The Bedlam In Goliath - The Mars Volta
User Score
8.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 132 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 118 out of 132
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 132
  3. Negative: 8 out of 132

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  1. IsaacA.
    Jan 30, 2008
    3
    This album is just a mess of potentially great, but ultimately wasted, ideas.
  2. AidanK
    Feb 16, 2008
    4
    I found this record really disapointing, the tracks seem to sound very similar to one another, which is reall yquite surprising for this band. I think their first two albums are much better,
  3. HC
    Feb 20, 2008
    4
    Like Muse, you can only take it in bursts. But since the songs are like 7 minutes long, it's almost no good at all.
  4. JA
    Feb 27, 2008
    4
    Someone call Rick Ruben to save TMV from Fusion of confusion.
  5. MycleS.
    Feb 8, 2008
    3
    mediocre album from a band that should have split after deloused. and how Alex w. could compare this to Radiohead is beyond me. Radiohead writes masterful music, full of complex song structures, layers, and meaning. comparing tmv to Radiohead is like comparing finger painting to van gogh.
  6. NoelS.
    Mar 28, 2008
    0
    They were cool when they first came out, now they're just kind of trying too hard.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 31
  3. Negative: 4 out of 31
  1. All Music Guide
    90
    This should have been the album where the Mars Volta either wore the formula down to nothing or abruptly turned in a different direction, but instead the band created an album that nearly perfects what they've been working toward.
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  2. Billboard
    80
    Most of the time, however, the band makes a righteous racket that straddles the worlds of prog rock, funk, fusion jazz and world music, with Eastern motifs spicing 'Aberinkula' and a bit of cosmic blues making its way into 'Conjugal Burns.'
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  3. Drowned In Sound
    80
    For the most part, this is the heaviest record that they’ve recorded and the most far-out as well.
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