10 Greatest Tribute Albums In Hard Rock

The early genesis of the Mars Volta was not one for the faint of heart. Formed out of the ashes of At the Drive In, this new project from Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Cedric Bixler Zavala was marred with tragedy right out of the gate, with founding member Jeremy Ward dying of a heroin overdose shortly after finishing their debut Deloused in the Comatorium. While Frances the Mute wasn't meant to be a tribute to Ward, life had a funny way of catching up with the band.

Shortly before production began on Frances, the band had come across a diary that Ward had found when he worked as a repo man, with a life story that was eerily similar to his own. Taking the diary as inspiration, Frances the Mute turned into one of the most ambitious concepts Lopez and Zavala had ever attempted, telling the story of a drug-addled degenerate named Cygnus who finds himself tied up with the wrong crowds before eventually falling prey to his own demons.

Though not necessarily the cheeriest of stories, The Mars Volta crafted one of the most adventurous sonic tapestries of the modern age, going so far as to have both Flea and John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chili Peppers come in to provide additional instrumentation. For as dark as the background behind Frances may have seemed, sometimes you need that darkness to give that one extra push forward.