Missing Children

MARS VOLTA, THE - The Bedlam In Goliath (2008)

bang! explosion! wow! wallop! i’m on the corkscrew at alton towers, oh actually i’m listening to some music!

The intenseness bursts into your ears straightaway make sure you have the volume down when you start it up, for this will take you into a journey of wildness never heard before.

This album is amazing it’s full of life, energy, wildness, developed experimentation, skill, pace, with some breathing spaces (occasionally). It is intense leaves you gasping for air. This is true musical marmite you will either love this, or utterly hate it (I can see that in some of the previous reviews).

For those who love wild music that is utterly different like Jimi Hendrix speeded up. For those who love thrill rides and extreme sports. For when you are feeling a little crazy. For those who love pure energy then this is highly recommended.

For those who love tranquillity, melody, beauty, and the grandeur of symphonic prog rock then this is not recommended. I am telling you there is NO beauty in this, no melody, but that is not why it’s great. WARNING If you don’t like falsetto screaming then don’t go near this!!!!

Homework

But if you have mood swings sometimes you feel peaceful and want to lie back and watch the sky then “Wish you were Here” or something on those days, but on another day you feel a bit mad then that’s the time for this album (or any MV album for that matter).

I think it’s entirely wrong to compare MV albums with previous ones they should be considered in their own right. It’s especially wrong to compare with Deloused in the Comatorium (which so many do). However, I think in their previous albums they were experimenting now they are picking the best out and developing the best parts of their experimentation this is entirely what Pink Floyd did although MV is more like Pink Floyd may have become had Syd Barrett never left. It’s so apt that they play “Candy and a Current Bun” as a bonus track at the end. I don’t mean that’s PF would have sounded like I mean is more how the experimentation would have developed in a way PS If you are a PF fan, I’m not sure you’ll like this (unless “Piper” is your favourite album) it certainly does NOT have the serenity of Roger Waters’ Pink Floyd.

Dark Side of the Moon was Pink Floyd’s 8th album when all that experimentation was developed into the sound they wanted to be and it became GIGANTIC. I feel that Mars Volta (this being the 4th album) are thus 4 albums away from GIGANTICNESS I can’t wait! I feel that MV are headed for similar greatness (please don’t stop!!).

Some may think that this music is just chaos, but listen carefully this actually has a lot of order and control, with the breathing spaces (where you can take a breath) well placed. The falsetto isn’t actually always screaming it’s not always falsetto listen.

As I heard once, there are those who listen to Hendrix, others that actually hear Hendrix. Can you actually hear the Mars Volta?? They have taken progressive music into a new dimension, and are making it cool again (even if they deny the genre although I think that’s a characteristic of true progressive musicians when they deny it!)

What’s missing? I do genuinely miss the use of Spanish, and hopefully they’ll bring that back in later albums (BUT remember Spanish wasn’t used in Deloused!). You think there is no Latino influenced stuff but there is! Listen to the latter half of “Agadez” it’s there you know. I mean there really wasn’t that much Latino stuff in their other albums it was an occasional treat, which you do actually get!

But what have they added? A new drummer and drumming beyond belief fantastically supported by awesome bass playing from Juan Alderete. “Ever heard a man speak like this man before?” Ever heard a drummer drum like this man before? Never in the days of all my life. Just listen to the album one time while listening to Thomas Pridgen it’s awesome awesome awesome!!

This album contains a lot of high pace FUNK and it seems that it is what they do best.

I am going to do something I don’t normally do to review songs individually, and put a favourite lyric with it (even if I never have the first idea what they are talking about in the lyrics but maybe that’s a good thing! Notice that they never use swear words I hate it when lyrics contain swear words).

Aberinkula (9/10). Starts with an incredible unexpected blast that sets the scene for the rest of the album, but later you are treated with the first of the high pace funk with great drumming and bass, overridden with some amazing pacey guitar work th …

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