Home > Atlanta Music > CD Review > The Mars Volta, 'The Bedlam in Goliath'

Backstory: As the incendiary lead vocalist and guitarist of the acclaimed hardcore punk outfit At the Drive-In, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez were ready to make changes after growing increasingly bored with the constraints of their sound. Their postmodern brainchild the Mars Volta has been exploding eardrums and melting brains ever since, starting with their first concept album "De-Loused in the Comatorium" in 2003.

Why you should care: They are, by far, the roughest, toughest and most dangerous group in the game today, which is alarming considering how skinny they are. But Bixler-Zavala has pipes that every frontman would kill for and Rodriguez-Lopez is the most talented axe master in rock. Guitarists have nightmares about the guy. And that's before you get to their expansive literary, cinematic, musical and historical indulgences. They're like libraries that make you want to bang your head.

Verdict: While not as stunning as their debut effort, "The Bedlam in Goliath" is still a Gordian knot of lyrical and sonic intensity. Based on a tangled love triangle found attached to a ouija board Rodriquez-Lopez bought Bixler-Zavala in Jerusalem, TMV's fourth epic is a sexually charged rhythm factory. "Cavaletta" mashes everything from flute solos to shrieking guitars into a heart-attack tempo that doesn't let up for nine minutes, while the seductive "Ilyena" and startling "Aberinkula" synthesize organic woodwinds and inorganic digitalism into a potent dose of acrobatic riffage. Even the filler, like the stark but scary "Tourniquet Man," rewards repeat listens.

X-Factor: TMV goes beyond the boundaries of conventional rock showmanship, both in concert and in marketing. Bonus material can be found all over their dense Web site, as well as on flash USB drives, suggestive artwork, online games, indie films and even replica oujia boards. Reportedly, Rodriguez-Lopez already has their next two albums worked out. With the Mars Volta, fans literally never run out of material.

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