History YMMV / TheMarsVolta

** It's gotten to the point where Omar acknowledged it in an interview

* ArchivePanic:

* EpilepticTrees: It was rumoured that "Zed and Two Naughts" was their swan song and that they would break up. HarsherInHindsight when you consider that when Omar announced the band's hiatus, he stated that he was unsure if the band will ever reunite. Made WORSE when it was announced the band was splitting up following disagreements between Omar and Cedric. This also became a rather unwanted case of IKnewIt, although it can also be considered moot since Omar and Cedric reconciled and formed Antemasque (and reunited Music/AtTheDriveIn), with Omar giving some hints about TMV reuniting when time allows it, and Cedric confirming that a reunion will occur at some point in the future.

* FridgeBrilliance: Why does "El ciervo vulernado" cut off suddenly at the end of ''Amputechture''? [[spoiler:Because the album itself has been amputated]].

* JumpScare: On ''Frances the Mute'', every song transitions into the next via ambient soundscapes that can last up to a full minute. The final song, "Cassandra Gemini", simply starts full-blast in the middle of the final ambient segue.
* {{Mondegreen}}: From Conjugal Burns: [[GagPenis I GOT A PENIS THAT'LL RIP THROUGH THE VERY FABRIC OF TIME, TIME, TIME, TIME]]...

* ArchivePanic: Sure, they might have only six studio albums, one live album, and an EP (in addition to a few B-sides here and there), but since bootlegging is encouraged at their shows, almost every concert they've ever played can be easily downloaded. The result? Several dozen gigabytes of [=MP3=] files to hear all of their live material. Necessary for completionists because they frequently mutate improvised sections into new songs, and even those that aren't reused still kick ass.
** More so with Omar Rodriguez Lopez' solo albums: In 2016 alone he released 12 studio albums. There are also a ''ton'' of other spin-off projects and precursors - among them, Bosnian Rainbows, Antemasque, Zavalaz, One Day as a Lion, De Facto, The Fall on Deaf Ears, and of course Music/AtTheDriveIn, though not all of these have released much (or any) material.

** Recently Omar has stated that he wants to make The Mars Volta more of a democracy.

* {{Squick}}: The lyrics of ''Frances the Mute'', especially the title track, are loaded with enough subtly disturbing sexual imagery to make a ''Silent Hill'' game blush. Arguably {{justified|Trope}} given the subject matter.

* TheWoobie: After all the horrible things that have happened to Cedric and his immediate family (from what happened to his wife, ''constantly'' losing friends to tragic deaths, and projects never coming into fruition), you really just want to give them hugs. Omar, too.

* TheWoobie: After all the horrible things that have happened to Cedric and his immediate family, you really just want to give them hugs. Omar, too.

* NightmareFuel: So, so much of it - enough to earn [[NightmareFuel/TheMarsVolta their own page]].

* MostAnnoyingSound: ''Scabdates'' opens with a baby screaming.
* [[NightmareFuel/{{Music}} Nightmare Fuel]]: So, so much of it - enough to earn [[NightmareFuel/TheMarsVolta their own page]].

** Even among their fans, the band's live show can sometimes be a case of this, mostly being down to whether people enjoy their improvisation or not.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The band gets this reaction a lot. Some of Music/AtTheDriveIn's fans weren't too happy about TMV including prog influence on their music. And then some of TMV's fans weren't too happy about TMV lightening the prog influence on their later material. Also qualifies as UnpleasableFanbase.

** Their lyrics, word salad though they may be, are littered with them. An especially subtle one is the title of "Cassandra Gemini", which becomes a MeaningfulName with some knowledge of Myth/ClassicalMythology. Cassandra is the name of the cursed seer in ''Literature/TheIliad'' whose warnings about the future were ignored by everyone around her, while "Gemini" is Latin for "twins". [[spoiler: Cassandra in the song is a split personality from Frances, making her Frances' "twin", so to speak, and a major theme of the album is Frances's inability to communicate her traumas to the people around her, both because of her own muteness and other people's apathy. Furthermore, in the album's story Frances was raped by priests in a church, while the mythical Cassandra was raped by Greek soldiers in a temple to Athena during the fall of Troy, adding another layer of meaning to the name]].

* ArchivePanic: Sure, they might have only six studio albums, one live album, and an EP (in addition to a few B-sides here and there), but since bootlegging is encouraged at their shows, almost every concert they've ever played can be easily downloaded. The result? Several dozen gigabytes of MP3 files to hear all of their live material. Necessary for completionists because they frequently mutate improvised sections into new songs, and even those that aren't reused still kick ass.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TB_fi1fB3k bass intro]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TB_fi1fB3k#t=4m59 guitar/saxophone duel]] from "Day of the Baphomets" probably count.
** The entire albums of ''De-Loused in the Comatorium'' and ''Frances the Mute'' qualify, but special mention goes to the [[EpicRocking 32 minute]] end track on ''Frances the Mute'', "Cassandra Gemini."
** The band's later albums have their moments. "Vedamalady" stands out as a particular highlight from ''Noctourniquet''.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrwMMF2QS14 music video for Goliath]] has the band not even trying to play along with the song. Highlights include Omar playing a violin and the song stopping halfway through because a car was coming through their set.

* GeniusBonus: Their lyrics, word salad though they may be, are littered with them. An especially subtle one is the title of "Cassandra Gemini", which becomes a MeaningfulName with some knowledge of Myth/ClassicalMythology. Cassandra is the name of the cursed seer in ''Literature/TheIliad'' whose warnings about the future were ignored by everyone around her, while "Gemini" is Latin for "twins". [[spoiler: Cassandra in the song is a split personality from Frances, making her Frances' "twin", so to speak, and a major theme of the album is Frances's inability to communicate her traumas to the people around her, both because of her own muteness and other people's apathy. Furthermore, in the album's story Frances was raped by priests in a church, while the mythical Cassandra was raped by Greek soldiers in a temple to Athena during the fall of Troy, adding another layer of meaning to the name]].

* '''HarsherInHindsight''': The entire story of ''Frances the Mute'' given the ordeal Cedric and his wife Chrissy have been through over the past few years. Suffice it to say that if you have sexual assault/abuse triggers you should probably ''not'' seek out more information about this, but the basics are described in TMV's Nightmare Fuel page.

* {{Squick}}: The lyrics of ''Frances the Mute'', especially the title track, are loaded with enough subtly disturbing sexual imagery to make a ''Silent Hill'' game blush.

* FirstInstallmentWins: The band's first two albums are generally their most popular and widely acclaimed. The others are still fairly well liked, though.

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: The infamous Pitchfork review of ''Frances the Mute'' caused this reaction from many fans, though in all honesty the publication already had a negative reputation at the time for what fans of ProgressiveRock considered a BiasSteamroller against the genre. (It has let up on this somewhat in more recent years.)

* EpilepticTrees: It was rumoured that "Zed and Two Naughts" was their swan song and that they would break up. HarsherInHindsight when you consider that when Omar announced the band's hiatus, he stated that he was unsure if the band will ever reunite. Made WORSE when it was announced the band was splitting up following disagreements between Omar and Cedric. This also became a rather unwanted case of IKnewIt, although it can also be considered moot since Omar and Cedric reconciled and formed Antemasque, with Omar giving some hints about TMV reuniting if time allows it.

** "With Twilight As My Guide", a somber, haunting ballad about the Salem Witch Trials.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Kind of a given when a band incorporates this much MindScrew into its works.

** More so with Omar Rodriguez Lopez' solo albums: In 2016 alone he released 12 studio albums.

* [[NightmareFuel/{{Music}} Nightmare Fuel]]: So much of it. A few obvious examples: the cacophonous ending of "Tourniquet Man", the four-minute intro of "Frances the Mute" (the song), and the back story of ''Frances the Mute'' (the album). A few other examples of their music being unsettling for less obvious reasons include the [[NothingIsScarier ambient midsection]] of "Cicatriz ESP", in which a listener might keep expecting some kind of ScareChord, and the twice-used outro "Con safo" (appears at the end of both "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" and "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore"), which establishes a very unsettling kind of tension.
** The four minute intro to "Frances the Mute" (song) might be the creepiest thing they've ever done. It consists solely of weird, metallic clanging with a DroneOfDread that gets louder as it goes on, ratcheting the tension up to nearly unbearable levels. It gets even creepier when you know the story behind the album, and realise what the clanging actually is; [[spoiler: it's an SOS.]] When the EpicRiff finally appears 4 and a half minutes in, it comes as a relief.
*** The song itself qualifies, at least lyrically. The "Mascara glass in the molar weeds" section [[WordSaladLyrics obliquely]] describes [[spoiler:the title character being either [[RapeAsDrama raped]] or [[SlippingAMickey simply drugged]], beaten, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill gutted, and hung by her legs for seven days.]] [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat SHE SURVIVES THIS.]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge And, according to ''Cassandra Gemini'', she]] [[AmbiguousEnding possibly]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge kills them all]] [[HeroicBSOD and then lapses into a traumatized state of muteness.]] [[BookEnds Then Cassandra Gemini ends with the lyrics that began the first song,]] as if this is destined to just keep happening.]]

*** On that note, strangely enough, ''Frances the Mute'' itself. It's either a complete masterpiece of both the band's career and even progressive rock as a whole, or it's the textbook definition of a SophomoreSlump and a case of a band going way too far on only their ''second album'', cramming too many ideas and seemingly not knowing what to do with them.

** More the fanbase of Music/AtTheDriveIn than anything else, but do not ask an At The Drive-In fan if The Mars Volta or Sparta (the post-hardcore band formed by former members of At The Drive-In due to their distaste for the prog direction Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez were heading in) is better, you're likely to get insults hurled unjustly at either side of the former band (who seem to be on good terms).

* EpilepticTrees: It was rumoured that "Zed and Two Naughts" was their swan song and that they would break up. HarsherInHindsight when you consider that when Omar announced the band's hiatus, he stated that he was unsure if the band will ever reunite. Made WORSE when it was announced the band was splitting up following disagreements between Omar and Cedric. This also became a rather unwanted case of IKnewIt, although can be considered moot since Omar and Cedric reconciled and formed Antemasque, with Omar giving some hints about TMV reuniting if time allows it.

* LoveItOrHateIt: Just the band's output as a whole, really.

* SignatureSong: "L'via L'viaquez"

* [[NightmareFuel/{{Music}} Nightmare Fuel]]: So much of it. A few obvious examples: the cacophonous ending of "Tourniquet Man", the four-minute intro of "Frances the Mute" (the song), and the back story of ''Frances the Mute'' (the album). A few other examples of their music being unsettling for less obvious reasons include the ambient midsection of "Cicatriz ESP", in which a listener might keep expecting some kind of ScareChord, and the twice-used outro "Con safo" (appears at the end of both "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" and "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore"), which establishes a very unsettling kind of tension.