Track Listing

1. Aberinkula
2. Metatron
3. Ilyena
4. Wax Simulacra
5. Goliath
6. Tourniquet Man
7. Cavalettas
8. Agadez
9. Askepios
10. Ouroboros
11. Soothsayer
12. Conjugal Burns

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1723 in Music
• Released on: 2008-01-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics

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

About the Artist
The Mars Volta has confirmed a January 29, 2008 release for its fourth studio album, The Bedlam In Goliath (GSL/Universal). The album was produced by the band's own Omar Rodriguez Lopez.

The Mars Volta was founded in 2001 by Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez Lopez. The band's previous recorded output has included its 2003 debut De-Loused In The Comatorium, 2005's Frances The Mute and last year's Amputechture. The Bedlam In Goliath finds Bixler Zavala and Rodriguez Lopez joined by returning members Marcel Rodriguez Lopez, Adrian Terrazas Gonzales, Pablo Hinojos- Gonzales, Isaiah Ikey Owens, Juan Alderete de la Pena, new drummer Thomas Pridgen and full-time Red Hot Chili Pepper and frequent Volta collaborator John Frusciante.

Customer Reviews

Finally .....I Love it.
I have to say I wasn't very impressed with this album when I first listened and then for a few months after that. I thought it was the "boring rock n roll record" I thought you would never want to make. I thought it was a backwards step. But over time and repeated realizing how great the songs actually were and started getting off on how much energy and vitality there was in the performances. This has definitely been a grower for me. It is great that each record they make is so far removed from the previous one. I am forward to the new one for sure and considering they have a contract that allows them to release one a year. I do not have long to wait. I have to say the only reason this gets a four is because I still think Cavalettas drags itself too long. and plus for me I still think Frances The Mute is their crowning achievement. I think in 10 or so years people will realize that how remarkable it is. But hey maybe they will prove me wrong with the next few records they release.

rad
at first i wanted to say that compared to deloused they've strayed too far etc etc, but omar is just letting all that wretched energy in his little head explode in each album... here's another example of that. second half of the album is the best. and instrumental at the end of the first track is... sweet. k bye.

Mars Volta's best
I don't write artistic music reviews. Let me just say that I have listened to this album almost every day since it was released, and I am still far from bored or sick of listening to it. I have not listened to much of my other music this year, Bedlam seems to have sucked the life out of it all. I hope the Volta unleashes more brutal assaults on us soon. I hear the next album will be mellow/acoustic.