Omar Rodriguez-Lopez ‘Arañas en La Sombra’ Review: the fourth in a series of twelve previously unreleased solo efforts will thrill fans of The Mars Volta.

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This summer, the ever chameleonic Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has opened the vaults on a mountain of previously unreleased material (twelve albums in full, released bi-weekly through December). And so far, its been a wild sonic ride, from the mad scientist electro of Sworn Virgins, to the more mournful Corazones and the indie dance-pop fueled Blind Worms, Pious Swine.

But its his latest release, Arañas en La Sombra (Ipecac Recordings), that will be of special interest to fans of his work with the prog-experimentalist group The Mars Volta: all the material was previously recorded with the band’s lineup before their break-up in 2012.

As a result, Arañas en La Sombra often plays like the lost Mars Volta album, with tracks like El Vacio, featuring a dexterous duel between Rodriguez-Lopez’s tweaked guitar figures and Isaiah “Ikey” Owens squelched, sci-fi keyboards, or the ghostly goth patina and watery percussion of Un Mar Amargo.

The latter melds seamlessly with Metamorfosis (using a song division tactic long employed by the multi-instrumentalist) which features Mars Volta alumnus and former Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante. Their dual guitar interplay is incendiary and infectious, full of slithery riffs that intertwine at times and ricochet at odd angles at others.

Picking the most unhinged and disorienting song on any thing involving Rodriguez-Lopez or Mars Volta is tricky, but its Primitivo y Bárbaro for the win, a drugged hall-of-mirrors space jam (and another track featuring Frusciante) that flexes some serious psychedelic muscle, before giving way to the extraterrestrial jazz of Semillas de Hez and the manic title track.

Given this is a solo album (lest anyone forget), the lack of Mars Volta frontman Cedric Bexler’s vocals makes Arañas en La Sombra its own animal. While Rodriguez-Lopez can’t match (and never attempts to) his MV/At-The-Drive-In band mate’s earth-rattling pipes, he uses his unique singing voice (using Spanish lyrics throughout) to strong effect.

The production (mastered by Chris Common) offers a more skeletal framework than the full widescreen cinematic flourishes one expects from a Mars Volta release, but each knotted, deeply textured composition is compelling and realized.

We still have eight  releases to go in Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s musical exorcism before year’s end. One can only try to guess where he’ll take us next.

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