Article from Kerrang Magazine: Octahedron

Thanks to cm1682 from the band's official fan forum the commatorium, we get a little bit of insight from Omar Rodriquez Lopez about the new album 'Octahedron'.

In the passage the band leader describes the album as being about disappearances and possible kidnappings of two friends when they were young kids. So there does seem to be a theme for the newest LP as the previouse releases have done in the past. The article reads as follows:

The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has told Kerrang! that their forthcoming album, Octahedron, is based on sudden disappearances and kidnapping."When we were kids, we had these friends called Patrick and Tarzan - yes, his real name - in El Paso.

There is a place called Elephant Butte, where all the high school students go to party. They disappeared one weekend and their story became legend among our group of friends.The concept about still not knowing what happened and the possibility of running into them one day was something very interesting to us. People are able to ponder endlessly about their whereabouts and there's never closure.

"The album was recorded in Omar's home studio in Naucalpan, Mexico. The guitarist reveals that after the "darkness, aggression and pure energy" of the band's previous album, 2007's TBiG, he wanted to take the band's prog rock in a more mellow direction.

"Bedlam was such a dark claustrophobic record. Everything comes in waves and the fact I'd just made my most aggressive record, the stars aligned and it felt natural to make a record like Octahedron. It was the only place left to go.

After every record, the only fear I have is if I'll repeat myself in the future. If I record anything that sounds like the previous release, I'll throw it away."

W.F.D.