Everyone, whether they know it or not, has at least one friend from high school who shits themselves every time the Mars Volta release something new. Well, prepare the Pampers, because this baby fuses the Volta's 21st century prog-opera with another high school varsity favorite: Rage Against the Machine. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez lathers a hulking pentatonic riff with layers of DigiTech'd wah-wahs, blips, and beeps, the whole thing so unwieldy it requires two entries to fit on a MySpace page. Meanwhile, Cedric Bixler Zavala reverts to his Spanglish bit, belting "¿Qué pasa?" before clumsily weaving some obscure eight-syllable medical condition into poetry. In other words, it's standard fare for these guys, with a bonus package of meat-headed riffage at no extra cost.

Stream: The Mars Volta: Viscera Eyes