This May Be War, But the Real Winner Ain't Clear

Originally posted on 1/10/10

This is War - 30 Seconds to Mars - Album Review

I never had a chance to put this out, what with the various end of year/decade lists I was churning out, but seeing as an album i'd only had a week ended up the album of the year, I feel it prudent to put out a full review of it.

As mentioned in my album of the year list, This is War is undeniable proof that Jared Leto should chuck acting and stick to making records like this one. This is War was a long time in coming, it suffered many a delay and at times the band seemed unsure about what they were doing, calling a meeting with fans so they could see how recording was progressing. These fears were unfounded however, as there is no trace of uncertainty throughout the 11 songs and slight intro in Escape.

From the start of Night of the Hunter, when the music really starts, you know that this album is going to pin you back from beginning to end. Musically it combines the weird-ness with undercurrents of commerical brilliance of their first album with the fully realised commercial brilliance of the second album, to produce what the band had been promising since they first started. As a result of this, This is War sounds confident, it sounds accomplished and every song feels brilliantly put together. There's less guitar on this album than previous, with electronics becoming a more rythmically-central part of the music, and the guitar being used for the huge choruses of Closer to the Edge, Vox Populi and the title track, which is hands down the best song.

The strange group backing vocals they employed for most of the songs is quite wearing to begin with, and unnecessary on just about every song, not sounding forceful nor as grand as it was presumably supposed to, but you end up getting used to it, and it seems less awful. It has to be said however, that it would probably be better had they not bothered putting this in. You have to ask yourself after listening to this album where the band can go from here. While from album to album they have certainly progressed and become bigger, but when you create a record as sublime and complete as This is War, there's not much further you can go. While they may have thought they'd overcome their biggest test in making this album, the war is not in fact done as the title track suggests, but it's just beginning. I hope they can survive this however as it's not exactly sold very well (probably the weak leading single), and while it deserves to be, it should help in having a 4th album that lives up to this.