Sound Check: ‘This is War’ by 30 Seconds to Mars
Comments
by Alicia Gillman on January 14, 2010 at 12:01 am under A&E
Rating
1.5
This is War is 30 Seconds to Mars’ first release since A Beautiful Lie in 2005. With this new album, the band has managed to create an unfaltering theme of battle with its use of pounding music and victorious lyrics, but this consistency is unfortunately the only redeeming quality of the album. A Beautiful Lie made alternative rock charts with singles such as “The Kill (Bury Me)” and “From Yesterday.” This is War‘s disappointing vocals, lyrics and music lack the connection to listeners found in A Beautiful Lie.
The first track, “Escape,” sets high expectations for the remainder of the album. Although it is a brief two minutes and 22 seconds, “Escape” combines a unique mix of electric sounds, percussion and children screaming, “This is war.”
The songs that follow are completely bland and repetitive in all aspects.
“Night of the Hunter” signals what the rest of the songs will reflect: vocal battle cries, overemphasized and bitter religious metaphors, and a high use of dramatic percussion. The bridge of this particular track sounds more creepy than emotional, even with the lyrics they provide: “Honest to God/I’ll break your heart/Tear you to pieces/And rip you apart.”
Despite their efforts to create a unique album, 30 Seconds to Mars resembles U2, using similar techniques in songs such as “Kings and Queens” and “This is War.” Religious metaphors, including “A warning to the prophet, the liar, the honest/This is war/To the leader, the pariah, the victim, the messiah/This is war” in the title track, are found in the majority of tracks on the album.
In “Hurricane,” lead singer Jared Leto attempts to properly deliver the metaphors by exhibiting his vocal range, but he still manages to leave out the emotion necessary to make the lyrics meaningful to listeners. A couple of songs with references to religion are just fine, but including them in nearly every song is a bit overdramatic and takes away from the meaning of the album.
The CD begins to grow tiresome by the eighth song, “Vox Populi (A Call to Arms).” It maintains the album’s war theme, but repeats the use of percussion and chanting. The vocals of the track, rather than sounding like U2, bear a resemblance to a whiny Tom Delonge in Angels and Airwaves more than anything else.
As “L490,” the last song of the album, came to an end, I could not have been more content with the final note of a CD. If it had progressed any further, the album would have become unbearable. Although I have been a fan of 30 Seconds to Mars’ past work, I have never felt such a strong feeling of relief at the end of one of their track lists.
Perhaps 30 Seconds to Mars would have succeeded with their release had they connected with listeners as in their last album, A Beautiful Lie. Better luck next time.
18 Comments
Most.STUPID.Review.EVER.
:)
This is def. a LOVE-it or HATE-it album.
Alicia has decided to hate it.
Me? I love it
When I saw 1,5 stars I thought was a mistake. Disappointing? Are you serious? This is the best 30 Seconds to Mars work and maybe the best CD in the history of music. If YOU don’t like it… well, thats YOUR problem.
TheGateKeeper26 +1
I have to agree with Thegatekeeper. This review is very shallow and I am sure you didn’t listen to the album at all. If you had you would find out that this CD is nothing like bland and repetitive. You just don’t get the idea behind. Of course it’s a matter of taste but if you liked the first and the second album it’s impossible not to like this one. The success speaks for itself and the real fans appreciate the CD and what 30 seconds wanted to tell the world. Maybe you should start listening to digestible Chartmusic and leave the real music to people knowing good music. Your review was almost unbearable to read and it is really an insult to call yourself a fan.
Everybody should be able to have an own oppinion… but this review sucks! Sorry Ms. Gillman.
What a dissapointing review! The entire album is full of heart felt emotion and ‘This Is War’ most definately connects to the fans as we love it! Repetitive is a bit of a rediculous word to use as I can’t hear two tracks that are alike and using bland to describe any of them is laughable.
A funny one, Ms Author. Seems like you tried hard to find details to prove your own negative opinion. I wonder what caused it… but anyway you’re not right, sorry.
But sure, you can have you’re own opinion. It’s just sad for you that nobody shares it :)
The album is great, no matter what you’re saying.
This is such an amazing work! If there`s anyone who can`t understand the sence.. well.. not good for that person
a-m-a-z-i-n-g.
Sorry msGillman, but it seems to be like it is you who is being “shallow” here not being able to really LISTEN to the music. Because the quality of this particular record leaves no doubts that marking it 1.5, you show your own incompetence
Having your own opinion is great, but there are times when the level of performance is indisputable, and any further discussion must stay off the professional appraisal
WOW people. The writer is entitled to her own opinion. This is a review. Who ever said that reviews solidified things factually? Some people will like the album and others won’t, that’s how life works.
The “best CD in the history of music?”
Her opinion is “wrong?”
“You just don’t get the idea behind.”
“but anyway you’re not right, sorry.”
“But sure, you can have you’re own opinion. It’s just sad for you that nobody shares it”
You guys are joking, right? This is all a joke, right?
I have to agree with Alicia on this one–and most of the internet community does as well. Head over to SputnikMusic.com or MetaCritic.com to see for yourself. The album currently holds at a 52/100 on MetaCritic and a 3.2/5 on SputnikMusic. There’s no reason to bash Ms. Gillman. She obviously listened to the album, as most of those reviews echo exactly what she said: repetitive, pretentious songwriting with overblown instrumentation and manufactured angst and depression.
It just sounds like you guys are offended that a band you like released a sub-par record. There comes a time in every music listener’s life where they realize that their favorite bands CAN actually make mistakes. Now, maybe it’s not as bad as a 1.5/5, but she still backs up her points with evidence–and that’s more than the rest of you are doing.
Oh, and I’m sorry for the double post, but there’s no way I could leave this one alone.
“Maybe you should start listening to digestible Chartmusic and leave the real music to people knowing good music”
Are you serious? You realize we’re talking about 30 Seconds to Mars, right? A band that basically had an album rocket to the top of the charts atop two popular singles isn’t “Chart Music.” Am I missing something?
Yes, I understand that their sound has matured–and I can agree with that–but some random bleeps and bloops, horrific choirs, and the Devil’s tool itself–AutoTune–do not immediately make a “sophisticated” record.
I have to agree with both Casey and Alicia. The album was not good, sorry. Simply put the evidence against it cannot be ignored, and the fact that people who get paid to write reviews….. let me repeat, PAID TO WRITE REVIEWS proves that Ms. Author, as you lovingly put it isn’t far off.
Also, before you criticize someones writing and post it to a public space…… please check your spelling and use of contractions. “You’re” is not a possessive pronoun but in fact a verb conjugation. This makes you look like an idiot and not a critic.
guys, sorry, but the album isnt good. and not the best of the music history at all.
Lionette – you are wrong yourself. 1st of all because you “like” the album only because you love the band, and secondly, you dont know the real music.
the album isnt great no matter what YOU say.
Constance – your problem almost the same as Lionette has, just bigger. if you think thats the best album ever…im sorry, you are so tart and dont have any music taste at all.
you are just like cattle which complete everything whatever the band whoever says…
the idea isnt to jump on people and say that they opinion sucks…
its none of your fucking business, really. everyone says what he/she want.
go listen to your “best music EVAH” aand be amazed by jareds sexy hairdo and beautiful eyes. and fuck off.
da end.
I so diagree with this review. Everyone has their own opinion but, this album is full of emotion and “Hurricane” is a beautiful song! This whole album tells a story and touches me on so many levels. You did not really LISTEN to the album. This review SUCKS!!! Sorry…. That’s my opinion.
HI
Every one is entitled to give their own opinions. There is freedom of expression. This lady gave her review on the album -This is war ! Some may accept it and some may not !
But please do not abuse the writer in flith, since it is very low especially when it is on the web!
I am a great fan of Jared Leto but I cannot blindly say that all his works are great ! Some have shortcomings as he too is human ! We all have out short comings ! Even a genius can make mistakes !
Honestly, I’m not a major fan of 30StM. However, it seems to me that there is nothing really wrong with This Is War. It’s still 30StM. It’s less commercial than A Beautiful Lie (yes, I said it) but it isn’t a bad album. It’s more musically in line with their first album, 30 Seconds to Mars.
Vocally and lyrically, yes, this album is a bit harder to swallow, but given what was going on during its writing I expected that. Jared knows his voice, knows how he wants to use it, and does that. Sure, he’s not as emotionally raw as J. Loren from Hurt or as varied as Marianas Trench’s Josh Ramsay, but he’s a very good vocalist and songwriter.
The guys are experimenting and finding their own sound, and I respect that. It just might take a bit of getting used to.
More in line with their original album? What the (expletive). To go from Year Zero to, “This is war”, on the album is like a head on collision into a never ending black pit of used paper diapers, filled with indian food. People who like music or have ears, hate this album.