The Mars Volta Tremulant

As any fan of theirs will tell you with a hint of madness in their eyes, At the Drive-In broke up at the most inopportune moment imaginable — three records into what would later be hailed as an influential career, right when late night TV programmers and Joe Post Punk finally realized just how good the spastic Texans were at music as sharp and snaggle-toothed as a serrated chef's knife. That's okay, though, because the preemptive exit of one promising band allowed for the choose-a-side creation of two more: the At the Drive-In-never-died power emo of Sparta and the drop-the-post-and-add-some-prog punk of the Mars Volta. The latter's most accessible (and arguably, best) full-length was also its first. Simply put, Deloused in the Comatorium stunned everyone once it hit store shelves, from the most casual ATDI concertgoer to the few people who actually heard the group's live and loose dub project De Facto and might have expected something a bit more experimental this time around. You know, an album that actually sounds like a long player, spewing out a blend of psychedelic pop, rock and electronica that's so seamless it grips you like an epic matinee movie. An album for the ADD afflicted this is not, but if you're looking for something truly transcendent, this is it.