2012. That was the last year that The Mars Volta performed as a band, and since there’s been a void in the prog rock atmosphere. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixlar-Zavala didn’t leave the art, as they both returned with At The Drive In during the hiatus. As any fan of the band can attest to, the creativity in song structure and pace that is driven by Rodriguez-Lopez is definitely a hallmark of TMV. Without TMV, Omar Rodriguez Lopez turned to other projects in its absence, churning out 32 albums between 2012 and 2020.

Fast forward to a week ago and The Mars Volta Cube appeared somewhere in LA, with new music being played followed by the announcement of a new tour, album and single. Thank the gods of the sonic universe. Twenty one years from the release of their first album The Mars Volta are back and ready to show off whatever it is they’ve been working on. Maybe those 32 albums were enough to allow for Omar Rodriguez Lopez to release enough creativity, because a sub 3 minute track almost doesn’t exist anywhere in The Mars Volta’s catalog.

And that’s where there is so much beauty and impact in the new track, “Blacklight Shine”. Released on the 21st the song still displays the band’s signature odd time signatures, polyrhythms, jazz and latin fusion influences, and Rodriguez Lopez offering some inspired playing. But they do all of this in under 3 minutes. There’s definitely a lot of audio layers, and the sound is dense. But they pull it off, in almost a prog rock pop vibe. Did these guys just create another genre? It’s a welcome sound, and somewhat different song structure for the band. But it works.

Speaking of the latin fusion influence, the track leans heavily on what sounds like Bomba music. The drums, percussions, bongos all seem to have a sound similarly found in the Puerto Rican bomba style. The bass is emphasized at perfect points in the song, and for as many instruments that are featured the sound is well mixed. And following the Bomba style of writing songs around overcoming slavery, suffering, and reigniting the human spirit, Bexlar-Zavala does exactly that.

Gone are lyrics like, “I am a defcon of angora goats, warning you all who pass this moat, its only a matter of folding time and space, before I become your epidemic” and “All my life I've been sowing the wounds / but the seeds sprout a lachrymal cloud”. The lyrics, though not straightfoward, are pretty understandable, especially if you’ve followed the band members’ news recently.

Karma tarda en llegar “karma is slow in coming”

Pero llegará “but it will come”

Lo vas a pagar. “You are going to Pay”

But the meat of the story is here…
The high control hex he obsessively pets with his thumbs

Thinking no one's watching but I got the copy that he can never erase

He's fit for a crypt

A place for the errors in judgment that he can afford

And I am that moment that you never saw coming

And every fingerprint you answered for

I'll shine the blackest light

To the culprit on all fours

And sometimes when a performer has something meaningful to say is when their most powerful work of art appears. It’s almost poetic, the clapping in and throughout the track. Claps the same way we clap for and support the ongoing case. And if it’s one thing these two vatos know how to do, is to make generational art from trauma. This track rocks and it’s a welcome return from the prog rock legends. And there’s a live tour being announced. Come back live music. We’ve miss you.