The Bedlam in Goliath
 

That is the title of the new Mars Volta cd. Any fans here? Are you going to pick it up? I heard a leaked version of the cd and was let down. Anyone else hear it?

Haven't heard it yet - what's it comparable to? I was a little disappointed in Amputecture, especially when compared to Frances & Deloused.

It is like Amputecture part 2. I liked Amputecture, I have heard people say that Mars Volta is nothing but noise and on this cd they are just that noise. The best song is Goliath the other ones are loud noisy and boring. I can't get into it at all. Goliath the song is def worth checking out though.

Your thread title needs a little work.

I love the album. It does sound sonically similar to Amputechture but it doesn't go off on any four minute bongo beating dead dear dying collages. I'd say it's more similar to "DeLoused" in that there are actually verse-chorus-verse song structures on most of the album. Also, it takes a couple of listens but lyrically there is a continous theme to the whole album about some character that I can't quite make out. If you liked the first two albums you WILL like this one.

You guys didn't like Amputecture? I thought it was head and shoulders better than Frances. Frances the mute just seemed too jamband-y. Sometimes it just felt like a struggle to get through those 7 minutes of 'noise' (mood-building as Omar calls it) to get to the meat of why I think the Mars Volta is great. Deloused is clearly the best...but Amputecture has had a surprising life for me after I innitially didn't like it. Day of the Bephomets...seriously, how could you not love that track.

Excited about the new disc. The new drummer seems to have an incredible grasp of intricuit double bass drum work (rhymtic stuff, not sixteenth note stuff) and I'm into the idea of shorter songs without the excess.

Anyone catch them on Letterman last night? Pretty great, but I think they are always great live.

See for yourself.

http://www.themarsvolta.com/video/

The Letterman performance is on YouTube. Pridgen, the new drummer, is absolutely phenomenal.

ok - Baphomets is admittedly a great one. And I have heard one tune thanks to iLike which was pretty decent.

Thanks for the links - I'm checking that out right now.

I think Amputecture is a very good album I don't think its quite as good as the 1st 2. I think Deloused is more accessible but overall I like Frances a bit better.


That drummer is so sick.

It's like a Yes album... except crappier, louder (aka, more cacophonous/noisier) with a much worse vocalist, less guitar-oriented and more synth oriented.
I'm sure I'm in a minority here, but their sound is quite frankly one of the absolute worsts I've ever heard.

I am a big fan of this group, I see them as more of an anti-Yes, while Yes is more angelic and uplifting / powerful, Volta has that dark and demonic atmosphere.

I think some of the songs off their new disc could be trimmed, such as Metatron, Cavalattes, Goliath, but overall it is another consistent release for them that I'll be coming back to for a few weeks.

The singer's lyrics this time aren't as 'ghoulish' for lack of a better term, which is a letdown for me as it's something which makes the Volta very unique. It's more mature singing but I prefer his wails and pitch experimenting - in Bedlam they put him through some strange filters sometimes but overall he sings pretty consistently the whole time... after a while it does get a little annoying. He shouldn't forget to be weird.

I still think Frances is the best, most complete work, but Bedlam is most similar to De-Loused in terms of its guitar energy and overall structure, but it has its own flavor so as not to be derivative.

I am also happy that finally a group is willing to put out a new disc every year. Bands are pretty lazy these days, Volta go back to the 60's and 70's when new discs were brought out frequently. That plus Omar's constant solo albums makes them the most satisfying group I follow.

After thorough examination I am loving Bedlam. Its def better than Amputecture.

That comparison is not exactly fair. Back in those days, albums were usually less than 50 minutes long since an LP has less space than a CD. Nowadays we just get double-vinyl albums less frequently. TMV's the exception since they put out 50 minute albums with a bonus of ~20 minutes of silence/crickets/jamming every year.

To be fair, I haven't heard tBiG in its entirety, so we'll see if Omar has chosen not to include the kitchen sink on this album.

I'm familiar with the band, but thank you for your threadcrap. I was referring to other MV albums.

I've only listened to Bedlam once through so far, but I like what I've heard. I like most of Amputecture, parts of Frances, and I think Deloused is absolutely brilliant. I didn't care too much for their live album, Scab Dates, because it went off the deep end a couple of times. I'm more of a fan of their verse, chorus, verse songs like a previous poster stated. I also really like At The Drive-In's Relationship in Command album.

I bought this last night, but didn't get a chance to listen to it. :(

I did recently pick up ATDI's anthology - This Station is non-operational - I like it!

This one is a much easier album to digest than other TMV albums, especially Amputechture. The shorter song lengths really help distinguishing the tracks.

Mars Volta is a band you either get and like or find unlistenable and completely hate. I'm in the former camp.

In fact, Deloused and Frances are two of my favorite albums of the past decade. Amputecture had stretches that irritated me and sections that I think are the best material the band has ever done. The new one is damned good and a huge improvement (at least in consistency) over Amputecture, IMO. I'm not quite sure why it's getting such mixed reviews, I think it's on the level of Frances, which was universally well reviewed.

I heard an interview with the lead singer and he was adamant that the recording process was literally haunted. He was convinced that poltergiests were flying around the recording studio. The whole session was apparently completely unnerving for the band. No matter what you think of that ridiculousness, you can hear it in the music. The off kilter rhythms and phased, eerie vocals are truly unsettling.

I could really dig these guys if it wasn't for their singer's voice.

I really like this band too, including the lead singer's voice :D I think it's great and fits the music to a tee. After seeing the 2 1/2 stars on Amazon, I was feeling a bit nervous about the new record, but I was really pleased with it. It's a band that I do have to be in just the right mood to listen to though as the strident discordant music hits me like a ton of bricks, but that's part of what I like about it.

Michael

After a couple listens, I really like Bedlam. It's way above Amputecture IMO.

It's hard to get into this band if you're looking for hummable songs or even identifiable melodies in some cases. But they definitely have a sound and aura about them. I love the idea of adding an ethnic tilt to prog rock. It's something new and I'll listen to them just because they have the balls to do soemthing different.

I don't think it's fair to cast all those who don't like TMV as not "getting" them or being afraid of non-hummable complex songs. I am a prog fan for life and have been for almost 15 years.

Opeth is one of my absolute favorite artists right now, and they have some very complex and challenging songs from a listener's standpoint. It took me a few listens of their records to get into them but once I did, it was for keeps. That hasn't happened for me with TMV. The guy's voice just grates, and it's not because it's higher than the average vocal today. I've listened to plenty high pitched vocals.

I have really tried to get into these guys, but it just isn't happening, which is unfortunate, as I do respect what they are doing, and wish there were more bands getting signed who also carry the prog flag.

I've gave Bedlam a spin and love it. I haven't cared for the last two, but adore Deloused, so I welcome back TMV with open ears.

i'm listning to this cd right now.. i like it, like it alot.. I bought it at best buy it came with a bouns dvd of some live footage.. I popped it in hoping to hear some mars volta live and i get the disk is dirty.. now i know the disk isn't dirty its brand new.. so i took it back and i got a new one same thing.. disk is dirty.. anybody else having this problem? I really don't want to take it back again.. whats on the bonus dvd if anybody of you have it? thanks.