rockzilla

I've been waiting almost a year and a half to hear more from The Mars Volta. Their second album is scheduled to come out on March 22nd but there's a leaked copy floating around the net already.
The album consists of 5 songs, many of which have several 'movements'. They're all supposed to flow from one to the other to form one 77 minute song. There are both English and Spanish lyrics, and like Deloused at the Comatorium, this album tells a story. The title track 'Frances the Mute' is not on the album itself, apparently it'll be released as a vinyl single before the album comes out and serves to decode the story in some way.
I've heard the leak, I like most of what I hear, but there are a lot of extended stretches with ambient sounds and distortion that just go on for far too long. I like my music psychedelic and progressive, but this may be too much, I'll reserve my final judgement for the final release.