The "Other Guys" from At The Drive-In Return to Form
Song of the Day: “Crater” by Sparta
It’s a funny thing watching a band grow up, especially when they’ve endured over two decades being told they’re just the “other” band from El Paso. With Cut A Silhouette, Sparta seems to have finally stopped caring about the ghosts of their past and started focusing on just being... themselves. If their debut Wiretap Scars was a rugged, post-hardcore scramble to establish an identity, and Trust The River was the sound of a band finding their polished, mature footing, then this sixth studio effort feels like a band finally feeling comfortable in their own skin. They’ve swapped the frantic, “look at us” intensity of their youth for a more self-assured, atmospheric sprawl that feels less like a struggle and more like a victory lap.
Sparta’s origin story is essentially a classic “post-breakup” tale, born directly from the ashes of the influential post-hardcore, industry darlings, At the Drive-In. When that group famously imploded in 2001, it left a vacuum in the El Paso music scene, but it also split the band’s creative energy in two distinct directions.
While former bandmates Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López went off to form the progressive, experimental outfit The Mars Volta, the other founding members—Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos, and Tony Hajjar—decided to pursue a different path. In June 2001, Hajjar and Hinojos met in Los Angeles to discuss starting a new project. They reached out to Ward in El Paso, and the trio began writing almost immediately. They practiced for only eight days before heading into the studio to record a demo that would eventually lead to their deal with DreamWorks Records.
That said, if you’re looking for a track that captures this evolution in a single moment, look no further than “Crater.” It’s easily the standout of the bunch. While other tracks on the album experiment with shimmering, almost U2-esque textures (“Mystery Of Missing”) and quiet, country-inflected ballads (“Glimmer”), “Crater” is where the machine really clicks. It’s a perfect example of what happens when you let the interplay between instruments do the heavy lifting rather than trying to force a “moment.” With My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero’s fingerprints all over the songwriting (co-writing it with Jim Ward), the track creates this tense, anxious energy—like a spring that’s being wound tighter and tighter—but instead of snapping, it just lets Ward’s vocals drift across the top with an almost effortless swagger. It’s punchy, it’s precise, and honestly, it’s just fun to listen to a band sound this confident after so much time in the trenches.
The Song
Spotify:
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/song/crater/1883176799
The Album
Spotify:
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/cut-a-silhouette/1883176795
The Band
Be sure to check out the Audio Toxicity 2026 Bad Music Detox Protocol (AKA a playlist of songs covered so far…)