Thinking Plague? I guess I should listen to that
The Mars Volta - [Noctourniquet #12] Noctourniquet [5:39]
To be honest I wasn't really expecting too much from this album judging from the description (which indicated that nearly everything I loved about their early albums wouldn't be present), so I guess I can't say it wasn't much of a disappointment, but they've done a lot better. I'm doubting they'll ever top De-Loused or Frances. That said, there are a lot of pretty melodies and the like, so it's not like it's a complete waste of an album, but I miss the sonic weirdness you used to get on every track. This album is disappointingly tame by their standards, and that's even considering the sort-of "unplugged album" that preceded it. Maybe I'll get used to it though. There are enough decent songs to make it worth returning to at least a few more times. Hopefully a good quality rip surfaces soon too; it's entirely possible that the shitty 192 kbps, possibly transcoded mp3 rip is shorn of enough sonic details that it sounds more disappointing than the album actually is.
Also, Omar, please stop clipping your albums. Seriously.