coterie of on-the-verge acts that splintered before they peaked, only to re-emerge emboldened in different company, under new management and with a new name. At the Drive-In's rhythm section begat Sparta, and vocalist Cedric Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez struck out on their own as the Mars Volta, along with Isaiah Owens of the Long Beach Dub All-Stars and the late Jeremy Ward. The group's stellar 2003 debut, De-Loused in the Comatorium, leans toward Rush and the hoariness of splintered, spastic prog, the songs bleeding into each other in one long, twisted suite. Zavala's exhortations remain as cryptic as ever -- Ritual contrition asphyxiation half-mast commute through umbilical blisters, anyone? -- but this time, the music fits perfectly.
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