Octahedron (album) - Reception

Reception

The album so far has a score of 66 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "generally favorable reviews". The New York Times gave the album a favorable review and said, "The panache of the singing and the radiant complexity of the music--an achievement shared by Mr. Rodriguez Lopez and a handful of regular collaborators, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante--drive the album relentlessly forward. And it’s the subtle touches, no less than the sweeping ones, that leave an impression." The Boston Globe also gave it a favorable review and said, "Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala are the creative duo driving the band and once again deliver on a standing promise to blow any mind that is willing to stay open." Planet Sound gave it a score of seven out of ten and called it the band's "most chilled-out and approachable record." NME also gave it a score of seven out of ten and said it "might be their ‘reflective’ effort, but it’s classic MV." Under the Radar gave it seven stars out of ten and said, "We already knew The Mars Volta could shred. Now we know they can slow the pace too and be equally as compelling." Tiny Mix Tapes gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five and said it "isn’t a representation of the best The Mars Volta are capable of, but it is a glimpse into the power they possess when they better harness their capabilities." musicOMH also gave it a score of three-and-a-half stars out of five and said that for the first time the band "really can do restraint, without compromising the overall impact of the instances where things are let rip." Paste gave the album altogether a review averaging about 6.5 out of ten: Rachel Dovey gave it an eight out of ten and said that "the group returns to dark balladry on 'Desperate Graves' and 'Copernicus,' two more highlights from a haunting album full of twilight poetry"; Corey DuBrowa, however, gave it five out of ten and called the album "the sound of a band treading water."

Other scores are average, mixed or negative: The Scotsman gave it a score of three stars out of five and said that it "employs stillness as a set-up for all manner of disruption: sharply pealing riffs, phantasmagorical metaphors, convoluted song structures. In many ways it's a typical effort from the guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and the vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who make up the Mars Volta's core. But that's not to discredit the more measured side of Octahedron. Presented as an eight-song suite, the album delivers a panoramic range of intensity, sliding along that range in ways both gradual and startling." BBC Music gave it an average review and said that the album "shows the band maintaining a frighteningly productive work rate... while continuing to mature. Its vaulting ambition demands over-inflated self-confidence. And MV have that in spades." Uncut also gave it a score of three stars out of five and said, "As ever with The Mars Volta, there are enough flashes of brilliance to make up for the wearying material elsewhere." Q likewise gave the album three stars out of five and said it "bucks the band's trend for obfuscation, though; conventional song structures are very much in evidence, while its relatively trim 49-minute running time is on par with some of Mars Volta's more involved live jams." Alternative Press likewise gave it three stars and said the album "will appeal to elderly prog fans immune to attention deficit disorder, who have the patience to let its charm gradually unfold."

The A.V. Club gave the album a C and called the Mars Volta "a band that excels when its sing-alongs double as freak-outs; on Octahedron, they’ve largely ditched the chaos in lieu of an admirable, albeit unsatisfying, experiment in being quiet." The Austin Chronicle gave it one-and-a-half stars out of five and said, "'Cotopaxi' and 'Desperate Graves' are the Volta's most straightforward carbon-burners since Frances the Mute's 'Cygnus ... Vismund Cygnus' yet lack structure and memorable hooks, while the introductory ballad 'Since We've Been Wrong' soars closer to the Eagles than Led Zeppelin."