There are a lot of ways to describe the sounds of the Mars Volta. Fans and critics place the band somewhere between the galaxies of progressive and experimental rock music, with some hints of jazz-funk and Latin. Its songs are spastic, aggressive audio assaults combining up-tempo drums and wailing guitars, usually in a good way. But on its latest album release, The Bedlam in Goliath, something has gone wrong. And it might have something to do with a Ouija board from hell.

The album was inspired by one very haunted, aged Ouija board the band found in Jerusalem (which they later named "the Soothsayer"). On tour, the Mars Volta made it a tradition to play around with the Soothsayer. The spiritual narrator behind the Soothsayer, who introduced himself to the band as Goliath, told an intricate story about a man, a woman and her mother, a romantic relationship that ends in pain and a graphic murder. But soon, Goliath started asking the band what it had to offer him. (Dim the lights, cue the spooky music.)

To make a long story short, the Mars Volta became cursed: equipment became faulty; its drummer abandoned ship, and its production engineer had a nervous breakdown and left behind scattered pieces of songs for the new album. Lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala severely injured his foot. The band's studio flooded. And Goliath was making threats. So the band buried the Ouija board and swore never to speak of it again.

The Soothsayer experience is probably held accountable for the cryptic lyrics that dominate every track on the album. In "Agadez," Bixler wails: "There's no time for this place/If you don't let me go/Heaven's made a cesspool of us all."

But there are no excuses for the awful sound effects that turn some halfway-decent songs into excruciating, ear-numbing tracks. On "Ilyena," some high-pitched, alien version of Bixler's voice exceeds annoying, and the outro's lame guitar effects make me feel like I'm under attack by a malfunctioning laser beam. Low and behold, the voice returns on the album's mediocre-at-best single, "Wax Simulacra." (Thank the almighty Soothsayer: the song is less than three minutes long.)

Granted, the album isn't a complete freak show. Consider "Goliath," a seven-minute track that I can actually pronounce the name of. There are no lackluster musical interludes to be found here, no unbearably obnoxious sound effects to tarnish the music. Bixler finally puts his impressive vocal range to good use. Drummer Thomas Pridgen is flawless, and with good reason; the 24-year-old kid is brimming with so much talent he was given a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music when he was 15. Yeah, he's pretty good.

Unfortunately, "pretty good" isn't the best way to describe The Bedlam in Goliath. Maybe if the Mars Volta had left the lights on and kept its Ouija playing at a minimum, my ears would be a little more forgiving.