From The Ship To The Sea

Recently (recently as in like a month ago or more) I got ahold of the new Mars Volta record The Bedlam in Goliath. I have been trying to write this review for a month, but every time i listen there is so much more i want to write about. The Mars Volta have always been one of those bands that was so hard for me to get into, but once i did it was like it opened the floodgates to creativity. Listening to the Mars Volta is like watching your older brothers band practice in the garage. You don't quite understand it, but you know its way better than those Hannah Montana tapes in your bedroom. For those of you that aren't too familiar with the Mars Volta, they are a progressive/experimental band from California. The Mars Volta tend to ignore the music "standard" for song writing. Their songs usually run an average of 6-7 mins long and usually tend to have long jam sessions with all kind of instrument solos (guitar, bass, saxophone, etc). The Mars Volta have always been a creative band that has such a unique sound. Its hard to mix prog rock with 70's music, but somehow it works when The Mars Volta do it. Though it seems impossible The Bedlam in Goliath record took them into new territories. While on tour Omar bought a ouija board at a Jerusalem curio shop. This opened up the doors to new territories for them, they used the board to speak with the spirits. Through the board Omar was talking to the same spirits, and these spirits were an influence on the lyrics as much as the music. When the band headed into the studio to record The Bedlam, they encountered all kinds of problems with malfunctioning equipment and the studio even flooding. This scared Omar so he broke and buried the board. Listening to this record definitely feels like there was some interesting help. i recommend checking out the second track "Metatron" and also never playing with ouija boards.