THE BEDLAM IN GOLIATH

This CD is LOUD. Most of the music here is rather intense. With Bedlam TMV wanted to get back to their punk roots. But not much here is really punk sounding, except the end of "Goliath" and the beginning of "Cavalettas". Those two songs bookend the only mellower song "Tourniquet Man". This is the only ballad here but comes off as filler; it's not as good as the ballads on the band's first three albums. Another long album from this band. Fortunately the two weakest songs, "Soothsayer" and "Conjugal Burns", also happen to be the last two songs.

The two strongest songs on the album are "Agadez" and "Ouroborous". The latter is very metal sounding. It has a neat synth part which sounds like an accordion. There is some kind of wind instrument on a few songs. I'm not sure what it is exactly but it's neither a sax or trumpet. "Ilyena" is one of the better songs here. The second half is almost hip-hop sounding. I could see somebody sampling the beat here. There's not too much sound effects or studio manipulation of vocals as compared to earlier TMV albums. The 8-minute "Metatron" and the 9 1/2 minute "Cavalettas" don't seem as long as they actually are.

Cedric's vocals here are not bad at all. His lyrics are still in 'WTF' territory, however. You can barely notice the keyboards half the time. They get buried under the guitars and drums. This was the first album with new drummer Thomas Pridgen. Here he's a maniac on his drumkit. The artwork is cool and is some of the best on any TMV album. I'm not sure which I like less: Bedlam In Goliath or Octahedron. Both are nowhere as good as the first three. But still good. 3 stars.