THE MARS VOLTA Announces New Album, Drops 'Vigil' Single

After the release of two new singles following a decade-long hiatus, THE MARS VOLTA has unveiled details surrounding its seventh full-length album, "The Mars Volta", due on September 16. The new album bravely challenges everything you thought you knew about them, delivering their most exciting, most accessible, and most sophisticated music yet.

Today, the band also releases a third single and music video for "Vigil", with Cedric Bixler-Zavala noting: "And the obits wait for a perfect name."

In addition, "The Mars Volta" is now available for digital and physical pre-order. Digitally the album will be available in Dolby Atmos and spatial audio, and physically on CD and vinyl with Clouds Hill holding an exclusive, kinetic version of the vinyl. A special, gold-foiled outer sleeve with embossed art will be available on LP, CD and cassette.

The new album shakes loose some of THE MARS VOLTA's long-standing shibboleths, with only two tracks lasting longer than four minutes, and the dizzying, abrasive prog stylings of earlier albums absent. "The Mars Volta" pulses with subtle brilliance, Caribbean rhythms underpinning sophisticated, turbulent song craft. This is guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala at their most mature, most concise, most focused. Their sound and fury channeled to greatest effect.

"The Mars Volta" track listing:

01. Blacklight Shine
02. Graveyard Love
03. Shore Story
04. Blank Condolences
05. Vigil
06. Qué Dios Te Maldiga Mí Corazón
07. Cerulea
08. Flash Burns From Flashbacks
09. Palm Full Of Crux
10. No Case Gain
11. Tourmaline
12. Equus 3
13. Collapsible Shoulders
14. The Requisition

"Vigil" follows the release of the singles and short films for "Blacklight Shine" and "Graveyard Love". The short films, directed by Rodríguez-López depict the beauty of life in Puerto Rico and rail against U.S. colonial rule.

THE MARS VOLTA has announced its first live shows in ten years. Dates have been added to select cities due to overwhelming demand with many of the shows now sold out.

THE MARS VOLTA tour dates:

Sep. 22 - The Factory in Deep Ellum - Dallas, TX
Sep. 23 - The Factory in Deep Ellum - Dallas, TX
Sep. 25 - Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
Sep. 27 – The Metropolitan Opera House - Philadelphia, PA
Sep. 29 - Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Sep. 30 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY
Oct. 01 - MGM Music Hall at Fenway - Boston, MA
Oct. 03 – The Anthem - Washington, DC
Oct. 05 - Massey Hall - Toronto, ON
Oct. 06 - Royal Oak Music Theatre - Detroit, MI
Oct. 08 - Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL
Oct. 09 – The Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
Oct. 11 - The Mission Ballroom - Denver, CO
Oct. 14 - Moore Theatre - Seattle, WA
Oct. 15 - Moore Theatre - Seattle, WA
Oct. 18 - The Warfield - San Francisco, CA
Oct. 19 - The Warfield - San Francisco, CA
Oct. 21 - Hollywood Palladium - Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 22 – Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 23 – Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA

Formed by guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, THE MARS VOLTA rose from the ashes of El Paso punk-rock firebrands AT THE DRIVE-IN in 2001. On a mission to "honor our roots and honor our dead", THE MARS VOLTA made music that fused the Latin sounds Rodríguez-López was raised on with the punk and underground noise he and Bixler-Zavala had immersed themselves in for years, and the futuristic visions they were tapping into. The albums that followed were one-of-a-kind masterpieces, their songs of breath-taking complexity also possessing powerful emotional immediacy. After the group fell silent, a legion of devotees (including Kanye West) kept up an insistent drum beat for their return. Now — a year after "La Realidad De Los Sueños", a luxurious 18-LP box-set compiling their back catalog, sold out its 5,000 print run in under 24 hours — THE MARS VOLTA is back.