After several personal rants to myself for having a music playlist that had been stagnant for days on end, I happened to come across a rather random name in music. Originally I had thought I had my hands on a rapper’s mixtape until I got down to the contents, which surprised and left me amazed. At this point I would say whoever knows this band will know I’m carrying last, but I’m pretty sure I’m bringing more people into the fodder.
The Mars Volta is an American progressive rock band, and even though I have no idea what progressive is supposed to sound like I enjoy the feel and sounds I get some these guys. Halo of Nembutals is the third track off The Mars Volta’s 2009 album Octahedron, which I have to say has one of the weirdest and yet most fascinating album cover art I’ve ever seen.
Halo of Nembutals is a song to a lady who apparently would rather play the field in a rather provocative manner than settle down and be with one. The vocalist beckons to her but she refuses… to which he gives out slurs of ‘curses’. I wouldn’t particularly call them curses, because it’s more like mushrooms were eaten when the lyrics for this song were written, so there may be a difficult time deciphering in particular what they completely mean. However what really got me hooked to this isn’t just the lyrics but the instrumentals for the song. A smooth rhythmic mix of drum beats along with electric guitars make this a cool chiller. The song fades in with light techno bits and hits climax later into the song. And with all the acid-induced lyrics and synchronized drum beats and bridges, the song closes with an added piano piece that would have you thinking Dracula was given some track time on this one. Just wonderful.
