Frances is their best imo, but that said I might even like De-Loused more.

Frances or Bedlam are the best. De-Loused will never be.

Why will De-Loused never be the best for you?

De-Loused was the only TMV album I liked the first time I heard it, but it got really old for me. While Frances and Bedlam took me a while to really get into, but I still love to listen to them.

^Agreed. And if you throw Bedlam in there you can't forget about "Goliath".

I gave it some thought and went with TMV. Though I consider both to be awful I can at least listen to 5 seconds of some TMV song without wanting to kill every member of the band. Where as I find any ATDI song to be ear shattering from the get-go.

I can see that, both bands are definatley an aquired taste.

ATDI, without a doubt.

The Mars Volta is great, but it seems a bit like they're trying too hard. For example, the random 6 minute ambient break in Cicatriz. It's completely unnecessary (and ruins the song IMO) and it seems like they put it in there to look "super weird and progressive".

I'm on the opposite end of this one. The rest of the song ruins the cool ambient bit.

I totally agree. It's one of my favorite songs on De-Loused, but that part is not needed.