tackle a broader range of topics, though all filtered through the recurring theme of the effects of religion in the world." The A.V. Club gave it a B− and said, "Sequenced into one long, continuous piece of music, most of Amputechture's tracks arrive at impressive jazz-fusion pit stops that are all too brief." Other reviews are average, mixed or negative: Under the Radar gave it a score of six stars out of ten and said, "With each album, the band seems to grab for so much, reaching further and further into the musical abyss, and still managing to craft songs that boggle the mind and dazzle the ears. The only question is whether all this is just too academic." Uncut gave it a score of three stars out of five and said, "It initially seems as if the moments of inspiration between self-indulgences are becoming scarcer. A bracing middle section rescues Amputechture." Spin gave it a score of six out of ten and said, "As over the top as all this can be, Amputechture has little of the thrash influence that's made modern prog so deadening, and the impenetrable lyrics... are easily overlooked." Billboard gave it an average review and said it "isn't for casual listening, so those checking out the Mars Volta for the first time should take it slow to prevent a sonic hangover." Alternative Press gave the album two-and-a-half stars out of five and said that all the album did was to "test patience". Tiny Mix Tapes also gave it two-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "a bumpy ride, registering somewhere between [Frances the Mute] and debut full-length De-Loused in the Comatorium." The Village Voice gave it a mixed review and said it "highlights its predecessor's brilliance rather than asserting its own." Q gave it two stars out of five and said that the album "sounds like an explosion in a guitar shop." Prefix Magazine gave it a mixed review and said, "It's sad to see a band that touts itself as experimental sounding like a watered-down, unfocused version of its younger self." Now also gave it two stars out of five and said it was full of "tiring, spastic jazzy post-punk that smacks of musical masturbation". The Austin Chronicle likewise gave it two stars out of five and said it was "more a series of events than a complete experience. It's as though the