“The Bedlam in Goliath” – The Mars Volta

Rating: 8/10

After seeing them live and then listening to their 75-minute ambient noise album, it is safe to say I was sick of The Mars Volta. So, naturally, I was prepared not to enjoy any of thier latest, “The Bedlam in Goliath.”

Boy, was I wrong. “The Bedlam in Goliath”, is hardly a dissapointment. For someone who hasn’t liked them in years, this album is a refreshing look at how good Cedric Bixler and Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez have become.

Their style of music is largely the same – progressive rock with a large influence from jazz, salsa and ambient styles. However, The Mars Volta has decided to stick with what made its debut album so monumental and got rid of the meandering nonsense.

Somehow, upon listening to the amazing one-two punch of “Aberinkula” and “Metatron,” I was hooked. This is how progressive rock is supposed to sound, and there was almost no filler here. After losing John Theodore, who is quite possibly the best drummer in the business right now, one would expect The Mars Volta to lose its momentum, but this is not the case.

The bass is heavy, the vocals are eerie and Rodriguez-Lopez’s guitar work is at its finest here. His playing is not spastic and disoriented, but rather refined and focused. The Latin influence that shows through these songs really helps the band reach its full potential.

The absolute highlight is “Goliath,” a seven-minute jam comes accompanied with all sorts of eclectic instrumentation and some absolutely off-the-wall drum fills. If you have avoided The Mars Volta, this is a great song to start with. I can’t get enough of it.

However, this album is not perfect. By the end, it felt like the band’s eccentricity actually pidgeonholed itself into a mold that it cannot escape. Some of the songs do start to sound repetitive near the end of the album, some 70 minutes later. However, it would still be perfect background noise if you had to do the dishes or count the tiles on the ceiling or something.

So, old fans, rejoice! The old Mars Volta is somewhat back in action, and new fans have a great album to start off with.