The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath

Sometimes we question the very souls of possessions and items. The old antique desk in the den. The ancient book with 3 persons names on the inside in 3 different ink styles from 3 different times. The necklace passed down from a relative that shines brighter than anything found in a 'Tiffany's' store today. Do these items have a past? Were they in some way attached to an owner spiritually. Is so, is that how we all feel of all our possessions? Is it a human trait, or, something that only certain people feel? When was the last time you lost something...forever? Or worse yet, when was the last time something was stolen from you? Or, from the objects perspective, maybe the item lost you. Could something you hold so dearly as a treasured item, not through it's worth or monetary value, but for attachment, also be attached to you? If it did, what does it know of you? We've heard the phrases "If these walls could talk" or "The walls have eyes". Well, what if an item you carry or wear daily did as well? Would it not know you better than even your spouse or family? These questions are for pondering, and in their latest effort, The Mars Volta does just that.

The story goes that the band acquired a "cursed" or "Inhabited" Ouija-style "talking board" dubbed the "Soothsayer" while traveling through Jerusalem. This board offered them a story, repeatedly, that is the concept for the album in it's entirety. A story that's always about a man, a woman, and her mother. About the lust floating between them. About seduction and infidelity. Pain & murder. Entrails and absence and curses and oblivion. A story told solely through the bands musical interpolation. This story is a must read....errrr, hear.

If you are completely lost and un-interested, that's o.k., The Mars Volta expects you to be. Even the groups die-hard fans no not of their motivation entirely. The songs usually skew together in what becomes at times 20+ minute outros and intros into the main agenda of the grooves. The seamless-ness is their preferred method of transition as heard in all of their previous efforts to date. The Mars Volta experience is something that requires just that, experience. While you could open mindedly jump right into "The Bedlam in Goliath" I would highly recommend back-tracking though their prior catalog and working your way up. Their sounds at times require a bit of "tolerance". That's what makes them The Mars Volta. And that's what makes every other band, well...every other band.