IN REVIEW: At the Drive In - "in•ter a•li•a"

In many ways, At the Drive In's fourth record seemed doomed to failure before a note was recorded; chief among them being time, change and legacy. This album arrives 17 years after previous effort Relationship of Command, a very long absence for ardent fans of the group. There's also the absence of not just original guitarist Jim Ward, but also of producer Ross Robinson, whose work on Relationship of Command helped capture the band's aesthetic like no other (I'm of the firm belief that it stands as Robinson's best work). Then, there's the long shadow Relationship of Command has cast over a generation of emo, screamo and post-hardcore that followed it; it's not simply one of the most influential albums of this century, it's one of this century's best full stop.

So, with nearly two decades separation from the impossibly high bar they set, down what many consider a key member, and working with a new producer (Rich Costey is certainly no slouch though), it really shouldn't come as a surprise that in•ter a•li•a doesn't really compare with Relationship of Command. To expect the weathered vets of 2017 to match the young, spry and hungry upstarts of 2000 is to do the band, and yourself, a gross disservice. There's simply too much time and experience between the two albums to make that even remotely possible. This is especially true considering the body of work primary members Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala have amassed in the years since At the Drive In's original dissolution; one shouldn't go into this record pretending that the EP and six albums the pair made as The Mars Volta between 2002 and 2012 and the album as Antemasque in 2014 never happened, not to mention the 40+ (not a typo) Rodriguez-Lopez solo records.

If anything, perhaps the best preparation for ATDI's fourth album is that Antemasque record from 2014; that record was a focused, distilled attack, a (mostly) hard charging album that eschewed hidden sonic agendas and outsider art for pure rock satisfaction. in•ter a•li•a arrives with a somewhat similar approach, albeit with the distortion turned up to serve as a helpful reminder of what group is bringing the songs to you. Only one of the 11 songs ventures into slower territory; penultimate track Ghost-Tape No. 9 is actually a welcome reprieve from the relentless attack of the preceding nine songs. Not that the album approaches the feral rackets of Relationship of Command, of course; Bixler-Zavala sings far more often than he shrieks, as has been the custom in recent years. The guitar work is well balanced, with new axeman Keeley Davis' complimentary chords in the right ear and Rodriguez-Lopez's flavourful leads in the left (it goes without saying, but headphones are recommended for best results). Tellingly, the closest representation to the band's past work is heard by its rhythm section; Tony Hajjar's manic and percussive drums reunited with Paul Hinojo's solid bass lines provide the most obviously undiluted carryovers from the band of old.

Again, though, this is not At the Drive In quite how you remember them; while the songs are undoubtedly energetic and urgent, they don't (and can't) pop with the same force as they did when the members were 17 years younger. There's a more measured approach this time out, more control applied to their unique brand of chaos. That might be a deal breaker for some, but I suspect nothing short of Relationship of Command II would have been good enough for those folks. Perish the thought, but maybe things are supposed to be different now.

In the end, any shortcomings I took from in•ter a•li•a stem from its one-sidedness rather than the dulling of the edges that comes with age. This may be my fault for continuing to follow the members down a host of exciting and disparate sonic paths; after 15 years of genre hopping and defying expectations, it's just a tiny bit disappointing to hear so few risks being taken. However, taken from a rational standpoint of a reunion album's purpose, I admit that in•ter a•li•a ticks all the boxes. It's familiar enough that you know who's responsible for the noise, but just different enough to understand there's a reason they came back in the first place: they haven't yet said all they have to say as At the Drive In. There's no need for deep analysis, poring over every note and thinking of reasons it doesn't work. All told, it's new material from a historically important band, and that it doesn't necessarily feel like a Second Coming shouldn't detract from the quality of the tunes they've offered up.

May 5, 2017 • Rise Records
Highlights Governed By Contagions • Pendulum in a Peasant Dress • Ghost-Tape No. 9