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RELEASE DATE: 2009-12-04
LABEL: Virgin Records
TRACKLIST:
1. Escape
2. Night Of The Hunter
3. Kings And Queens
4. This Is War
5. 100 Suns
6. Hurricane (feat. Kanye West)
7. Closer To The Edge
8. Vox Populi
9. Search and Destroy
10. Alibi
11. Stranger In A Strange Land
12. L490
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This Is War
30 Seconds To Mars
THE REVIEW:
I bet that almost everyone reading this review has heard the hit songs ”A Beatiful Lie” and ”The Kill” from 30 Seconds To Mars. Because of these and by the fact that the band is lead by an actor Jared Leto, 30 Seconds to Mars has gained a huge loyal fanbase and sold millions of albums world wide. After going through a struggle with royalties from their past album, the band hit the studio with veteran alt-rock producer Flood (U2's Achtung Baby, Depeche Mode's Violator, Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, etc.) and recorded an album titled “This Is War”. The effort which marks as the third long-play from the band will be released on today, December 4th through Emi / Virgin Records.
“This Is War” is definitely one of the most anticipated releases in the alternative rock genre so without a doubt the band had huge pressures before heading into the studio. How did “This Is War” turn out? Well after the first few spins I thought that this is a great album with all the choruses and nice sing-a-long parts but the more I listen to it, the worse it gets. First thing that started to bother me is the average quality in the songs. When “A Beautiful Lie” contained 10 songs of pure gold, “This Is War” contains maybe 3 to 4 songs that are even close to those. The second thing that really bothers me is the choirs which can be in almost each track and most of the times they don´t really even fit into the song. The only great choir part is in the opening track “Escape” where the monk choir shouts “This Is War”. It fits nicely into the albums theme and creates some sort of drama into it. Jared Leto´s voice is once again great and he has taken a step forward as a vocalist but this time the music itself isn´t as passionate and melodic it was on “A Beatiful Lie” and definitely decreases the atmosphere of the album. Another thing that bothered me is the track “Hurricane” which is said to have Kanye West as a guest. I can´t hear his voice during the song and I really started to wonder whether he really appears in the song or not.
Even though how positively you try to think of “This Is War”, it definitely doesn´t reach the level the first two 30 Seconds To Mars albums did. The album really lacks a lot in the melodic section and the over usage of choirs really makes the album sound irritating after awhile. There are good songs on the album like for example “Kings & Queens” and “This Is War” but still overall the album lacks the energy and passion “A Beatiful Lie” had. The band has tried to create an album full of drama and moodswings, but really failed in this mission. A decent CD but still not worth more than a 2,5/5 stars.
BY: Arto Mäenpää (adebisi85) on 2009-12-04
RANK:
 
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User Comments
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Unframed 2009-12-05 17:09 score: 8
"Another thing that bothered me is the track “Hurricane” which is said to have Kanye West as a guest. I can´t hear his voice during the song and I really started to wonder whether he really appears in the song or not."
Well you obviously did not listen it closely enough or at all.
3.40-4.20 is all Kanye, and "heartbeat I need a heartbeat" in the beginning.
Very solid album, Night of the hunter, kings and queens, a call to arms and closer to the edge being my favorites.
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Unframed 2009-12-05 17:12 score: 8
call to arms = vox populi..
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Musicaddict 2009-12-09 16:26 score: 8
This is a very good album. I love it. My favorite is also "Night of the Hunter". Jared Leto is really gifted !
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mrballsack 2010-01-03 19:24 score: 7
This surprised me very much ..and i have to say i only listened to it after seeing the disagreement here..So thanks for the headsup folks. This is a pretty decent release in my opinion .i remember liking A Beautiful Lie and then the band faded a bit for me, but this is refreshing in a sense. I recommend it.
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