30 Seconds To Mars - This is war

I could have done a much more argued and detailled review. But I don't even want to. Why would I bother myself with writing about a record that already bothered me enough when I listened to it?

It's no news Jared Leto is full of himself. Those who have seen the guy live will understand me even better. But whereas his music was average and dull, it wasn't full of pretention. Until now. Him and his bandmates took it to another level with their third album. A level of epicness. Of disgust epicness. With 'This is war', they pass themselves off as new wave, indus, dramatic, cold, epic, but this record's universe is made of pulpboard, for a band in papier-mache. Just like their last video for the Angels & Airwaves-like 'Kings and queens', it claims to be big, great, huge, gigantic, but it's small, it's tiny. Behind the tall walls of sophisticated aesthetic, there is absolutely nothing. It's empty. It's full of emptiness. The lyrics are ridiculously fake, either pretending to be messianic ('Vox populi') or made of faux rebellion that doesn't fit the guy that pronounces them ('Stranger in a strange land'). Leto's voice has reached another level on the pathetic scale, often whiny and always breathy. The intro sounds like a parody. It's not only his singing's fault, there's also the choirs' case. There are so much it makes me want to throw up. Poor Tibetans requisitioned. They already bothered China for their video of 'From yesterday'... I can't wait for their next show at North Korea's biggest stadium. Cause if you missed the transition, 30 Seconds To Mars now play arena-rock! They wish very hard they were My Chemical Romance or Green Day, but they're just grotesque and grandiloquent. The production, executed by big rock names Flood and Steve Lillywhite (U2, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails...), is dull and really affected the band's sound. 'Vox populi' rips off Queen's 'We will rock you' tempo and U2's riffs at the same time, whereas the horrendeous 'Hurrican' stuck "It's too laaaaaate to apologize" into my head. As if their songs weren't bad enough, they had to remind me of other ones that are not theirs. Jared Leto claims to be at war, but the only thing he is fighting against that I can figure out are my eardrums.

This record is a pain. Such a pain. It's like a 'Braveheart' that would last six hours. Or a 'Gladiator' with three times more cliches. It lays it on thick. It drips. It's sickly. I wouldn't be that harsh if the music wasn't this pompous, obnoxious and pretentious, if 30 Seconds To Mars didn't put that much on airs. I hold no grudge against this band. They are not worse than loathsome acts as Brokencyde that today's scene offers, they're way better, but the blissful attention and admiration their huge fanbase have for them piss me off. There are so many better bands that see things through to the end, not falling into the fake, the easiness, the expected. This may be war, but I'm definitely not in 30 Seconds To Mars's camp.

2/5

Recommanded if you like:
Angels & Airwaves, Kill Hannah, Breaking Benjamin
Check also:
Dead By Sunrise, LostAlone, Trading Yesterday

www.myspace.com/thirtysecondstomars
(Virgin Records, 2009)