Picked up "The Bedlam in Goliath" today.

Their new album is already causing controversy. =)

Is this the first Mars Volta album you've heard?

Perhaps you started with the wrong CD =) I've been of teh Volta since the first E.P. and I'm currently struggling not to give this a bad review, partially for the reasons you mentioned, and also because they've moved away from their noise/psyche moments, which I miss. The first two albums are much more varied than "Bedlam" although they still reach fever pitch in each song, and frankly they can still be demanding due the sheer amount of ambient downtime. (this part doesn't phase me because I love noise more than I do rock.)

I'd understand if you didn't go back further after such a disappointing experience, but maybe you should - "De-loused" and "Frances the Mute" are the CDs which will have influenced your favourites. =)

most people hate the vocals and as soon as they hear them they immediatly turn the song off. but i love them, I love the fact that they are different. Try listening to the album again and maybe you will like it. I also like them because they are one f the few good prog band out now. If they were formed in the 70s then people might not like them as much,but compared to todays prog they are awesome imo.


Edited by jwxlite - February 02 2008 at 19:31

I also picked this up today.  So far I've listened to the first two or three cuts (my wife cares not at all for these guys and I haven't felt like putting on the headphones today).  I find it real accessible compared to Frances the Mute.  I actually hear hooks and song structure (again, based on first two cuts).  Give it a chance.  It is certainly a full-frontal sonic assault on first listen.  But for that matter so was "You Really Got Me" in its original incarnation. 

Dunno, for me Bedlam is about as progressive as music gets these days.  Agreed they don't exactly let the listener up for air.  But looking back to the original post, if you don't like Zappa then MV may not be a good choice.

Okay, so, I have listened to the "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" song available on here about five times in a row now, and love it even more each time I do. I have a feeling I will like the early Mars Volta stuff; I just wish they could have progressed in that direction rather than a completely different one as evident on the new album. Very tragic.

I really don't get it... There are lots of bands around I don't like, even if people praise them to high heaven.  I'll give you a  personal example: many members here consider Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater an absolute masterpiece. I bought it, listened to it once, and was so underwhelmed I never wanted to put it on again.

Is there anything wrong with me?  Of course there isn't.... It's called individual taste, and trying to force ourselves to like something that goes against the grain is useless. Liking TMV (or DT for that matter, or Genesis, or whatever) is not mandatory, far from that. I do love them, but I also recognize they are not for everyone.

@ Laplace: perhaps you should write that bad review. It may be that the album grows on you with time, but then again it may not.... I rarely write bad reviews, but if you check my 2-star reviews, half of them at least are of albums many consider to be masterpieces.

p0mt3 wrote: I'm sorry, but how can anyone think this is any good? It seems I dislike this album for the same reason that I dislike anything I have heard from Zappa; it's just, well, frankly, too much.   I am fond of music that leaves space and really let you take in the movement that you have just heard (much like an orchestral arrangement), and I have found none of that here.   Now, I'm not trying to be mean about this, blease don't bash me, I really am trying to like it, but as of right now, I feel like I have wasted a good $15. :(  Maybe I should give it time to grow on me...? I can always change my mind, but with these guys, I feel it will take quite a while.   Anyone else agree? Dissagree? Please, any TMV lovers out there, help me to try and look at this from another perspective; you see, I don't want to hate The Mars Volta, but I am fearing that I will end up doing just that.

I think the whole idea of the album is the intensity. I've said it once and i'll say it again: different music for different moods. Next time you feel very angry about something, listen to this album again, i think it will go down a lot better. I'm practically furious all the time so its always good for me

Yeah, dude, it's pretty much a matter of taste.  If you don't like their kind of music, you don't like it, you just have different priorities in music.
  There is very little 'space', as you say, in TMV's music.  Basically what they do it throw a ton of music in your face and make you deal with it.  The new album is particularly aggressive, so you might want to try earlier stuff.... but the basic style is the same.  I fully recognize that what TMV does is 'too much', but I think that's what they're aiming for.

like kibble_alex said, maybe try putting it on when you're ready to just rock out with abandon.  It's what they do, and I for one think they do it well

Edited by p0mt3 - February 03 2008 at 18:56