Narrative Essay

Submitted By Ferdiazzz1
Words: 671
Pages: 3

It was January 23, 2013 when vocalist Cedric Bixler announced to the world via the internet that the progressive rock n' roll band The Mars Volta had broken up. I can't say that I didn't see it coming, considering that they had been on “indefinite hiatus”, a clever term bands like to use when they don't want to admit that they've grown apart musically, for around 2-3 months before the split was made official. However, despite its predictability, that familiar sinking feeling in the gut overtook me when I found out.
I first heard of The Mars Volta during my sophomore year of High School. Sean Danner, a good buddy of mine, wouldn't shut up about them. “Dude, you have GOT to hear this band! They're the most insane thing I've ever heard!” We were aimlessly roaming in his car after school and he popped in Deloused in the Comatorium, the Volta's debut concept album that tells the tale of protagonist Cerpin Taxt's journey as he is transported into the world of his subconscious during a weeklong coma. I was a little put off at first, to say the least. Their music was unlike anything I had ever heard.
After that first initial listen in Sean's car, I had forgotten about The Mars Volta, or so I thought. A week went by and something funny started to happen: fragments of melodies starting popping up in my head, and I couldn't quite place the source. “Where have I heard that before?” Like an untraceable virus, Deloused in the Comatorium had infected my psyche like a germ infects a body, and I was experiencing the first noticeable symptoms of the most pleasant disease I have ever experienced.
It started out with random guitar riffs that would pop into and out of my head, which frustrated me because there's no way I know of to hum part of a tune into Google and get the song you're looking for. After a couple days of this peculiar form of torture, I was given a gift: “Exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed!” I've become used to this kind of lyrics-as-imagery aesthetic, but at the time, I was just as perplexed by the choice of words, especially since they were for the song's chorus, as I was about the fact that my brain elicited an emotional response to them. I typed in the words onto my computer and discovered that the song that had rewired my brain was “Roulette Dares(The Haunt of)” by that weird band my friend had