Editor Reviews:

Album Description:
The genesis of The Mars Volta's new album The Bedlam in Goliath is a tale of long-buried murder victims and their otherworldly influence, of strife and near collapse, of the long hard fight to push "the record that did not want to be born" out into the world. Omar was in a curio shop in Jerusalem when he found the Soothsayer, an archaic Ouija-style "talking board." Had he known at that moment that the board's history stretched far beyond its novelty appearance, that its very fibers were soaked through with something terribly other, that the choral death and desire of a multi-headed Goliath was waiting behind its gates... well, he might have left it at rest there on the dusty shelves. The Upside of That Choice: No bad mojo unleashed. Erase the madness that followed. Erase the bizarre connection to a love/lust/murder triangle that threatened to spill out into the present every time the band let its fingers drift over the board. The Downside: No Soothsayer means The Bedlam in Goliath never would have existed. And it turns out that this demented spiritual black hole of a muse has driven The Mars Volta to produce a crowning moment in their already stellar career. The band names this Ouija board "The Soothsayer", as it offers them a story: It's always about a man, a woman, and her mother. About the lust floating between them. About seduction and infidelity. And pain. And eventually, murder. Entrails and absence and curses and oblivion. To understand the full story....listen to "The Bedlam in Goliath."

Amazon.com:
No one has ever accused the Mars Volta of subtlety. But even so, the cyclonic caterwaul of Bedlam in Goliath is the band’s fullest starburst to date. Sure, the songs have titles that seem indecipherable, from "Aberinkula" to "Conjugal Burns." The important thing, though, is the molten, guitar-spiraling, drum-thundering core at the heart of the whole endeavor. "Aberinkula" opens the album with an unfettered explosion of clustered guitars and a dense keyboard haze pierced by Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s coarse, pitched yowl. A scouring soprano sax solo cuts across the songs’s midsection, and that vibe spreads throughout Bedlam, but so does the most pervasive melding of herky-jerk rhythms, post-punk speed, uber-funk bass, and chaotic riffage that you’re likely to find in rock & roll. If it’s Bedlam you want, you can’t miss here. --Andrew Bartlett

Rating : - Go ahead, get that guilty smile that culminates in bedlam
The Mars Volta are not just one of the most exciting bands to come about since the turn of the millennium, they truly show a new type of music, with intensity and focus not found in modern music since the days of Led Zeppelin. Guided by the eccentric yet brilliant duo of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, The Bedlam in Goliath is their heaviest and most complex work to date.

Exploding out of the gates is Aberinkula, a pounding song with trademark Volta tricks, such as sudden changes, amazing solos, and intricate timing. This immediately transitions into Metatron, (meaning the voice of god, yes we've all seen Dogma). The first half of the album (Aberinkula to Goliath) is hard charging and intense. Every song is a standout, and they build upon each other until reaching the amazing climax at the end of Goliath.

The album then gives you your one and only chance to breathe, with Tourniquet Man. This song gets a lot of flack for being half-baked and sloppy. This, however, is all by design, as this track sets the tense mood that is explored through out the rest of the album.

But before we get to the second half of this amazing album, a bit of back story is needed. This album tells the story of Omar and Co.'s experiences with a Ouija-esqe board he bought from a bazaar in Jerusalem. This board let them communicate to various spirits, one of which called itself Goliath. This spirit shared its story with the band, and they were progressively mesmerized by the magic device. But as Goliath and the Volta because closer, strange things began happening to the band and people around them, such as their producer having a nervous break down, losing 3 drummers (Jon Theodore, Blake Flemming, and Deantoni Parks) before finding the phenomenal Thomas Pridgen, the master tapes of the first recording of this album were lost, and various other things happened to impede the production of the album. Simultaneously, Goliath began to become more agitated and demanding of the band, eventually threatening their lives. Omar and Cedric decided that a curse had been placed upon them by Goliath and they must get rid of this soothsayer before anything else bad happens. Omar ritualistically buried it somewhere, and Cedric asked to not be told where it was buried, in fear of him feeling it would call to him.

The Bedlam in Goliath (Bedlam meaning a Place, Scene or State of uproar and confusion) is based upon this time in the band's life and gives us, the listeners, some of the most chaotic, melodic, and beautiful music ever recorded.

The second half of this album (from Cavelatas to Conjugal Burns) gets more complex and astounding. Every song is a standout, and when Cedric is wailing "Calling me...its calling me" during Soothsayer, you feel an all too real chill crawl up your spine. Conjugal Burns makes you feel like Goliath was finally defeated and everything may end up ok...until the song plays a mad trick on you and you realize that nothing was defeated...

Sure its a bit heady and you really have to have an open mind about music while listening to this album...but then again, if you know the Volta, you know that they will challenge you, but ultimately you will be rewarded with the best music you've ever heard. If you have never heard of The Mars Volta, you would probably be better to start our with a more accessible album, either De-Loused in the Comatorium, or Amputechture.

The best part of this album is that once you listen to it, it almost sounds like something you've heard before...something you've always known, and the Volta just reveals it to you in a way you didn't think about. Its loud, its intense, and its sometimes unpleasant, but this album shows how The Mars Volta are truly doing something novel in music, and they should be respected and adored by everyone.