{"product_id":"amputechture-2","title":"Amputechture","description":"\u003cp\u003eBeneath the technical flash, the fury, the fearless creative brinkmanship of the first two \u003cem\u003eMars Volta\u003c\/em\u003e albums lay a potent seam of the blues, an existential vexation that powered every twist and turn of \u003cstrong\u003eOmar\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eCedric\u003c\/strong\u003e’s imaginations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat mournful vibe would come to the surface of the group’s third full-length \u003cem\u003eAmputechture\u003c\/em\u003e, a simmering\/blistering set that was unquestionably the group’s darkest yet. There was no overarching theme here, no interlinking concept binding the songs together, though \u003cstrong\u003eCedric\u003c\/strong\u003e concedes that, lyrically, the album was influenced “by a lot of stuff I was going through, a really bad break-up and a lot of other crazy stuff, and trying to put that feeling into the record.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut \u003cem\u003eAmputechture\u003c\/em\u003e – its name another of the late Jeremy Michael Ward’s invented words – was no downbeat bummer. Opener \u003cem\u003eVicarious Atonement\u003c\/em\u003e might’ve been a deliciously gloomy, slow-burning thing, capturing \u003cstrong\u003eCedric\u003c\/strong\u003e in delirious duet with \u003cstrong\u003eOmar\u003c\/strong\u003e’s swooning guitar lines, accompanied by squalling saxophone by Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales and dream-frequency fuckery by the group’s new sonic manipulator, former \u003cem\u003eAt The Drive-In\u003c\/em\u003e member Paul Hinojos.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut second track \u003cem\u003eTetragrammaton\u003c\/em\u003e swiftly set pulses racing, an epic-in-miniature and containing more ideas within its 16 minutes than most bands manage over an entire career, its proggy, complex guitar figures tessellating in infinite configurations and converging as if conforming to mathematical formulae from another reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSide note: \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Frusciante\u003c\/strong\u003e features on every track here.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Clouds Hill","offers":[{"title":"White LP","offer_id":50480842998091,"sku":"1140167","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50480844833099,"sku":"2221279","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50480842670411,"sku":"275881","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/51a92fb2-30a7-40b5-ac61-ee75f651c8e7_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727528461","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/amputechture-2","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}