saxophonist Adrián Terrazas-González and rhythm-guitarist/sound manipulator Paul Hinojos; after the band finished touring in support of Bedlam, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez asked both to leave the band. The Mars Volta's official website stated that both "did so amicably." Regarding their departure, percussionist/keyboardist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez noted that: "it's like we got a whole new band. It's two less members — we got to play differently." The song "Teflon" is based on Rodriguez-Lopez's solo piece "A Story Teeth Rotted For", recorded back in 2001 and released on Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus in September 2008. Shortly after the album's release, Rodriguez-Lopez had hinted at Octahedron being the final album he records in his typical "gun-in-your-face mentality" where he would give musicians their parts without giving them any knowledge of how they fit into the greater song. However, he chose to continue with this technique for the band's subsequent album, Noctourniquet, stating it would be the last album he records that way. Themes Similar to the band's third studio album, Amputechture, the album does not contain a single unifying narrative. Vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala notes that the album is "not really" a concept album: "I thought it was going to be but never really got around to writing about anything in particular. Just a lot of instant song composing and regular themes that I wouldn't even want to elaborate on [...] kidnappings, vanishings, 'what if' scenarios about how to get Republicans out of the White House if they'd got in." In another interview Cedric elaborated on the kidnapping/vanishing themes, saying "Lyrically, I wanted to incorporate elements of traditional songs. So that it would sound like our world had these handed down, traditional songs that were to do with real random vanishings and kidnappings. That is a big part of Latin culture. People get kidnapped all the time. I wanted to cover everything. Right from the exhilarating feeling you get when you put the ransom note down, the adrenaline rush when you realise a loved one has been taken from you, followed by that bleak, dismal area of not knowing what to do. Especially if you don't come from money. We had two friends that we knew from Texas who just randomly vanished. We've never known whether they just took off or if they met foul play. I found it an interesting subject matter to tackle. I wanted the lyrics to instil that bleak feeling you