The first single from the Mars Volta's fifth album, Octahedron, sets the pace for the new catalogue of songs. I recently bought the album and was surprised to hear identifiable song structures devoid of a lot of sound manipulations, songs that range from 4-8 minutes long, a slowed down pace (for the Volta), and somewhat less cryptic lyrics- perhaps this is a stab toward a more mainstream sound(no one can quite predict anything with this band though)? Unlike most of their previos albums, the concept for this one has not been stated by the band(if there is a concept at all). From what I can gather, Bixler-Zavala sings about themes of being murderer and victim, terrorist, and kidnapper- sometimes in the same song(but those are just my guesses). Overall, I like this album, though it can be a bit slow in places. Also, for fans who hunger for the more traditional psychedelic sound of the Mars Volta, check out Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's Cryptomensia.