the mars volta
[Photo by Clemente Ruiz]

The Mars Volta albums ranked: From worst to best

After the celebrated, influential punk outfit At The Drive-In went on hiatus in 2001, members Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala went on to form their own project, the Mars Volta. What followed was a just as influential band and a string of wild, experimental records that found beauty in chaos, while their live shows were easily as visceral as the most urgent of punk groups. 

The duo broke up after the release of 2012’s Noctourniquet, with Bixler-Zavala announcing the news via a series of tweets that took aim at Rodríguez-López’s new band Bosnian Rainbows. “What am I suppose to do, be some progressive house wife that’s cool with watching their partner go fuck other bands,” he wrote at the time.

Thankfully, the two friends started repairing their friendship when At The Drive-In reunited to make 2017’s comeback album, in•ter a•li•a. And after a lot of teasing, they returned as the Mars Volta with their first album in over a decade in 2022. 

“I feel like the Mars Volta is finally beginning,” Rodríguez-López said recently, when the band announced they were releasing a reworked, acoustic version of their debut through their cultural lens. 

With Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon out now and a whole lot of history behind the Mars Volta that’s too interesting to overlook, we went ahead and ranked the prog-rock group’s discography. See our ranking of their entire discography below.

Read more: Every Incubus album ranked: From worst to best

Every The Mars Volta album ranked

From De-Loused In The Comatorium to 2022’s self-titled album, see our ranking of the Mars Volta’s discography below.