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The Mars Volta, The Bedlam in Goliath

by Glenn Fullington
02/08/2008

The Bedlam in Goliath is a chilling jaunt through the twisted tale of dark magic and evil spirits. It is a dark, beautifully woven, spiritual epic. Cedric and Omar have an eerie command over music and storytelling to a masterful extent. The Mars Volta has found the bar, disassembled it and dropped it into the ocean. This is the scary kind of aural trip that you might never recover from, and may not want to.

Bedlam is a special concoction. Omar Rodriguez Lopez did all the musical arrangement and Cedric Bixler Zavala composed the vocals and lyrics. The album was then performed by The Mars Volta Group, which is Cedric, Omar, Isaiah Ikey Owens, Juan Alderete de la Pena, Adrian Terrazas Gonzalez, Marcel Rodriguez Lopez, Paul Hinojos, Thomas Pridgen and John Frusciante.

Psychedelic, psychotropic, psychopathic: Bedlam encapsulates all of these things without exaggeration.

Cedric lays into the record with a vociferous onslaught that acts as his own wailing instrument. The story of Bedlam is a haunting struggle of spirits notoriously written under the influence of an ancient ouija-type board known as “The Soothsayer."

According to the band, the sardonic Soothsayer hexed the production of the album, as it was wrought with disaster and almost never came to fruition. The original sound engineer abandoned the album, studios flooded and band members threatened to drop the project altogether.

The Soothsayer and its specter inhabitants were eventually buried, but the influence is apparent in the music. The maniacal legend of the board leaks into the lyrics carefully knitting a concept album that constantly threatens to collapse on itself.

The album starts off fast and never pauses to apologize. “Aberinkula” blares and sets the stage asking, “Goliath are you receiving?” The conclusion of the first track, a sax soloing extravaganza, clearly answers with a yes.

“Metatron," a reference to the seraphim who harbors the voice of God, is a heavy romp. Thomas Pridgen, the newest member of the group, blasts an astounding percussion track that more than proves his merit in the instrument slaying tradition of The Mars Volta.

“Wax Simulacra” is the powerhouse of the album. Consider it the mitochondria of Bedlam. Overflowing any contrived rock mold, this charging anthem supposes the second half of the album to be the heaviest and most distraught Volta to date. And that it is.

“Goliath” is the menacing recollection of a metaphysical spirit transmitted through the Soothsayer. It is haunting and scary in an intriguing way. Cedric sings, “I’m starting to feel a miscarriage coming on/ It’s numbing a stump clearing in my throat and I just cant lose grip of it.”

Hardly is Bedlam half over when the opus that is “Cavalettas” powers through. The nine and one half minute stampede is a dedication to Volta’s consecrating legacy. Woodwind solos, vocally instigated tempo changes, and saxophone improvisations make “Cavalettas” unforgettable. Cedric channels the greats of Plant and Poe.

The last part of Bedlam is intense. The production never allows the listener to catch his breath. It is certainly an album to listen to with headphones and a pot of coffee. There is not a lyric to be overlooked or an instrument to be disregarded.

“Agadez” at around four minutes blooms into one of the most beautiful and stressful assemblies I’ve ever heard.

The remainder of the album chills me in its excellence. The more I listen the more I am drawn in, and ultimately scared. Of what I’m not sure, but something about The Bedlam in Goliath makes me a little uncomfortable. It certainly doesn’t make me happy, or even hopeful. No, Bedlam is an eerie attraction that delivers wholeheartedly. It is seriously harsh, asking of the listener, “What have you brought for my appetite?” It takes a little away from you, but so does the myth entangled behind the Soothsayer.

There is a great story told in The Bedlam in Goliath, on par with any Zeppelin album or King novel. It is on the edge of being maniacally insane and insanely genius. I’ll take it either way.

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