Maybe musically complex is a better term for it. That album just has so much going on, it's huge.

Listening now :D

June 23 is going to be a good day! I am looking forward to it after having 4 other Mars Votla cd's. :) I am excited to see the diversity from Bedlam.

Can you elaborate on that perhaps, maybe I'm not listening to it carefully enough.

Amputechture was far more laid back. There was energy but it was directed more at long solos and ambient instrumentation. Look at Vicarious Atonement, that slow, patient build up is completely different to anything on Bedlam. And so are the rest of the songs, Amputechture was also not as gathered or tight as Bedlam was. All the songs were aiming for different things, while Bedlam was going straight in one direction.

Both albums are absolutely great, but very very very different.

Yeah, I know, but I still feel that maybe adventurous wasn't the best word for it. I'd say Frances is probably more adventurous now that I think about it.

I liked Octahedron quite a bit, but it was SOOOO short :(

Gonna take a few listens to get into this new one, I think.

After the first listen, I don't think it tops Bedlam. But, we'll see.

Heh, that's one of the things I really like about it.

An early opinion on Octahedron...

I'm mildly dissapointed. I know that The Mars Volta were going for a softer style here, but I wish they would have done more musically. It was almost lazy. Cotopaxi is an all-time great track however, and a lot of the slower tracks have nice melody nad are very enjoyable. I guess I just expected a little more out of them musically. This feels more like a Mars Volta EP than it does an album, if you know what I mean. I did, however, get a sort of classic prog vibe out of this album, and maybe that's what they wanted to do. Still a solid album, and I'll listen to it a few more times in order to get a more informed opinion.

Early rating: 7.5/10

Not album of the year material unfortunately. :(