Reviewed by Steve Thompson
To ever describe The Mars Volta as accessible music might be impossible. Often, their albums take several listens to really appreciate with their manic transitions and long-winded ambience. The Bedlam In Goliath is the band’s fourth LP and offers a definitely different sound as each of their first three albums have done no matter how subtly.
This album is definitely noticably more aggressive than their predecesors. Also, seemingly gone is the ambience of releases like Francis The Mute which contained long gaps in music featuring things such as frog noises with some light synthesizer accompanyment. However, the sound of this record is still indeed unique to the band and doesn’t seem like a rehash of At The Drive-In or anything despite the more raw and aggressive sound. From a personal standpoint – I would say this album is closest to their debut LP Deloused in the Comatorium if anything.
The lyrics are cryptic as ever which is good and bad. Fans of concrete writing will probably never have listened to this band in the first place, so I’m not sure it’s that big of a deal. Allegedly the band experienced all kinds of occult things while recording this album. A sort-of Ouija board they nicknamed Soothsayer influenced much of the material on the album if one buys into the band’s description of their experience recording this album. Regardless of their muse on this record, it sounds as if the band is refreshed and more energetic than ever.
It’s a hard thing to do, but if I had to decide on stand-out tracks, I would put my vote towards Tourniquet Man, Ilyena, and Ouroborous. While I’ve only listened to this record a couple times so far, I think I can say that it catches my attention a lot more than their past two efforts. It’s still the same band, but a slightly different sound than previously and, in this case, that’s not a bad thing.
