When afro’d hombres Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez released their third full-length opus Amputechture in the summer of ’06, fans and critics alike were taken aback. The spacey Latin jam rock of their previous releases was infused with a darker, subdued and less commercial sound that even singer Bixler-Zavala described as a “misunderstood, autistic child” of a record.

Record label Universal’s frustration was apparent when it cut promotional funding in the wake of the failure of single “Viscera Eyes,” a further setback to the band in light of the departure of world-class drumming talent, Jon Theodore.

After months touring with sister band Red Hot Chili Peppers and the induction of drumming prodigy Thomas Pridgen — 10 years junior to the rest of the band — The Mars Volta is brimming with studio energy, as evidenced in their latest entry, The Bedlam in Goliath. Markedly more commercial, it’s still about as accessible as whatever’s under your nearest sewer grate.

The album’s concept, supposedly based on the band’s experience with spiritual communication through a haunted Ouija board, is largely unimportant. The story is mostly unintelligible, and Bixler-Zavala’s lyricism is, as usual, more impressionistic than informative or poetic.

From the opening blast of “Aberinkula,” the intensity is at an all-time peak for the eight-piece band that incorporates two additional guitars, woodwinds and a percussion pit in addition to the standard rock setup. The dense instrumentalism and over-harmonized vocals charge full-speed ahead, cutting out the ambient fat that dominated previous releases. “Metatron,” on the short side for these guys at just under 10 minutes, doesn’t let up, even when it feels like it just might. The schmaltzy dance rock of “Ilyena” is a poppy departure, but it seems to work in the broader context of the rest of the record.

Lead single “Wax Simulacra” is a surprisingly brief three minutes of percussive ass-kicking and catchy verse-chorus-verse, despite its jarring time signature change. Pridgen’s drumming is a ludicrously excessive standout that puts older technical drummers to shame. The brunt of the record is contained in the two-part “Goliath,” an amphetamine-fueled, King Crimson-inspired remake of Rodriguez-Lopez’s solo effort “Rapid Fire Tollbooth.”

The album continues at Warp 11 but forgets to let up until about halfway through, where the ship crash-lands at the unnecessary “Tourniquet Man.” The band has handled mellow capably before, but the subdued entries on Bedlam are ridiculously out of place.

The rest of the album flows on sheer momentum, with acid-lounge piece “Agadez” and the Latin-tinged “Ourobouros” as clear energetic standouts.

Whereas guitarist Rodriguez-Lopez usually endeavors to upstage the rest of the players by turning up his squealing tracks above everyone else, he seems to have learned his lesson, giving his phenomenal rhythm section a chance to shine. Former Racer X bassist Juan Alderate steals the show on most of the tracks, particularly in conjunction with Pridgen’s impactive and indulgent sticksmanship. Unfortunately, Bixler-Zavala’s formerly virtuosic vocal power has been reduced to a shrill and grating whine, masked through harmonizers and auto-tuners. If the rest of the album wasn’t as dense, the vocals might detract enormously.

Studio bandmate and Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante is almost indistinguishable from Omar’s playing, and the lead guitar throughout the record is generally airy and counter-melodic. Gone are the constipated guitar solos of old, replaced with complementary and mostly unobtrusive rhythm — the exception being “Askepios,” where the guitar nearly derails the intense drum and bass groove. The record concludes as it begins; “Conjugal Burns” is a melodramatic closer that ends the album with the ferocity and abruptness of a car crash.

Although Bedlam lacks the subtlety and buildup of previous releases, The Mars Volta has succeeded in creating a dense prog-beast that minimizes the pretense and rocks unrelentingly at the cutting edge.