Lost for two decades, the recent rediscovery of Landscape Tantrums, the first attempt at recording the music that would become The Mars Volta's De-Loused In The Comatorium, revealed an important and hitherto missing chapter in the group's evolution. Self-recorded by Omar (assisted by Jon DeBaun) at Burbank's Mad Dog Studios within a head-spinning four days, Landscape Tantrums captures De-Loused in somewhat embryonic form, though much of what would make The Mars Volta's debut album such an electrifying, sublime experience was already in place: the fearless invention, the fusion of futurist rock elements and traditions from outside of the rock orthodoxy, the sense of virtuosity working in service of emotional effect.

Listening to Landscape Tantrums now, with the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of what these songs will become, one notices Cedric has yet to fully find the voice that will lend The Mars Volta their devastating authority, that “Eriatarka” will evolve even further under Rick Rubin's watch, and that the lyrics to De-Loused's climactic chapter, “Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt,” have yet to be penned. But one also notices how lithe the group sound here, how hungry, and one appreciates the raw edge that Rubin would later polish to a venomous sharpness. More than mere historical curiosity, Landscape Tantrums is an essential text for the dedicated Mars Volta aficionado, and a breathtaking album in its own right.