After the successful worldwide release of the studio album The Mars Volta, the band also releases the album as an acoustic album. The harmonic album Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon.

The Mars Volta plays a similar game: it is subtly subversive – endlessly inventive, but never at the cost of the song. Many of the same values that made The Mars Volta’s previous albums so ground-breaking, so acclaimed, are still present here, but they are employed in different, adroit ways.

The Caribbean rhythms that powered their blistering earlier records still flourish across The Mars Volta – they aren’t the foreground now, but they ripple underneath each of these tracks. Similarly, the big rock moves and proggy complexities of their landmark releases have given way for more sonic subtlety, for immediacy and directness.

But while The Mars Volta shies away from Grand Guignol flourishes, it remains a dark, powerful and affecting listen, mature and deeply satisfying in its restraint.