When the Mars Volta unleashed its 2002 debut EP, Tremulant, some critics cheekily tagged the band "Punk Floyd." Given that vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez cut their teeth in the castle-storming emo-core outfit At The Drive-In, it seemed natural that "punk" would the predominant word in their freshly hatched group's nickname.
Wrong.
Seven years later, the band's psychedelic and progressive tendencies -- lengthy jams, epic guitar solos, trippy vocal effects -