THE BEDLAM IN GOLIAT

Composer: Nathaniel Tookey. Personnel: Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals); Anthony Blea, Edwin Huizinga (violin); Charith Premawardhana (viola); Sam D. Bass (cello); Owen Levine (upright bass). Audio Mixer: Rich Costey. Recording information: Brooklyn, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Studio C, San Francisco, CA. Editor: Claudius Mittendorfer. Arranger: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. With its furious sonic assault, wildly surrealist sensibility, and volatile mystique, the Mars Volta seemed like a band that would gloriously self-destruct after a couple of albums. Although the Los Angeles-based post-punk/prog-rock group did allegedly almost break up prior to THE BEDLAM IN GOLIATH, the record finds vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala, guitarist Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez, and company still creating a fascinating racket more than four years after its startling 2003 debut, DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM. Informed by Rodriguez-Lopez's bad ouija-board experiences, THE BEDLAM IN GOLIATH is typically cryptic in its subject matter, and unsurprisingly fiery in both Bixler Zavala's signature wail and the ensemble's tight instrumental interplay, particularly on the surging "Wax Simulacra." While Rodriguez-Lopez's searing guitar lines are at the fore, BEDLAM's secret weapon is the drumming of new recruit Thomas Pridgen, who propels the songs forward with a pummeling, tightly wound momentum (see the shifting rhythms of "Goliath"), bringing a palpable sense of vitality that reverberates throughout the album.