REVIEW: ANTEMASQUE – ‘ANTEMASQUE’

Artist: ANTEMASQUE
Album: ANTEMASQUE
Genre: Rock, Punk

Despite the dissolution of The Mars Volta, pioneering artists Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez can’t seem to split up. With The Mars Volta’s final album, Noctourniquet, and its supporting tour in the books, the duo reportedly intended to work on separate projects, as they’ve been wont to do. Fortunately for fans, this was not the case, as Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez recruited former Mars Volta touring drummer Dave Elitch to join them in what would become ANTEMASQUE. The band’s self-titled release was later recorded in a studio belonging to Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist and former collaborator, Flea, who would also provide bass on the record.

ANTEMASQUE begins abruptly, perhaps to the surprise of fans who have often found Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez to open their albums with a slower, mood-setting track. With a few churning strokes of the guitar, “4AM” doesn’t really thrash in the same way as the earlier works by the duo. Instead, it transitions into a driving punk song that adequately showcases the group’s new style; particularly Bixler-Zavala’s raspy higher tones, which seem to have lost their trademark smoothness over the years.

What’s perhaps the most striking about ANTEMASQUE, is the surprisingly thin mix. Coming from artists known for their rich aural textures, sound effects and filters, the overall sound of the ANTEMASQUE debut consists of very little. While Bixler-Zavala’s vocals can be heard in full, Rodriguez-Lopez’s array of delays and distortions are strangely missing. Instead, a single guitar track delivers his frantic chords, often with little more than a thin twangy tone. Even Elitch’s drums and Flea’s iconic bass playing have been dialed back in the mix. All of this is coupled with a severe lack of solos or featured sections from any of the instruments throughout the album. Instead, ANTEMASQUE consists of a lot of straight-up punk and rock with little else to offer.

Fans of The Mars Volta will also miss the contributions of Isaiah “Ikey” Owens, the band’s longtime keyboard player who suddenly passed away earlier this year. Owens eloquently filled out a great deal of the duo’s tracks in the past, which perhaps contributes to the emptier feeling of ANTEMASQUE.

The debut tumbles on for 35 minutes of nearly the same gritty punk sound, leaving few impressions along the way. Songs like “Drown All Your Witches” stand out, but mostly because they deviate from the new sound in favor of an acoustic/western type of feel. In many ways, ANTEMASQUE sounds like some forgotten At The Drive-In tunes that never made their way out of the demo stage.

It’s obvious that a number of the songs on ANTEMASQUE could be excellent, but instead have been blanketed in the unrefined style that the band has applied to not just the audio, but all of their media surrounding the band. Every picture and video is colorless, and slapped with their out-of-focus logo. Again, the choice of a loosely-mastered production is really the most detracting factor of the whole release, which really feels like it could have used some more love in the studio.

If you loved The Mars Volta and At The Drive-In, or any of the members’ various other projects, you’ll definitely be checking out the latest from Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez. If ANTEMASQUE sticks around it might also be interesting to see what the second iteration sounds like. However, the duo have most often hit their highest mark in the early stages of their projects, making ANTEMASQUE even more concerning.

SCORE: 5/10
Review written by Scott Murray

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One Response to “REVIEW: ANTEMASQUE – ‘ANTEMASQUE’”

  1. Bigbadcarbon says:

    I love the stripped back nature of the record,both in arrangement and production.The old punk aesthetic has returned,granted having seen them live I can report Cedric dousing his vocals in reverb (for whatever reason). Noctourniquet was a very fitting end to the Mars Volta and I think the Antemasque debut shows a creative force not afraid to start again.