The Mars Volta | Deloused in the Comatorium | Story Explained
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- Опубліковано 14 тра 2024
- Here is my take on the story behind the Mars Volta's 2003 album, Deloused in the Comatorium.
You can find a pdf of the book here: xivilization.net/~marek/binar...
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The most haunting part of the entire album are the final lines from Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt... "Who brought me here, forsaken, deprived and wrought with fear"
“Who turned me off, the last thing I remember now, who brought me here?” Is such a haunting way to end the album. Gives me chills no matter how many times I listen to it
im partial to the lyrics in eriatarka, especially "evaporated the fur because it covers them. if you only knew the plans they had for us."
Probably one of my favorite songs from the Mars Volta! Excited they are going to tour again! Hope to hear many songs from Deloused and Frances the Mute.
@@rjarana you will not be disappointed
@@rjarana the setlist is awesome
RIP. “Julio Venegas was nothing if not unpredictable. Coming of age in El Paso, Texas, he wrote, painted, recorded songs, played his bass guitar and - before he attempted suicide, before he became a cripple, before he shot rat poison up his arm, before he jumped off a freeway overpass into 5:30 p.m. traffic and to his death in 1996 - won the friendship of two young misfits equally immersed in the local music scene, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler Zavala. The latter two went on to form the nucleus of the progressive punk collective At the Drive-In, which dissolved in the late ’90s, leaving them to regroup as The Mars Volta in 2001.
Under the new banner, Rodriguez and Bixler set out to record an epitaph to Venegas. “Julio was an artist in every sense of the word,” says Rodriguez. “When his mother died, he tried to kill himself. He shot up a bunch of morphine, but he didn’t succeed; he went into a coma. And when he came out of it, he had lost the ability to use the right side of his body. He had to learn to walk again, and once he did, he walked very awkwardly. One time he just combined different chemicals together and shot them up, and it shriveled up his arm.”
Beautiful thing, to immortalize a friend like they did with that incredible album.
Such a heart wrenching story… they definitely succeeded in honoring their late friend with this album.
Thank you for sharing the quoted words. I hadn’t read it before.
@@JJMetalhead my first show I opened for at the drive in in 1996, on the tour for their first album (acrobatic tenement). I had no idea who they were. There were 8 bands on the bill and they played last, but I stuck around cause they had complimented our set, and we exchanged demo tapes.
There were maybe 20 people when they started playing. It was like a bomb going off. On that album there’s another song dedicated to Julio, and Cedric told the story before the song (“ebroglio”).
So when the Mars Volta announced their debut album I already knew the story.
If you search “Julio Venegas” you’ll find the LA weekly piece I got that from.🙏☺️
@@RustinChole Thank you! I will check out that article!
dont inject drugs or you will die yea fuck arm up and die in dreams.
@@FoxRiverTaxi that’s simply not true if you’re careful. More people die from smoking heroin than shooting it. Hell I used to use 16 years back, been clean for a long time, but I shot up for years. Arms and veins are perfectly fine. Now I get my fix from running and lifting weights.
The point of this post was to recognize the tragic story behind this album. Not to start a “drugs are bad mmmmmkay?” Convo. The mars Volta used heroin during their first tour and they were the best I’d ever seen them🤷🏻♂️. If you don’t believe drugs have done good things for music you’re insane. The Beatles. The Velvet Underground. Miles Davis. Nirvana. All used drugs to great effect. On the other side, drugs destroyed Elliott Smiths ability to perform.
It’s a conundrum. Addiction is terrible, but the results are undeniable.
I had to look up what the story was because the lyrics were so abstract. I didn't even know about the short story when I first listened to this, but I was aware that it had a story. I just didn't know what the hell it was lmao. I think you hit the nail just right from what I read on the web.
Glad to hear you agree with my summary. Thank you!
@KiingCobraa Have you seen them perform live before? It's dedicated to him. They even state that it's "for their lost friend", and even end up highly emotional when performing the songs from this album live! You have no idea dude. You have no idea...
This album was the birth of my creativity. Some 18 years later it still pulls me in. Cool idea for a channel!
i listen to this album every day and I think im slowly going insane.
I don’t blame you. This album is genius to the point of madness.
How's your sanity doing?
for clarification, it is mentioned in the book that he is in the comatorium for "the crime of attempt", referring to his morphine/rat poison overdose, which was not accidental. one of the lyrics in inertiatic esp is "gestating with all the other rats", (rat poison) supporting the fact that he did this intentionally. the tremulants and lepers felt that they needed to punish him due to his suicide attempt.
Great video! I grew up in El Paso and had always heard of the Mars Volta. I got into them pretty heavily recently, and my dad informed me that he works at UTEP with Cedric Bixler Zavala’s grandfather, and that my 4th and 5th grade teacher is Cedric’s aunt. Small world! It’s also crazy learning about the real life tragedy of Julio Venegas because I know the exact place he jumped off the overpass and had driven past it for years without knowing a tragedy occurred there.
Wow small world! That’s awesome!!
Yea my friend hung himself on new years day over a girl but I dont glorify suicide.
@@FoxRiverTaxi If you had any talent you might be able to make an album as a tribute to her.
Awesome, dude! What is the bridge? Can you tell me so I can look at google maps? I'm really in love with their story (Band/Julio/albuns).
@@JJMetalhead I made a video myself about Frances the Mute. After watching yours. They are fabulous. I met the band back in 2005, at 13 years old, but only recently I realized that they're fabulous. Unique. Hugs from Brasil. I made a freestyle version of Roulette Dares. Hope you enjoy it!
ua-cam.com/video/pOmUsKreL08/v-deo.html
My channel is UNDERPRESS!
"Fever dream" is a good way of putting it. Love this album, my favorite of The Mars Volta. Always new there was a story, needed to get more in depth with it before the vinyl copy arrives. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
wow this was an unexpected upload, i love this record! it’s always nice to see others discover The Mars Volta
I'm a Big Fan of Coheed and Cambria and Also The Mars Volta & You did amazing about Stories Explained about Songs & Albums, Keep it Up! :)
Breaking down Cedric’s lyrics is metal as fuuuuck
This is a really interesting story for an album thank you for making this.
I just listened through this album and I had to look up the meaning behind it.
The instrumentation is amazing and the little vocals that are there are fantastic and I just thought "there has to be more to this"
It's an entertaining listen but I felt I had to look it up because I've heard some of their albums have a lot of story to them
I became a recent fan too these guys imo are like if tool, king crimson, santana, miles davis, led zepplin, and salsa had a baby lol. I realllly want them to get back together but Cedric and Omar are always doing other projects. From what i listen so far of theirs i think MV is there best stuff!
aaaaand they're back!!
Great job on this. One of my favorite albums of all time.
So happy I found this channel, I'm gonna be binging through these videos soon
Awesome! Thanks for watching! 🤘🏻
As if this record wasn't intense enough musically, the story is seriously INTENSE! A masterpiece of an opera
Thank you for the awesome video! The Mars Volta is my favorite band of all time and I've always been interested In the meaning of their lyrics. You did great, You made a great video!😃👍
Respect! - this album is my heart - nice job!!
I was lucky enough to hear this album 2004, hooked ever since
Awesome! Someone who likes concept albums as much as I do!!!!
Wow! Can't wait for the movie.
Ommmgggg you actually did it!!! I’m hype.
This was awesome, I would love to hear your more in-depth take on this, as well as your thoughts about Frances the Mute.
I think your take was a reasonable breakdown of what the story was about, one of the best things about it’s vagueness is coming up with your own interpretations and imagery. I pictured the purgatory area as more of a homeless camp in a trainyard where souls hop on boxcars to leave. Or the transient souls are trapped to huddle around the weak light of burning barrel fires and slowly turning into husks or something. Idk... been a while since I read it.
If you do go more in depth talk about the Tremulant EP. As well as A Plague Upon Your Hissing and the song it evolved into, Day of the Baphomets for some more context about some background stuff and key scenes.
Stumbled upon your videos looking for a recap of Coheed’s Amory Wars (which were very well done btw 👏🏼 good job on those) Then I decided to check out your other videos and your latest is💥The Mars Volta💥 Another one of my favorite bands. In 96’, At the Drive-in went through some tough times but made something beautiful out of it so that their friend could live on forever. IMO you nailed the story.
Thank you for sharing this and the link to the book!
Thank you so much for watching!!
I've been listening to them a lot again these past weeks at work this album is awesome Amputechture and The Bedlam In Goliath are too thank you for doing this
Agreed! I’d like to do a video talking about each of them at some point!
Amputechture is my favorite
I remember browsing Borders and picking this album up along with Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia" and Opeth's "Blackwater Park" has to be among my most formative trips to buy music back going into my freshman year of college. I still listen to all 3 at least once a year.
I miss going to Borders! Also, Blackwater Park is an incredible album!
I'd love to talk about concept albums all day with you lol
So glad to see this. Great vid.
Thank you!!!
Really happy to have reviewed another album by them years and years ago (frances the mute) and i'm really in line with your analysis
So cheers from collegues from italy! You're awesome!
Awesome! I checked out your channel, it looks like fun! Let me know if you ever want to collab!
I'd love for you to do Frances the Mute next!
So I've been a fan of them since 03' and "non-linear surrealist" is absolutely the best way to describe them lol
I do appreciate the explanation, I just kinda wish you referred to the lyrics so I could make sense of the songs themselves lol but other than that, FASCINATING video!
I feel like Deloused would make an interesting animated miniseries. Like, the kind that plays with art styles
That would be badass!
Maybe I'm wrong, but my personal interpretation of the album is that the lyrics aren't particularly supposed to make sense. Much like a Salvador Dali painting, where familiar images of animals, shapes, buildings etc. are combined to create this surrealist, abstract dreamscape, Cedric's lyrics follow the same formula. They are intentionally obtuse, confusing and illogical so as to "bring to life" the intense emotions and confused delirium that Jeremy Michael Ward would have experienced during his experience with drug abuse, and before his subsequent and tragic suicide. The first line of Inertiatic ESP sums up the album entirely, "now I'm lost". The narrator is lost, confused, scared and unable to describe it with words.
I definitely agree. Trying to make sense of the album and put it into a cohesive storyline was like attempting to describe a dream. It's not all going to make sense unless you experience it and all the extraneous words and lyrics add to the ambiance of that experience.
Dude I did not expect you to go into Mars Volta…. You make great videos would be awesome to see you explore other prog bands too
Also shout to Julio Venegas without him there would essentially be no Mars Volta…. Especially one of the songs tremulant ep was about him too
It's amazing how nobody seems to hear the hardcore punk/post-hardcore influences in this amazing album. Everyone mentions Santana and Latin jazz and Tool, but many who love this album have yet to listen to At The Drive In's _Relationship of Command_ masterpiece album.
Oh I hear a ton of post-hardcore influence everytime I listen to them. If you splice together the DNA of Rush, Santana, Led Zeppelin, and At the Drive In, you get The Mars Volta.
What are you talking about? I’m curious where you got your statistics. I feel like most Volta fans were ATDI fans first. Who are you talking to about music? 🤔
I cant even imagine what was going in Cedrics head while writing this album, alot of acid i suppose
Loved Mars Volta for almost 20 years now....
Sorta a Finnegan's Wake
The way I’ve explained the writing style of the story is, it’s a story told entirely in metaphors and figurative speech.
It almost becomes a different language.
I believe there’s a Star Trek TNG episode, where the Alien race they encounter The Darmok, language is constructed entirely on metaphors, it’s a lot like that.
They’ve never mentioned this, as far as I am aware, so this is a bit of a “leap” I’m making, but I see many parallels in this story and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen R Donaldson.
I suspect they are familiar with these books.
I also detect some Clive Barker “Books of the Art” & “Imajica”, especially in Cedric’s naming of people & places along with body horror aspects.
From a “Concept Album” inspiration, the short story by Peter Gabriel to accompany his band Genesis’ “Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” concept album, also feels influential.(It’s a Prog record, but that’s one you could consider covering, if you haven’t already).
I’d be curious to find out someday, if I’m correct?
I haven’t read the titles you’re referring to but now I’m interested!
I’ll investigate The Lamb Dies Down… for a future video. Thanks for the suggestion!
This series is very informative! Thank you
You're beautiful, thoughtful and have great tastes. I spent countless hours studying Cedric's writing style back when I was singing. He is such an amazing artist. The whole band is. I just tend to gravitate toward the vocal sides of things. Super stoked for the new album in 12 days. I literally got back from the hospital two days ago after I attempted suicide and the Mars Volta is such a healing experience when truly listened to. Thanks for your vids. Keep up the great work.
I'm looking forward to the new album too. I'm glad you are ok and I hope you get the help you need. There's always something to live for, and I hope you find your reason everyday.
Hope you’re okay man
I’m hoping Francis The Mute is next.
Yes, eventually!!
It’s not over ‘til the Tremulant sings
I didnt know it was this epic
I found this band last November. Within 3 months they were in my top 5 most listened to bands ever. Incredible album
Agreed! Can’t believe they’re getting back together for a tour after 10 years!
@@JJMetalhead dude don’t even get me started I’m so excited
I found Tremulant EP about half a year before Deloused came out. I was utterly hooked on Deloused for at least a year. If Spotify/Scrobbling had been around then, it'd probably *still* be my most played artist/album.
I'm so happy that lots of new people are discovering this masterpiece.
Damn fine bookshelf you got there. Storms, id give my safehand for a shelf like that.loving your take on the album though, never thought about it that hard. great work.I don't even care if you're right, that's a great story.
Life before death my friend!
@@JJMetalhead strength before weakness! My Reddit username is literally Cerpin Stormblessed
I didn’t find out about TMV well know who I was listening to and put two and two together until 2013 I think. I really wish I had been paying attention when they were coming up. But I’m so thankful to have found them now. Have seen Cedric and Omar five times now as ATDI, Antemasque and TMV. They are talented AF check out Bosnian Rainbows as well!
That's amazing!
I'll check out Bosnian Rainbows for sure!
I just found your channel and I'm. Metalhead chick and I love your vids 🤘
🤘🏻🤘🏻Thanks got watching!
Howdy! Just wanted to say I thought this was great!!! Thank you!
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed!!
Great video!! You should go see them live! Just saw them in Dallas. Highly recommend them just in case their coming to your city!
Just saw then in Atlanta! One of the best shows I've ever seen in my life!! I also got to meet Cedric as we were leaving the hotel 🤩🤩🤩
@@JJMetalhead damn! I wanted to meet them as well but it seemed kinda impossible to track them down. Low-key wanna know your experience meeting him lol.
Anywho, glad you enjoyed the show as well! Can't wait for the next one!!!
@@Joeschmo13 he was about to get in a car to go to the venue so I didn’t want to bother him too much by asking for a picture or an autograph, but I did get to shake his hand and tell him I love their music! He was very kind in our brief meeting :)
Specter will lurk
Radar has gathered
I got this album when it came out, I've listened to it so many times and I've read all sorts of theories on what the story is. It still doesn't make sense 🤣. Great job with the explanation 🤘
Thank you! If you get the chance to see them live of this tour, do it! They play a lot of songs off of Deloused.
I Guess eriatarka is the Name of the clinic where wolfram tarants works
Hey thanks for great the video!
I’ve been jammin to the since 2004.
And as a person who says uh alot lol
Try just taking a deep breath through your nose to regain the speed of your point.
No rush. To go thru your research.
You put effort into this and you should not rush yourself.
Great video anyway!
Keep them coming;)
How about Frances the Mute? (I’m a new sub) You may have already covered it.
I would suggest talking about the Machina Duology by Smashing Pumpkins! Billy has always wanted to make a narrative driven double album, which was released in 2000 as two seperate parts about a a dude named zero and his band. He hears the voice of god through his radio and after this revelation decides to rename himself “Glass” and his band “The machines of god.” His fans are simply known as the “ghost children”. Everything after that is all kind of a blur since the narrative isn’t really straightforward with much of the details.
Originally, there were plans to make an animated series adapting the story, but Unfortunately it was pretty much cancelled. The only thing we got was a bunch of concept art and some screenshots.
I’d love to see you dive deeper into these two records and try to attempt to make sense of it all. Nobody has really done it before, so I don’t think there’s a reason not to do it first, yknow?
Thanks for the suggestion, i'll check it out!
A more or less completed Machina Reissue with a ridiculous number of tracks was done and in the mixing and mastering stage, last we heard. Who knows what the hold up is with releasing it. I'm worried that their last album not really doing that well discouraged the label from releasing and it's been shelved, but we're just left in the dark as to what's going on, at the moment. They had another album in the works with recording well under way, with more in the writing process, too, but everything's gone dark. Who knows if they just have their head down getting work done, or if something went wrong, but I'd love to know what the hold up is with the Machina Reissue, it was done and ready for release several months ago. Maybe more legal issues with who has the rights?
I'd love it if you did the same treatment for Francis the Mute. I love that album, but I really can't make sense of it storywise.
I'm hoping to get to it in the next few months!
@@JJMetalhead Awesome, thanks. Take your time. I understand it's not exactly going to be quick, just for the research alone, let alone actually making the video. I appreciate you letting me know it's coming, though. Thanks.
Deloused is Dark Side Of The Moon on choas dust
Awesome video! Would you do one on Warp Riders by The Sword?
I'll add it to the list of future videos!
Please do one for Frances the Mute! I still have no clue where there are 25 snakes coming out my eyes .
Imagine listening to someone talk about music who wasn't even part of the mars volta wave.
i'm having trouble. where in the lyrics can i find all these informations? :D i don't think this story can be understanded without the short book. thanks for your video. it was really fun and great
There is a link to a pdf of the story in the description. It’s a fun read, enjoy!
All I knew when I started looking into this album was reading it was based off a journal an old band mate of theirs found during their time as a repo man.
I believe that is actually the basis for the story for the Frances the Mute album. I covered that one too! If you’re interested.
Hopefully you have already discovered At the Drive-In and Sparta while wearing that Mars Volta shirt lol
You should do some analyses of David Lynch movies. Try Lost Highway and Inland Empire.
I have not seen either of these, but if I find them I’ll give them a watch. What should I expect?
@@JJMetalhead David Lynch is a dark, semi-surrealist film director who's known for making these bizarre, but amazing dark mysteries that sort of wrap around on themselves. Based on your writing chops and your takes on some of the similarly dark and esoteric world building of Mars Volta, I think you might really dig Lynch. I recommend starting with Lost Highway. It's the film whose soundtrack introduced America to Rammstein, and brought together many other influential rockers of the mid-90s such as Trent Reznor, Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, and more. I'd be very curious to get your take on what this film is about. And if you like it, there's a lot of other amazing work by Lynch for you to sink your teeth in to.
@@mutantlabor Sounds like something I’d enjoy! I’ll check it out!
No one else really does these can you pleeaaaaaaaaase do more?
I definitely will!
Check out 'At the Drive In' if you haven't heard of them. They split up into Mars Volta and the other half of the band formed Sparta.
I like At the Drive In much more than Mars Volta or Sparta. Their best album is 'Relationship of Command'
I’ve been meaning to check out At the Drive in but haven’t yet. Thank you for recommending what album to start with.
It’s “tirame a las arañas” throw me to the spiders
Is there any place I can get a physical copy of the book? Thank you for providing a link. Where did you find the book online? I'm a hard-core fan for many years, and I didn't even know about this book.
As far as I know, I don't think they ever made any hard copies of the book. I found the link to the digital version by browsing some online forums.
@@JJMetalhead OK, thanks!
Recently found this album; spent days humming melodies from it ; air guitar and all..then discovered the “story”. Kinda creeped me out a bit.
Cicatriz....zi ka trith,..or thi ka trith...is spainish for scar
its crqzy how hyper creative people can be. not just thwt but the discipline to see it through. i remember when this album first came out. my sister used to get mad that i would ruin the cd from listening to much. hahaha i remember every locql band at the time wanted to be them. was 11 or 12. any of their albums are bangers the last couple u have to listen several times to appreciate. they're releasing stuff again and i wont lie it's not very good.
Definitely very creative minds behind the masterpiece of their albums! Though I don’t like their new stuff as much as their old stuff, I can appreciate it in a different way and I’m so happy they’re making music again!
See-cah-trees
Tee-rah meh a las a-rahn-yas
Thank you!
Keep the black hair. Looks great!
WHO BROUGHT ME HERE!?!?!?!😓😓😢😢😭😭😭
I wish you would definitely do a more detailed review
That would be very LONG video! haha but it is something I want to do as some point. Dissecting the lyrics and the story line by line would be fun for maybe a livestream sometime.
@@JJMetalhead That might have to be a multi day stream🤣
Coheed mask!
Haha these names of places and people are wild
And me trying to pronounce them is embarrassing lol.
@@JJMetalhead haha I don’t think Anyone can do any better
@@croatoansounds probably a Spanish speaking native could do better on those names, but the rest are pure fantasy lol
cicatriz means scar in Spanish but the correct spelling is cicatrize
Frances next
Cicatriz is a scar
you can pronouce it like see-ka-trez
i think you should read the story in a video
That would make for one LONG video!
@@JJMetalhead ok maybe a couple videos
7:22 sorry, can u pronounce that again? Just kidding. Nice video
Hahahaha yeah, definitely saying that wrong 😬
Damn you didn't even try with pronouncing some of the tracks lmao. Nice video though
lol I know, my pronunciations are terrible!
little late
I am more a Sparta fan that the Mars Volta which to me seems too abstract and honestly very drugged out
Don't guess, here's your explanation... xivilization.net/~marek/binaries/DeLoused_storybook.pdf