Omar Rodriguez-López - Old Money

No prizes for guessing what this solo-excursion from former At the Drive-In and, more recently, Mars Volta founder Lopez sounds like. Ten tracks of frantic, eclectic guitar mania accompanied by his instrumental cohorts from Mars Volta it is then. Rumours abound that this material was in fact due to serve as the follow-up to Volta's 2006 album Amputechture before fickle artistic sensibilities kicked in. Certainly it's more accessible than much of Lopez's solo output. The drumming and bass work is, as usual, utterly superb. The guitar though, the crux of this largely instrumental album, occasionally drifts a little too far up Lopez's backside, but manages to rescue itself early enough to avoid draining the spirits. Elsewhere, the title track whips along at a considerable pace and Family War Funding is a particular highlight. This can almost certainly be classed as essential for any Mars Volta fanatics and worthy of investigation to the wider public. [Chris Cusack]