The Mars Volta, The Bedlam in Goliath | Universal
The Volta's first offering with new drummer Thomas Prigden comes coupled with a crazy backstory befitting of a group whose catalog includes concept albums about a suicidal man (De-Loused in the Comatorium) and a tale spun from a found diary (Frances the Mute). The other full-length record, 2006's Amputechture, may not have one unifying theme, but religion peeks its head out in a number of songs.
The group's fourth issue is Bedlam, an effort fraught with difficulties during the creative process. The band blames the rocky road to release — surgeries, tracks disappearing, nervous breakdowns, flooding, power outages — on "The Soothsayer," a ouija-like board that cursed the process as much as it inspired it.
If you love 'em, it's possible you think The Mars Volta has arrived to save modern music from monotony. If you hate 'em, you have probably dismissed them, to quote my friend Josh, as "the indie attempt at prog rock." TMV's creative forces, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez — who has been issuing solo albums with Ryan Adams-ian frequency during the last year — and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, are at worst misguided and at best groundbreaking, but they're always challenging themselves and that's at least worth a listen.
If I Were Really Rich ...
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Volta bonus!
Here's a fan-shot video of The Volta playing Frances the Mute's "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" for the first time live during their New Year's Eve show at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco: