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Annabel Walker

The Mars Volta
The Bedlam in Goliath
(Universal)
The Mars Volta are a world away from the mainstream, and on this, their fourth studio offering, they're again immersed in the weird.
It's a satanical, lyrically obscure album inspired by the band's addiction to a ouija board and the tale it told them of a love triangle that ended in murder.
Sticking with their concept approach of the past which saw De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003) based on the suicide of a friend, and Frances the Mute (2005), on band mate Jeremy Ward's heroin overdose, The Mars Volta again bring us an opera-like concept album.
Singer and lyricist  Cedric Bixler-Xavier's voice is as strong as ever as he quavers and yells about the paranormal, while musically, The Bedlam in Goliath has the diversity one expects - prog/punk guitar rock, thundering drums and psychedelic keyboards.
The album was inspired by the purchase of a ouija board by songwriter, guitarist and producer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez for Bixler-Xavier. For a while the band found the board a fun way to unwind after gigs. Then, as they tried to record the album, things started to go wrong. Arguments with drummer  Jon Theodore escalated and he was sacked,  Rodriguez-Lopez's studio flooded twice and their engineer suffered a nervous breakdown, leaving a mass of unusable material.
Messages from the ouija board form the basis for much of the vocals and the title of tracks such as Tourniquet Man and Soothsayer. Perhaps a cynic might say the story makes good copy ahead of the release of The Bedlam in Goliath, but in case you're nervous Rodriguez-Lopez promises the board has been broken and buried.



The Mars Volta