With their second album, The Mars Volta prove that in prog rock, more is more. But Frances isn't overstuffed. Guitarist/producer Omar Rodríguez-López mapped out and recorded each part separately, building a dizzying but ordered maze. The spaghetti-western intro sets a dramatic stage before "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus" becomes a speedy, lysergic blast of Latin jazz. "L'Via L'Viaquez" flits between earthquaking blues rock and eerie salsa. And Cedric Bixler-Zavala's poetry hits Jabberwocky heights of evocative nonsense as he hisses and screeches over 32-minute closer "Cassandra Gemini".