Sunday, July 20, 2008

Album Review: Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends


It's apparent from the very first track of their newest offering that this ain't gonna be your typical Coldplay album. What this track also tells you is how heavily Brian Eno's signature sound will permeate through the LP. At this point, Eno has been credited for producing some of rock's greatest offerings from some of its greatest bands, including U2's legendary
The Joshua Tree and Talking Heads insanely creative Remain In Light.

Now it's Coldplay's turn for a bit of the Eno touch. So of course he has pushed the band towards the idea of new instrumentation and sound. Up until this album, Chris Martin had rarely felt safe wandering too far away from his harmless piano playing and empathetic, soprano vocals. However, here the band often generates a more raw sound, with tracks such as "Lost!" and "Violet Hill" sharing a crunchy, forceful tone. Of course, there is still plenty of room for more lighthearted affairs, such as the delightfully catchy "Strawberry Swing" and the swirling epic "Lovers In Japan/Reign of Love". However, the band has taken noticeable step towards a completely new mentality towards the final product that they want to deliver.

The band aims high and as ambitious as ever to try to create something that they hope will completely make the listener spellbound in sonic glory from start to finish. There really aren't any bad tracks on this album, only a couple that fail to deliver the full aural blowout that the band is hoping to maintain ("Cemetaries of London", "Yes"). However, in the end, this is certainly Coldplay's greatest offering to date, and shows that even the most universally successf
ul bands in the world is still willing to take risks with their music, which is always reassuring.

Key Tracks:
42
Violet Hill
Death and All His Friends

Final Verdict: 8.8


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