Think the Mars Volta can't get any more self-indulgent? The band's second live release, Scab Dates is culled from performances between 2003 and 2005, in which the group streches already epic-length songs like "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" and "Cicatriz ESP" into extended jams that, like many of the pieces on last year's Frances the Mute, have to be segmented across different tracks ("Cicatriz" alone is in five parts totalling almost 40 minutes). Needless to say, the album is unlikely to win over anyone who bristled at the extended solos and song suites of Frances the Mute-- and yet, not one song from that album appears here; the bulk material is culled from the band's 2003 full-length De-Loused in the Comatorium.

"Veil Cerpin Taxt" and "Cicatriz" comprise most of Scab Dates; what looks like 12 tracks is little more like three. Excepting the track taken from the Tremulant EP ("Concertina"), the record offers "Abrasions Mount the Timpani", an introductory sound collage played over an intercom while a few notes of guitar tantalize the audience, and "Cavigula" and "Haruspex", both mostly wordless jams that serve as tension builders and palette cleansers. Yes, Mars Volta show more than a fair share of instrumental prowess and flash, with licks that would make aspiring metal musos look up from their fretboards and nod in thoughtful approval; but like me, that person probably wants a little more from a live album than back-to-the-audience noodling from a rock band with modest improvisational skills.

"Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" opens with a rhythm section adding urgency to the band's complex riffage. Divisions between the segments seem arbitrary, with a space-exploring instrumental break and a show-stopping unaccompanied guitar riff appearing before Part A even kicks in. While the band maintains the energy through the three different sections of the jagged "Cerpin Taxt", it eventually dips into ambient textures and dull instrumental passages during the marathon version of "Cicatriz" that closes the album. The first section-- eight minutes of organ solos and wah-pedal guitar-- would be over-doing it as it is. Throw in a slower, psychedelic interlude for Part I, reverberating vocal nonsense and muffled blues soloing for Part II, a part III that sounds a whole lot like Part I, and a slow moody 20-minute jam that crawls, and you have a new level of pushing the rock form past all levels of patience. Save a tossed-off Bowie reference in the mire of part III, there's nothing engaging or revealing added to these tracks. They're just a whole lot longer.

To beat a dead horse, these songs don't need to be streched to be understood-- what remains desperately missing from the Mars Volta is context for their musings. Burrowing into these impenetrable instrumentals and decoding lyrics could be half the fun, but what's the point of ending the record on another sound collage that merges the final (20-minute) moody jam on Scab Dates with what sounds like backstage patter? That's an artful allusion to what-- an encore break? Given which songs are chosen and when this is being released, Scab Dates is a neither a concession nor a step forward, revealing inclinations that feel half as indulgent as they should when following a record like Frances the Mute, and about half as interesting to listen to. For this album to follow De-Loused in the Comatorium would at least have made some sense; now it's just more of the same.