The Mars Volta returns in epic and unexpected fashion with its sixth album, Noctourniquet.

While Noctourniquet was, in typical Mars Volta fashion, written by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala and produced by Rodriguez-Lopez, the 13-track album explores musical territories previously uncharted in the duo's 20 or so years of creating music together. The spectrum of musical and emotional textures conceived and created by Rodriguez-Lopez on Noctourniquet ranges from the opening bombast of "The Whip Hand" to the menacing crawl of "The Malkin Jewel" punctuated throughout by hypnotic melodies and borderline electro-ambient washes, most notably in the epic "In Absentia. "

The bold diversity of the new material combined with Rodriguez-Lopez's assured producer's hand guiding The Mars Volta's most confident and refined performances to date make Noctourniquet an early contender for this year's most challenging and rewarding listen. As with previous Mars Volta efforts, Bixler-Zavala's lyrics trace a narrative journey with a defined protagonist, this time inspired by disparate elements including '80s UK alt-rockers The Godfathers, Superman comic nemesis Solomon Grundy and the Greek myth of Hyacinthus.

MARS VOLTA THE DELOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM

MARS VOLTA THE FRANCES THE MUTE

Hailed by The New Yorker as 'perhaps the most musically adventurous act currently signed to a major label' and by Rolling Stone as 2008's Best Prog-Rock Band, The Mars Volta makes its Warner Bros. debut with Octahedron, the highly acclaimed group's fifth studio album. Following 2008's The Bedlam In Goliath-its third consecutive album to debut Top 10-which featured 'Wax Simulacra,' Grammy winner for Best Hard Rock Performance, The Mars Volta's punkperverted neo-psychedelia goes acoustic on Octahedron. Says the band's Cedric Bixler Zavala: 'There's electricity throughout it! But that's what our band does-celebrate mutations.'

Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.

The genesis of The Mars Volta's new album The Bedlam in Goliath is a tale of long-buried murder victims and their otherworldly influence, of strife and near collapse, of the long hard fight to push "the record that did not want to be born" out into the world. Omar was in a curio shop in Jerusalem when he found the Soothsayer, an archaic Ouija-style "talking board." Had he known at that moment that the board's history stretched far beyond its novelty appearance, that its very fibers were soaked through with something terribly other, that the choral death and desire of a multi-headed Goliath was waiting behind its gates... well, he might have left it at rest there on the dusty shelves. The Upside of That Choice: No bad mojo unleashed. Erase the madness that followed. Erase the bizarre connection to a love/lust/murder triangle that threatened to spill out into the present every time the band let its fingers drift over the board. The Downside: No Soothsayer means The Bedlam in Goliath never would have existed. And it turns out that this demented spiritual black hole of a muse has driven The Mars Volta to produce a crowning moment in their already stellar career. The band names this Ouija board "The Soothsayer", as it offers them a story: It's always about a man, a woman, and her mother. About the lust floating between them. About seduction and infidelity. And pain. And eventually, murder. Entrails and absence and curses and oblivion. To understand the full story....listen to "The Bedlam in Goliath."

Double 12-inch Opaque Blue & Orange Vinyl. This album features a widespine jacket with 2 full color 3D inner sleeves and 3D Glasses. Also included, Limited Edition 12' x 24' full color (folded) poster insert. This record does not include a digital download card.

All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.

This USB drive, which has a 1 GB memory stick with the full album, "Wax Simulacra" video and album artwork preloaded, will be encased in a wooden Ouija board planchette. Dimensions of the planchette and USB drive are 3 inches high and 1 inch wide. Plug it in, and on the 29th of each month after January, you'll get monthly content updates throughout 2008. This is THE product for the avid Mars Volta fan, keeping you in touch with the band and all their new content well after release date. Monthly content updates include b-sides, live videos, webisodes, exclusive wallpaper, the Goliath The Soothsayer video game, previously unreleased songs, and much, much more.

The genesis of The Mars Volta's new album The Bedlam in Goliath is a tale of long-buried murder victims and their otherworldly influence, of strife and near collapse, of the long hard fight to push "the record that did not want to be born" out into the world. Omar was in a curio shop in Jerusalem when he found the Soothsayer, an archaic Ouija-style "talking board." Had he known at that moment that the board's history stretched far beyond its novelty appearance, that its very fibers were soaked through with something terribly other, that the choral death and desire of a multi-headed Goliath was waiting behind its gates... well, he might have left it at rest there on the dusty shelves. The Upside of That Choice: No bad mojo unleashed. Erase the madness that followed. Erase the bizarre connection to a love/lust/murder triangle that threatened to spill out into the present every time the band let its fingers drift over the board. The Downside: No Soothsayer means The Bedlam in Goliath never would have existed. And it turns out that this demented spiritual black hole of a muse has driven The Mars Volta to produce a crowning moment in their already stellar career. The band names this Ouija board "The Soothsayer", as it offers them a story: It's always about a man, a woman, and her mother. About the lust floating between them. About seduction and infidelity. And pain. And eventually, murder. Entrails and absence and curses and oblivion. To understand the full story....listen to "The Bedlam in Goliath."