Right, best album everzzz...:rolleyes:

Going to see them at UC Irvine in two weeks! I'll be entirely disappointed if my mind isn't blown completely. They're one of the most unique bands out there, and have an amazing command over their music.

It's boring and repetitive...and I only got to song three..:D

Its a butt load better than Amputechture. And Its really just a lot different than FTM and De-Loused.
Askepios, Metatron, and Ouroborous are easily three of the best songs they've written.

Sorry if this question is in this thread somewhere.... but it is like 37 pages now =/

I have heard of Mars Volta but never listened... what album to start at?

Start at the beginning and just go through all of them in order.

yeaa, De-Loused is the best place to start.

Noo, there are some weak songs.
Tourniquet Man is crap.
Drunkships and Cygnus still blow the pants of the majority of all Volta.

Ummm... I'd like to know where I could hear the new album. The website says jan. 29th as release date?

Who's That?
 

I dont know whose that Mars Volta?....Can u give me details about them?

They were on Letterman last night, I fell asleep before they came on

Ohsweet, so you're not just here to promote that band never to be seen again?

Fraid he was

I recieved my tickets for their gig at the manchester appolo two days ago. Saw them in '05 at manchester academy. and they blew my mind. Hopefully this should be even better.

I nearly went to that gig in '05, but a certain American on these boards persuaded me to give it a miss, much to the dismay of a certain Croatian.
That good was it?...

The bedlam is ****ing awesome, I still think my favourite will be amputechture tho when the dust settles.

It was VERY epic. Although near the end they started playing the same bassline for like 10 minutes solid, which got a bit like endurance training.

Other than that, the air stank of weed and a good time was had by all, particularly a guy in a yellow shirt who freaked the **** out at every opportunity.

And the guys who started a circle pit every time the music sped up.

Has anyone heard the bonus tracks yet? How bad was their Nick Drake cover? I'm too scared to listen.

I still haven't heard the nick drake cover, but I've heard nothing but good stuff about it.

Want a link?

ya rly.

Check yo PMs

Awesome.

Nick Drake cover is amazing, so is Candy and a Currant Bun.

I didnt even know i was a member of this forum. But anyways, the mars volta are probably my fave band, bedlam is pretty sick.

The story behind this album is an obvious marketing ploy. If you haven't heard the band claims this album was made under the influence of evil spirits released in the band's studio by a Ouija board.

I know they have a history of basing albums on found objects, but the concept for this record is pure fabrication.

The Mars Volta
 

Well, I'm sure a lot of us have been listening to them for some time, but I never really gave much thought to their music, until I found out the meanings behind the albums. As such, they've recently become one of my favorite bands, but I was wondering what everyone else thought of Omar and Cedric's post-ATDI stuff.

What's all this hate of Amp for imho.

There's alot to be said for the Mars Volta, I saw them at the Electric Ballroom in London for the Deloused tour. The bloke I brought along complained that they 'sounded like a airplane landing', or something. He was obviously wrong, but I have found that four albums in their brand of progressive/punk can be a bit much.
Whatever your complaints, the world needs them, as they are the last bastion of prog rock, in the eclectic King Crimson sense.
Plus the round of 'promos' they did for Bedlam were brilliant.

I'm a huge Mars Volta fan....I work for a band that sounds similar to them called Program the Dead....

Cicatriz ESP is their best song IMO.

Frances the Mute is definitely my favorite album of theirs. If you listen to it from beginning to end, it's sheer brilliance.

The generally accepted story is that Frances was raped by some member(s) of the church and forced to get rid of Cygnus, her son. Cygnus grows up and becomes a male prostitute, and get's AIDS or whatever. He is in search of his mom, and finds her in the Widow without realizing it. He ends having sex with her and gives her AIDS. His whole life he's believed she's some amazing person, yet when he finds her sister, Miranda, she tells him that Frances wasn't as holy as Cygnus thinks she is. In Cassandra, Cygnus goes out and finds the priests who did that to his mother, and kills them. I believe he ends up dying himself at the end.

It was written when one of their sound guys, who used to work as a repo man, found an orphan's diary in an abandoned car.

Having an idea of the story and trying to figure out what's going on makes the longer "noise" parts so much more listenable. They fill in a lot of the story, almost cinemaesque.

I finally gave Bedlam in Goliath a listen and after noticing that a lot of people were putting it in their best of 2008 I was wondering if this was just fanboyishness or I just seem to be unable to get in sync with their stuff after Frances. I think De-loused is a masterpiece, Frances is great, even if half of it is just atmospherics, but they completely lost their shit on Amputecture. Only one thing on that album struck me as memorable, the guitar riff on Viscera eyes.

Bedlam is a bit better, I actually liked an entire song (the rather funky Ilyena), there's an acceptable chorus on Metatron, Goliath had some cool jamming (the chorus is just lazy) but I started to lose my patience on Tourniquet man (sorry, it doesn't hold a candle to any of their previous slower songs, especially Televators and The widow). Is Cavalettas a good song by any standards, even if you are a fanboy? What about Agadez...do you know what that song sounds like? Anything memorable about it? Only Ouroborous stands out as a half decent song from the latter half of the album, but really, even that can't measure up to anything on De-loused.

Is it just that it's the kind of music you (or is it just me?) can't take much at one sitting? That can't be it, because De-loused is of similar length and there isn't a dull moment in it and a ton of memorable songs.

Is there anyone else out there who feels similarly or am I alone in my love/hate relationship with the Volta...?:|

I agree with the notion that you can't really take that much in one sitting. It's pretty intense, but they do rock the ****.

So you also think Bedlam is the shit? If so, can you explain how it compares to their other albums?

I think its very good, but I just meant in general.
I think deloused is far superior.

What are your favorite songs from Bedlam? Did you like Amputechture? What songs in particular?

I actually havent heard amputachture...
I like aberinkula
metatron
and wax simulacra but it kinda flows into a whole for me.

I c I c...

I'm liking Bedlam a great deal. It doesn't stand up to De-loused but it's still a great album. Their music has lost none of its intensity and creativity.
Best songs I would reckon to be Wax Simulcra and Goliath, not sure why you think the chorus sounds lazy adidass.
I think my biggest problem with Bedlam is the vocals, half the time they sound filtered and this sucks the emotion and power out of them.

I really want to find out what a mellow album by them sounds like.

So no one thinks it's too long and meandering without the payoff that Frances offers? Anything on this album strike you half as good as Cygmus or The widow or L'via L'viaquez?