Friday, February 15, 2008

Album Review - The Mars Volta

The Mars Volta – The Bedlam In Goliath
[Universal Motown Records/
Gold Standard Laboratories; 29/01/2008]

Themes, lengthy jams and a slew of integrated musical genres are always flowing through The Mars Volta’s repertoire and their latest instalment, “The Bedlam In Goliath”, follows the same path. This time, an Ouija talking board from Jerusalem heads Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s list of lyrical topics.

The virtuoso of this band can be undoubted. Instruments were created for bands like The Mars Volta, who time and time again move the boundaries for lengthy blood curdling riffs, chaotic drum patterns and heart thumping bass lines. “The Bedlam In Goliath” is an album that represents the band for what they truly are, with ‘Metatron’ leading the front line as the albums finest track, with piercing melody and wailing instrumentation. Other highlights include ‘Goliath’, ‘Ouroborous’ and ‘Conjugal Burns’.

Although “TBIG” ranks amongst the band’s finer works, once upon a time the term “progressive rock” applied to The Mars Volta, simply because they were “progressive”. With today’s music scene moving in a propulsive fashion, four albums into their enigmatic career, I’m not sure whether the same can be said for The Mars Volta.

By Simon

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