With their latest album, “Embryonic,” The Flaming Lips have pulled their heads out of the clouds and plunged down to the seventh circle of Dante’s Hell. Gone are the days of the beautiful Flaming Lips; this album is down right evil.

Known for their extravagant live shows and experimental music, The Flaming Lips have no doubt lived up to their reputation with their most recent masterpiece. Released Oct. 13 as a double record, “Embryonic” displays a slight departure from The Flaming Lips’ previous work. Individually the songs are unable to stand on their own, but when listening to the album as a whole, all of the pieces fall in to place, resulting in one of the most chaotic concept albums since Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon.”

The creation of this album was indeed a giant leap for the band, and as a listener you too are subjected to this journey into uncharted territory. The first few songs appear to only be standing by the pool of obscurity dipping their toes in the black water, considering whether or not to dive in. Within the first moments of the fourth track, “See The Leaves,” the decision is made and you are submerged into the sinister world of “Embryonic.”

The fuzz enveloped guitar parts sound as if guitarists Wayne Coyne (who also is the lead vocalist) and Steven Drozd had constructed a guitar with strings made from Velcro and then preceded to strum it with a razor blade. Throughout the entire album bassist Michael Ivins provides the only solid ground to stand upon with his driving bass lines. Although not to be outdone by his band mates, Ivins delivers what sounds as if he covered his bass in the fur of a woolly mammoth and plugged it into Mount St. Helens, which he also converted into a massive amplifier with speakers made out of rhino hide.

With this album, The Flaming Lips are looking straight at their listeners and daring them to enjoy the cacophony of noise that is before them. To fully experience this album all one needs is a dark room, headphones, an open mind and an hour and a half to spare. “Embryonic” is much like a Super Nova, like a brightly shining star that once was, exploding and leaving it’s light to slowly travel across the universe.