At the drive-in - in ter a li a

17 years. That is the gap between in ter a li a and their breakthrough album "Relationship of Command" which came out in 2000.  Since they split up in 2001, you could say it has been absolutely crazy what has happened. I am not even going to count how many albums Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has been on or been involved in. I am not exaggerating, it must be at least 100. The main bands members of At the drive-in were in at that time though were the Mars Volta and Sparta.

After all that time you do begin to wonder if they were capable of another album which was to the standard of "Relationship of Command". And I have to say they  done it. in ter a li a is another absolute beast of a record.  Its along the same lines as "One armed scissor" and "Rolodex Propaganda" in terms of its guitar bashing, hardcore punk. If you are wondering if there are any lighter moments on the album like "Non zero possiblity" or "Invalid litter department". You have to wait till track 10 "Ghost-tape No 9" for a refreshing change of pace. But that's it, album closer "Hostage Stamps" kicks it back up to 11 to finish things off.

One thing which is constant across all At the drive-in's music, is that I still have absolutely no idea what the lyrics are about. Sometimes I think its a secret language. Or (and more likely) that they are just more intelligent and are just way better at English than I am. I even followed lead singer Cedric's twitter for a while and had to unfollow as I didn't understand what he was saying.  But this does not detract from the music. Cedric's voice is so good it doesn't actually matter what he is saying. It fits to the music and for me that is the most important thing.

Overall this is a cracking album and yes it is up to the same standard as "Relationship of Command".  Its just pure hardcore punk at its best. Back in 2000 when they last came to the UK, I was too young to see them live. Now I am grateful I finally get the chance to see them in their upcoming tour. With the amount of shows and albums these guys have down now I can't wait to see what they have in store.