I must confess, I’ve never attempted to synchronize Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon with The Wizard of Oz, indulging in that rumored psychedelic experience of pairing an overtly fantastical film with the iconic rock band’s experimental sounds. However, if the movie and film pair together as well as the story purports, then the result might come somewhere close to what the soon to be released full-length from Zechs Marquise sounds like on its own. The El Paso based quartet, which boasts the brother pairing of The Mars Volta’s multi-instrumentalist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, and his younger brother Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez, have crafted a fifteen track instrumental album that is unabashedly cinematic in scope. From the hazy atmospherics that open the album and continue throughout its entirety, to the crunching guitar riffs and straight forward rock structure of some tracks, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare continually conjures specific images in the mind of the listener, developing a loose narrative over the course of its hour long play.

Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare is well framed on all sides, greeting the listener with ominous figures performing acts of oppression and violence on the album’s cover. The dramatic artwork depicts a gentleman in the background, seated in a throne holding a gun, and in the foreground the action is heightened by what appears to be a decapitation in progress. Senses are assaulted and reality is questioned by the artwork, a theme that is carried over into the music of Zechs Marquise, as the band carefully manipulates sounds and textures to alternate between suspense and frenzy. The opening track is an exercise in aural manipulation as the album begins to engage the listener with sound experimentations that place the listener in the pleasant setting of a beach, only to have ones head thrust underwater (mind you this is all conveyed through sonic manipulation, but the images are quite clear). The underwater sounds soon transition into a haunting keyboard section that instantly recalls a horror film, complete with frightening echoes and surreptitious timpani accents. The suspense is amassed and soon finds Zechs Marquise segueing into the first defined melody of the album in “Magmar”. An emphatic bass line outlines the song’s structure, and the quartet soon displays their collective talents as the track swells in aggression and volume, culminating in a vicious guitar battle full of distortion, yet well balanced by the solid rhythmic groove of the percussion and bass.

As the first few tracks imply, much of Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare is defined by an oscillation between enticingly melodic sections and movements of atmospheric ambiance in the extreme. Both “Mistress Abyss” and “The High Anxiety Arkestra” highlight the first extended indulgences in sound engineering, with both tracks relying on repetitive sound patterns to create a sense of dissonance and an anticipation for the upcoming barrage of rock. This anticipation is soon rewarded by one of the most enjoyable and accessible tracks of the album, “Chase Scene” a high-energy rocker that tenaciously indulges in precise guitar work and dead on percussion. A quick dip into noise ushers the listener into the rhythmically engaging “Rotten Candy” before dropping you in the no man’s land that is “Attack of the 40ft Wave”, one of the most aurally challenging tracks of the album. This extended foray into ambient noise displays the group’s abilities to use the studio, however, this eight-minute-plus homage to sonic experimentation kills off much of the album’s momentum.

Zechs is quick to reassert themselves over the course of the next four tracks as they deftly weave together free jazz elements with solid rock foundations. The album gains a new feeling of cohesion beginning with the enigmatic pulsing of “Pigeon Shit”, and the ethereal explorations of “Lady Endless”. Zechs reaches a climactic plateau as “Strapped to the Mass” leads directly into “Sirenum Scopuli”, a sonic assault fueled by blistering guitar and keyboard work.

The album’s close witnesses Zechs returning to their aural musings, as the group alternates between installments of noise, splurges of electronic percussion, and cinematic passages of layered sonic effects. By the albums finale, the Texas based quartet have managed to create a sound that at once beckons to the listener, but never allows one to become entirely comfortable, and certainly never complacent. While some may be put off by extended and expansive songwriting, Zechs Marquise have created an album that rewards careful listening and an open mind.