polaroids of androids

On the journey from their stunning debut, Deloused In The Crematorium, to this, their fourth offering, The Mars Volta have shifted their attention from chaotic arrangements and hard-hitting prog rock punches to being a lot more self focused. The group's two most recent albums, Frances The Mute and Amputechture, were both massively over indulgence wankfests that had absolutely no connecting line between the band and their audience. The complete snobbery and self-focused attitude to their music has seen them move from being one of the most creative, imaginative and unpredictable outfits in music to an ego-powered machine creating dull atmospheric moments and occasional spurts of actual enjoyable music.

The Bedlam In Goliath, although not hitting the same sweet spot as their debut, is definitely a return to form. From the opening number, Aberinkula, it is evident that the plan has shifted. With it's furious spurt of horns, whaling screeches and jolts of electric guitar it serves as a perfect way to define the album's sound. The most notable directional change is the fact that the majority of the tracks on this record have clearly defined choruses, more 'traditional' song arrangements and are a lot more instantly distinguishable than the majority of their work to date. Ultimately, on this record the band has moved away from creating a collection of songs that form small pieces of a bigger picture and instead zoned in on the details of the individual parts. This gives each song it's own purpose and life instead of being simply a single arrangement within a large - often poorly connected - slab of music.

At it's highest points this record feels like it is part of the perfectly logical next step for one half of the remains of At The Drive-In. When Omar and Cedric break into wild punk-like guitar melodies and the vocals are spat with aggression, purpose and emotion - as is the case with tracks like Goliath and the first single Wax Simulacra - the album vibrantly bursts into life. Another standout, Ouroborous, which combines a catchy, light, speed metal riff with a theatrical build-up, highlights their conscious attempt to hold their audience's attention this time around.

The weaker moments on this album are when the band once more get bogged down in musically wanking themselves. The feeling that some of the tracks were created when someone pressed record during a four hour jam session is hard to shake. It would seem as well that the reason for the two former afro forces pulling the plug on their previous band ('they just wanted to keep making the same song over and over') might be starting to creep into The Mars Volta's repertoire. As much as they are trying to deliver a progressive rock 'experience' it would seem as though they are becoming as predictable as the majority of bands that are continually releasing new material.

The bonus track - on the Australian release of the album at least - is something that comes completely from left field. Candy And A Currant Bun unleashes a Sex Pistols-like punk attitude, uniquely mixed with some sprinkles of electronica. It is disappointing that this track isn't part of the 'official' release and only offered as an add-on. It would be interested to see what would have come about if they had injected a little bit more of this creative thinking into the rest of the album.

As accessible as this album is - at least compared to the last couple of times around - it is still hard to consume in a single sitting. Sure, there are a lot more individual songs and the 'dumbing down' of their sound with stronger rhythmic backbones and noticeable choruses makes it possible to strip out your favourite songs, The Mars Volta still attempt to deliver this to the listener as a single piece of music. Most people don't always have eighty minutes to spare and that ultimately will be the unfortunate reason that this album will fail to make the transition from impressive to familiar.