The Mars Volta are one of the most adventurous and influential bands in modern progressive rock — a wild fusion of prog, Latin music, jazz, punk and psychedelia, born from the ashes of At the Drive-In. Here is our fellow fan’s ranking of their albums.

The short version

For the heart of the band, start with De-Loused in the Comatorium, Frances the Mute and The Bedlam in Goliath — the masterpiece debut and two of their wildest, most ambitious records. The full ranking is below.

Beauty in chaos

Formed in 2001 from the ashes of the post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta were the vehicle for guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala to chase their wildest ideas. They fused progressive rock with Latin music, jazz fusion, punk energy and psychedelia into something dense, surreal and wholly their own — music that, at its best, finds real beauty in chaos. Rolling Stone named them the best prog-rock band of 2008. These seven studio albums span their original run and their 2022 reunion.

How we ranked them

This is one fan’s order, weighing songwriting, ambition and sheer impact — across a band that never once played it safe. The facts are accurate; the order is a starting point for the debate.

The essential three

At the top sits De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003), their masterpiece — a ferocious, dazzling debut and a surreal concept album rooted in the loss of a close friend, produced by Rick Rubin and still the perfect distillation of everything they do. Beside it stand Frances the Mute (2005), the sprawling, unhinged, hugely ambitious follow-up, and The Bedlam in Goliath (2008), perhaps their most frenetic and intense record of all.

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Reliably great

The next tier is essential too. Amputechture (2006) is their densest, most challenging album, a dark and sprawling beast for the devoted, while Octahedron (2009) is their quietest and most accessible record — the closest they ever came to writing straightforward songs.

For completists

Two more albums close out the run. Noctourniquet (2012) is a stranger, more electronic record that ended their original era, and the self-titled The Mars Volta (2022) is the concise, pop-focused album of their reunion — a startling change of pace that divides longtime fans. Both reward listeners who already love the chaos above.

A selection, in order

A selection of The Mars Volta’s studio albums, in chronological order — from the 2003 debut through their 2022 reunion, each with a full write-up here. Click through on any of them.

Where to start

Begin with De-Loused in the Comatorium — their masterpiece and the ideal introduction to everything that makes them special. From there, Frances the Mute and The Bedlam in Goliath take you deeper into the beautiful madness.

The players

The Mars Volta is, at its core, the partnership of guitarist, producer and bandleader Omar Rodríguez-López and singer and lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who founded the band in 2001 after the breakup of At the Drive-In. Around that duo passed a rotating, virtuosic cast of musicians. Original member Jeremy Michael Ward, who shaped the band’s sound at the controls, died in 2003, and their longtime keyboardist Ikey Owens in 2014; both are warmly remembered.

Why they still matter

The Mars Volta did more than almost any band to drag progressive rock, kicking and screaming, into the twenty-first century — proof that prog could be dangerous, visceral and utterly modern. Their influence runs through adventurous American bands like Coheed and Cambria and The Dear Hunter, and they carry forward the fearless, genre-defying spirit of forebears like King Crimson and Frank Zappa. Few bands have ever sounded so thrillingly out of control.

Go deeper

Keep exploring: read about the best The Mars Volta songs. You can also place them in the bigger picture with our list of the best progressive rock albums of all time.

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