Artist: 30 Seconds To Mars
Label: EMI Records
Released: 2009
Length: 60.40
Rating: 1.5/5
What’s left to say about a band like 30 Seconds To Mars, when everything has already been said? Given the drama that plagued the band a good year ago, you’d think this time would be different, but after listening to “This Is War” from start to finish, you won’t be far off the mark if you call it an album released purely for prestige. Even worse, the band’s whole existence apparently runs on the egotrip of the Leto brothers.
After a seriously overlong instrumental intro, the band kicks in with Night Of The Hunter, which immediately signals that the rest of the album will carry the same stellar production. Every contrast is superbly emphasized and controlled. The sound has real depth and width! No surprise, given the top-tier producer names on this thing. But then the song goes watery with the feel it gives off, which is like the new U2 trying to cover Land Of Confusion by late-’80s Genesis. The U2 syndrome (U2 miraculously “remembered” their rock roots at the start of the millennium with “All That You Can Leave Behind”, though they haven’t remembered anything in ages, just so none of you gets fooled) gets worse with Kings And Queens, the album’s first single. The song’s structure, along with Jared Leto’s singing, where he deliberately whimpers between the shouting in the chorus, adding the sweet pathos of a wounded little boy (which is what the MTV crowd does these days), can’t wipe away the stamp of forcedness. Hell, neither can Closer To The Edge! That one even raises the question: closer to what? Some randomly imagined edge, or U2’s guitarist? Another uninspired rip-off? Luckily, Stranger In A Strange Land isn’t an Iron Maiden cover. And the title Search And Destroy, with its cheery nature and the kids’ choirs added as a backdrop for Jared’s mass-persuasion routine, doesn’t come across as dangerous, destructive, or ready for a showdown, an attack, or a defense. Another misleading title. Just like the album’s.
In production, the band wisely cuts a deal to make the most of the available sonic palette, and behind that stands the massive contribution of the well-paid but experienced old hands Flood and Steve Lillywhite. And the U2 syndrome still clings to the album. Even in the title track (the chorus). “This Is War”! How misleading. You’d basically expect a truly angry, furious record from the band, considering the unjust lawsuit from Virgin Records, which claimed the band unilaterally walked away from a contract for five studio albums. It’s only natural to get worked up over the plague of “civilized society”, the thing we call sweeping the sacred inviolability of the notion of “democracy” under the “jurisdiction” of the courts, the biggest mirror, “legitimately installed by the people”, held up “to the face” of the hypocrisy of human history (vampires do best when the masses unknowingly control themselves!). And yet you don’t feel any of that anger over injustice on the album. Not for a second. The pathetic vocals of a film actor who’d do better sticking to movies can’t compete with the sincerity of emotion in the rock sermons of other bands, who know how to milk that trump card to the fullest.
The music of “This Is War” is, for 30 Seconds To Mars, a new blend of simple sonic loops set into an otherwise excellently produced, deep-booming drum sound. The drums often create extra counter-rhythms on top of the basic beat, trying to magnify moods. (Arrangement-wise) there are also successfully integrated synthesizers and the obligatory distorted guitar, there out of a need to implant the feeling that we’re listening to rock. If they swapped the distortion for natural-sounding solutions, the songs might make more sense, since 30 Seconds To Mars would at least sound properly pop. The album’s “happy” melodies come across as carefree and poppy, and the distortion is ridiculous next to them (good morning to all you skate/ska punkers too!!!), because it’s exactly the main traitor that dissolves all the artificial cosmetics of the product. And that clearly shows that all three band members are very well provided for and don’t wonder what this or that costs when they go shopping for the best car or buy a hacienda with the best possible view of a lonely hill in the countryside… At the price of sacrificing sincerity. And that’s where the power of rock messaging falls flat. Only the production cheats a little, and the masses fall for it! The vocals are the real factor that exposes the album as fake and unconvincing. I’d also like to point out that the songs lack any real variety of ideas, so they all end up looking alike, like two peas in a pod.
The songs are also noticeably too long for so little to say, which is all 30 Seconds To Mars have to offer. Your fancy pirouettes didn’t pay off, dear boys, and you’re closer to 30 seconds away from deeply uninspired self-parody and whiny pathos that couldn’t scare even eight-year-old girls. You can hide behind the tricks of a corrupt, modern music industry that has long been selling the masses crap for a handful of its own invested capital, but you can’t fool the listener’s ears. Add half a point for the excellent production by well-bribed producers, and you get (even) a whole one and a half! There wasn’t even enough inspiration left for the cover (with a tiger, supposedly symbolizing an alter ego when you’re under attack) to avoid looking like a tribute to Survivor or a Tygers Of Pan Tang compilation album of covers by assorted artists.
Lineup
Jared Leto — vocals, guitar, bass
Tomo Miličević — guitar, bass, keyboards
Shannon Leto — drums, percussion
Production
Flood, Steve Lillywhite & 30 Seconds To Mars
Tracklist
1. Escape (2:24)
2. Night of the Hunter (5:41)
3. Kings and Queens (5:48)
4. This Is War (5:27)
5. 100 Suns (1:58)
6. Hurricane (6:12)
7. Closer to the Edge (4:34)
8. Vox Populi (5:43)
9. Search and Destroy (5:39)
10. Alibi (6:00)
11. Stranger in a Strange Land (6:54)
12. L490 (4:26)
