Is it just us, or do Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez have the worst luck since Def Leppard?

First, their old outfit At the Drive-In imploded just as they were breaking through to the mainstream. Then, weeks before the release of this first full-length offering from their new band The Mars Volta, their keyboard player died from an apparent OD. OK, so maybe time -- or at least timing -- isn't on their side. Then again, with a CD as exciting and ambitious as this, they may not need it.

De-Loused in the Comatorium -- supposedly a concept album-song cycle about the life (and perhaps death?) of a childhood friend -- is a stunning, frenzied hybrid of sounds, styles and sonic sensibilities. The blister and peel of '90s emo, the intricacy and discipline of prog, the swagger and stomp of classic rock, the scrape and screech of noise-rock, the squelch and squiggle of electronica and even the echo and murk of dub all factor into these 10 tracks, which range in length from 89 seconds to 12-plus minutes and come with cryptic titles like Cicatriz ESP and Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt.

If you can imagine Radiohead and The Music trying to impersonate Led Zep while playing Yes songs on Sonic Youth's gear, you might approximate the sound generated by the melding of of Bixler's shamanic yelp, Rodriguez-Lopez's burbling-volcano axework, and the relentlessly complex intensity of this hour-long fever-dream.

With a little luck, they'll be around long enough for a sequel.

Track Listing
1. Son Et Lumiere
2. Inertiatic Esp
3. Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
4. Tira Me A Las Aranas
5. Drunkship Of Lanterns
6. Eriatarka
7. Cicatriz Esp
8. The Apparatus Must Be Unearthed
9. Televators
10. Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt