Home » Music The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium Story Review & Lyric Interpretation The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium Story Review & Lyric Interpretation

De-loused in the Comatorium is The Mars Volta’s 1st studio album.

The Story

The hour long tragedy takes us through the tale of a man named Cerpin Taxt, as he attempts to kill himself by ingesting morphine and rat poison.

The attempt fails, and he falls into a coma for the next 7 days, in which he travels through the dream world of the Comatorium.

At the end of the 7 days, he arises only to find that the world is unsatisfactory, and he (for the last time) takes his own life by jumping off a bridge.

The Inspiration

The story is based upon a friend of Cedric Bixler-Zavala [Lead singer], Julio Venegas. The event greatly impacted the lives of both Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric, and greatly influenced their music.

My Review & Interpretation Of The De Loused In The Comatorium Story

Studying this album can greatly have an impact on how you write lyrics, as it certainly did with me.

It can allow you to see concepts and lyrics on a higher level, and can increase your command of metaphor’s and other literary devices.

Read and study this review; it will contribute to you becoming a better musician.

Before I get into the details, let me first say that I am absolutely in love with this album. If you haven’t heard it yet, you have two options: You can either go out and get the album, or you can expect to have a random kick-to-your-balls happen at any given second.

If you would like to prevent your scrotum from becoming a sloppily made, trailer park style scrambled egg sac, stop now, go to Youtube/Songza/Quik-E-Mart, and get some of the songs from this album (track listing below).

Of course, if you don’t feel like doing any of these I have included the videos for each song on every page.

On this website, I have reviewed each of the tracks on the album. I suggest working your way through the track list below to read my interpretation of the lyrics of each.

Track Listing:

(click on the track to read my review & interpretation of each song)

*Not included in Review

Final Thoughts

If you have read through the articles about each of the tracks listed above, you will have a pretty decent understanding of my interpretations of this album and the story it tells.

This review took me over a month to write, but it was well worth it. After spending time with an album with such complexity, it’s caused me to think very deeply about the music I myself write.

There no longer is the option to be a shallow thinker; an album like De-Loused (when considered intentionally) changes the way you think.

The story of Cerpin Taxt, although very tragic, is an incredibly imaginative convergence between a reality we all understand involving death and addiction, and a fantasy dream world that most of us could never consider in any fantasy.

I won’t give the album a “rating” or a “score”, but I hope that you would instead allow this album to let you think differently about music, art, and creativity.

“I cannot give any higher praise to this album” – Andrew Muller

So rather than spending time breaking down and judging, that you would just trust it, just a little bit.

As an extra note, if you haven’t heard about it already, I’ve written a vast expansion onto this interpretation. After writing this guide, everyone was so excited about it, that I was encouraged to take it even further and write interpretations for every single line on the album.

I delved deeply into the storybook that Cedric Bixler-Zavala wrote, into the album, and drew from every resource that I could find to create book that translates and describes every line in the book.

This project is called the “Deloused In The Comatorium Song Translation Guide”.

What Makes Me Qualified To Interpret This Album?

I am a massive Mars Volta fan.

I originally decided to write just a one page album review on this album after listening to it countless times on a 2000 mile road trip.

Boy was I wrong in thinking it would only be 1 page long…

I started writing, and my “1 page album review” eventually turned into a 12 page album interpretation (that took me a month to research and write). I talked about the main story of the album, some of the line interpretations, and even went into how I thought the musical sections related and correlated with the lyrics.

Those are the interpretations you can read by clicking on the track links above.

After that, I realized that I could do better. That the interpretation wasn’t complete, it was only the beginning!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great guide. Anyone who reads it will have a really good idea of the story, but as far as a comprehensive guide for the lyrics, not so much.

So, I began working on this new project. A timeless compilation of human-kind’s complete knowledge on the lyrics of this album.

And thus the “Deloused In The Comatorium Song Translation Guide” was born!

It took me over a year to write it, but after 100’s of hours of work, I completed it.

Although I would never want to take the subjectivity of music away from you, you must also realize that this is a concept album, and every lyric relates to the story.

I want to show you how every lyric is intertwined with the short story that Cedric-Bixler Zavala wrote.

What Does the Translation Guide Look Like?

This book is a free digital download (e-book). It includes:

All 400+ Lines of Deloused defined with full, comprehensive interpretations.

Definitions for every word made up by Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Jeremy Ward.

word made up by Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Jeremy Ward. Full song summaries (more in-depth than the ones contained within my online album interpretation) for those of you who just want to understand the story!

You might be asking, “Well how would you know what the made up words mean. I mean, they are made-up!”

Well it turns out that good old Cedric and Jeremy were not just making up gibberish. Many of their new words have to do with combining already existing words, as well as using the context of the story to explain the words meanings.

So by cross-referencing the original words meanings, along with the context of the story; I am able to decipher what each word means.

Deloused In The Comatorium Translation Guide Testimonials

Everyone who has read this guide has been simply ecstatic about it. I hear over and over that they simply can’t believe someone went through all the trouble to make such a book.

Here are what a few fans of the book had to say about it:

Cory Mabry:

…I found a better and more in-depth understanding of what each song was about.

I liked how easy and quick it was to read through. [The Book] was very well organized and broken up.

[The Book] is a good source for lyrics if I need it. It’s a chance to learn some new vocabulary thanks to Cedric’s lyrics and your definitions. It’s definitely easier to read than the storybook.

If you’d like to understand the concept behind De-Loused, this is much easier to get through than the storybook.

Adam K:

This guide is perfect for piecing together the story covered in “De Loused”.

The line-by-line translation is by far the best part. Every little detail is examined and nothing goes untouched. This is what I was referring to when I stated that this analysis is probably the most in depth research I have seen for any album.

As a result of reading this analysis I can now conceptualize the story in my mind the way it was originally meant to be interpreted by the authors (The Mars Volta). “Deloused” was definitely a science fiction story before it was an album.

This analysis has helped me enjoy the music in collaboration with the creative lyrical arrangement. In other words, the album itself has become a musical story for me, more specifically a story that I find to be an absolute, imaginative masterpiece that captures both intense emotions a very vivid imagery.

The research that has gone into this piece has resulted in a better understanding of the entire story of Cerpin Taxt both in a musical realm, which is very stimulating to me, and a creative literature.

Any lyrics that can be interpreted accurately give both meaning and insight into the artist’s motivations and ideals. Interpretation helps bring a heightened understanding of both the music and the musician.

Music from an audible perspective is usually enough to stimulate people, I.E. rhythms, beats, vocals, etc., but the meaning of the lyrics has always been very important to me. This is by far the most in depth lyrical interpretation I have ever examined and the only complete one I could find on “Deloused”.

I really benefited from the interpretation because it was a cognitive exercise for both analytical and creative ambitions. It gave me an improved appreciation for album itself, and a greater appreciation for both the artist and the life of the man who inspired this epic artwork (may he rest in piece).

Would I recommend this guide to my friends? YES!!! It is great for periodic listeners and perfect for die-hard Volta fans, which I know many. It is a fantastic translation and the most in depth one I have ever read.

If you never listened to one song composed by The Mars Volta you could still read the storybook, the lyrics and this translation and be completely blown away and entranced.

Austin Harpel

Late last year I discovered The Mars Volta and fell in love almost instantly. When I found out that Deloused was a concept album (the first few listens I focused mainly on music, not lyrics) I wanted to know what it was about.

Since I couldn’t figure out the impossibly difficult lyrics, I read the online guide you have on your website, and found out about your translation guide.

Well, at first I was fine with just having read the shorter version online. After listening to the album a few more times, I became obsessed with knowing all of it.

I downloaded your Translation guide yesterday and read it in less than 24 hours.

It was excellently put together and I applaud you. I loved every moment of it. I sincerely thank you for the time you put into this.

Download Your Free Copy Of Andrew 'The Real Musician' Muller's

"De-Loused in the Comatorium" Translation Guide.

All 400+ Lines of De-Loused defined with full, comprehensive interpretations (156 pages)!