Why it rocks: If you already love The Mars Volta, it’s probably for their intricacies and the shear rabid attention they demand from the listener. Nevertheless this is a drastic improvement from their last record. Songs like “Cavalettas” and “Goliath” bring the blitzkrieg intimidation and looms of the noble legitimacy of their former punk band, At The Drive-In, with enough respect to the band’s ex-genre not to convert any more of the aesthetic.

Why it doesn’t rock: Though “The Bedlam in Goliath” lacks in nothing of what The Mars Volta do best, they don’t vary their stylistic canon like they did for 2005’s “Frances the Mute.” Their song lengths remain as liberal as always, even if the songs feel of sickeningly consistent and faster pace. The chorus-to-refrain conversation of the album’s opening track, “Aberinkula” claims to be as easily swallowed as “Communication Breakdown” but the song clocks in noticeably longer than “Stairway to Heaven”-and so plays the rest of the record.

Song Worth Downloading: “Cavelettas”

Our rating out of 5: ***