De-Loused in the Comatorium

De-Loused in the Comatorium
Studio album by The Mars Volta
Released	June 24, 2003
Recorded	2002–2003 at The Mansion, Los Angeles
Genre	Progressive rock, experimental rock, jazz rock
Length	60:59
Label	Gold Standard Laboratories Universal Records Strummer
Producer	Rick Rubin, Omar Rodríguez-López
The Mars Volta chronology
Tremulant (2002) De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003) Live (2003)
Singles from De-Loused in the Comatorium
"Inertiatic ESP" Released: March 23, 2004 "Televators" Released: April 6, 2004
Alternative cover
Alternative cover by Storm Thorgerson found on certain limited editions and on the reverse side of original cover

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Entertainment Weekly	(A-) link
Pitchfork Media	(4.9/10) link
Popmatters	(Positive) link
Q	link
Robert Christgau	(C+) link
Rolling Stone	link
Stylus Magazine	(B+) link

De-Loused in the Comatorium is the debut studio album of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta. Released on June 24, 2003 on Gold Standard Laboratories and Universal Records, De-loused is based on a short story written by lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and sound manipulation artist Jeremy Michael Ward. The album is an hour-long tale of Cerpin Taxt, a man who tries to kill himself by overdosing on a mixture of morphine and rat poison. The attempt lands him in a week-long coma during which he experiences visions of humanity and his own psyche. Upon waking, he is dissatisfied with the real world and jumps to his death. The story of Cerpin Taxt alludes to the death of El Paso, Texas artist - and Bixler-Zavala's friend - Julio Venegas. (Ominously enough, founding member Jeremy Michael Ward was found dead in an apparent heroin overdose one month before the album was released.)

Two songs from the album, "Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)" and "Cicatriz ESP," first appeared in 2001 as the band's very first demo recordings with bassist Eva Gardner and drummer Blake Fleming; notably, the early version of "Cicatriz ESP" (then known as "Cicatrix") was slower and much shorter (4 minutes) than the album one (at 12 minutes being the longest track on the album). Both tracks can be legally obtained through The Comatorium's trading forum.

De-Loused became, both critically and commercially, the band's biggest hit, eventually selling in excess of 500,000 copies despite limited promotion, and was featured on several critics' "Best of the Year" lists.^[1] The album was ranked number 55 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time.^[2] "Drunkship of Lanterns" was named the 91st best guitar song of all-time by Rolling Stone.^[3]

The music contained in De-Loused is distinguished by its enigmatic lyrics, latin and jazz rhythms, and Omar Rodríguez-López's frenetic guitar riffs, which are often harshly dissonant. The title of this album is taken from the lyrics of the song "Eunuch Provocateur" on the band's previous release, Tremulant. The cover artwork is by Storm Thorgerson.

Track listing

All songs by Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Son et Lumiere"	1:35
2.	"Inertiatic ESP"	4:24
3.	"Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)"	7:31
4.	"Tira Me a las Arañas ("Throw Me to the Spiders")"	1:28
5.	"Drunkship of Lanterns"	7:05
6.	"Eriatarka"	6:20
7.	"Cicatriz ESP"	12:29
8.	"This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed"	4:58
9.	"Televators"	6:19
10.	"Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt"	8:42

Bonus track on the Japanese, UK, and Australian special edition releases of the album (even if not included in the track listing of the Japanese version)
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Ambuletz"	7:03

Australian edition bonus disc

These songs are the same songs that appear on Live EP.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)" (live BBC session)	9:29
2.	"Drunkship of Lanterns" (live BBC session)	9:38
3.	"Cicatriz ESP" (live)	16:08
4.	"Televators" (live)	7:18

Personnel

The following people contributed to De-Loused in the Comatorium:

Band

• Cedric Bixler-Zavala – vocals
• Omar Rodríguez-López – guitar
• Jon Theodore – drums
• Jeremy Michael Ward – sound manipulation
• Isaiah "Ikey" Owens – keyboards
• Flea – bass

Additional musicians

• Lenny Castro – percussion
• John Frusciante – additional guitar and synthesizer treatment ("Cicatriz ESP")
• Justin Meldal-Johnsen – stand-up bass ("Televators")

Recording personnel

• Rick Rubin - producer
• Omar Rodríguez-López - producer
• Dave Schiffman - recording
• Andrew Scheps - additional recording
• Phillip Groussard - assistant engineer
• Darren Mora - assistant engineer
• Rich Costey - mixer
• Lindsay Chase - album production coordination
• Vlado Meller - mastering
• Steve Kadison - mastering assistance

Artwork

• Storm Thorgerson - cover design, art direction
• Peter Curzon - cover design, graphics -
• Rupert Truman - photography
• Dan Abbott - illustrations

Singles

• "Inertiatic ESP" (2003)
• "Televators" (2003)

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2003	The Billboard 200	39

External links

• De-Loused in the Comatorium Storybook (via tmvfr.info)
• Mix Online article - Technical report/interview on the making of De-Loused in the Comatorium.
• Song by Song Interpretation and Album Review
• Omar Rodriguez Official Website

References

1. ^ Acclaimed Music - De-Loused in the Comatorium
2. ^ Chud Forums
3. ^ The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time: Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-01-24. "The Mars Volta brought prog rock into the 21st century with this thrilling blast, and Omar Rodriguez Lopez announced himself as one of this decade's great young axmen, mixing Gang of Four riffs with Hendrix virtuosity, Latin rhythms and gallons of reverb."