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The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath CD (album) cover

THE BEDLAM IN GOLIATH

The Mars Volta

 

Heavy Prog

3.54 | 574 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

horsewithteeth11
Prog Reviewer
5 stars I don't know why I've put off writing a review for this album so long. Maybe it was because I didn't want to take the time to do so, or maybe it was because this is an album that seems to be on almost current rotation for me. Anyone who has already purchased this album probably already knows the background story to it, but if you don't, allow me to enlighten you. Back in 2006, when TMV was on tour, they often spent time after concerts fooling around with an ouija board that Omar purchased while on a trip to Jerusalem. Supposedly, three different people/spirits contacted them through the board, who are referred to by the band as Goliath, and they, over time, began making demands of the band. Shortly afterward, the drummer quits the band, Cedric needs surgery, audio tracks disappear, Omar's home studio floods, and the album's engineer quits after a nervous breakdown. Talk about bad luck! Anyway, Omar ended up breaking the ouija board in half and buried it in an attempt to undo the curse that had been placed upon the band. Moral: Who cares if the story's true or not: it's still really freaking awesome! Now on to the music. I'm not going to give this album a blow by blow for every song since I don't feel like taking that much time. Instead I'll just point out a few insights. First off, many people have accused TMV of making each album after their debut De-loused less and less accessible. While I would agree with this, accessible doesn't of course always mean worse. In fact, I think this album actually (barely) tops De-loused in terms of production quality and songwriting. The only difference between this album and TMV's debut is that this one takes more time to get used to. Cedric's voice has changed in the past 5 years, and this is a much more mature band since that time IMO. I even enjoy Pridgen's drumming style over Theodore's to an extent. If you have listened to TMV before, or even if you haven't, I would recommend this album fully. If it hadn't been for Watershed being released this year, I'd definitely say that this album would be my pick for best album of 2008. I cannot recommend this album highly enough! A masterpiece of prog music! 5 stars, 5 stars, 5 stars!
horsewithteeth11 | 5/5 |

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