It's hard to argue the popularity of Coldplay. The once youthful band that sang about the scientists, who claimed that everything is yellow, and that they could fix you - has dropped their emotionally-drenched repertoire and have gone for something more straightforward, that is with a concept. Slew the tomfoolery of love lost and found along with the jagged adolescent-like image, they put on militia outfits, trashed the former simplicity of their album covers and whacked a Delacroix painting on their new cover. It's obvious, as they call their latest effort with a rather peculiar title, VIVA LA VIDA OR DEATH AND ALL HIS FRIENDS. Yes, they're opting for something revolutionary.
The result is a complex, liberating musical opus. Hardcore Coldplay fans will be disappointed that the band has literally abandoned X&Y's over-drenched sentimentality, yet nevertheless an epic record on its own right. However, a forewarning to listeners: thou shall not judge the album on its first hearing. Let the album play over and over again (I've already listened to the album 8 times now, as I've written this), and perhaps you'll discover that your fifth listen is significantly different from your first one, because it's a kind of album that grows on you.
The album title, inspired by Frida Kahlo, means "Long Live Life", and it the concept was born during the band's layabout in Spain. Perhaps this explains the band's fondness of almost epic European-tinged music. From the album's brilliant instrumental rock opening "Life In Technicolor", followed by the haunting "Cemeteries of London" - the onset tracks foretell that this album is power-packed with stadium anthem fillers. And behold "Lost!", a superb thump-clapping fresh beat very un-Coldplay-esque with the harmony of a church organ, which radically comes out as one of the album's best, surprisingly. But the band spread their ingenuous talent in the album's paramount track "Viva La Vida", a beautiful, gloriously conjured musical atmosphere.
Yet Coldplay is famous for their subtlety, and here it's displayed with panache. In the track "42", it starts as a mournful elegy then quite unexpectedly, it gathers turbulence and it is bombasted with excellent drumming and piano syncing. There are even hidden tracks within the songs, except from the usual bonus tracks at the very end, and if one listens carefully and let the CD play, thy shall be surprised. "Lovers In Japan" is followed by "Reign of Love", both a harbinger of nostalgia and serene beauty, which would conjure images of French Revolution images and the glorious landscapes of Versailles. After "Yes", the album's strangest sound with Arabian violins, comes the "Chinese Sleep Chant", a treat of guitar synths. Only "Violet Hill" seems to be the album's most easily placed in pop-rock category, despite of the exemplary guitar riffs. Quite thankfully though, the album finishes with the Beatle-esque yet equally magnificent "Strawberry Swing" and "Death and All His Friends", a superb finale to the plethora. And of course, we get two bonus tracks, which are acoustic versions of "Lost" and "42".
The album's main flaw, meanwhile, lies on Chris Martin's lyrics that sometimes veer into the pedestrian, singing that "soldiers, you've got to soldier on.." or perhaps "those who are dead are not dead, they're just living in my head". A choice for poetry or just mere rhyming manipulation? The strangest thing is, it all fits well to the music.
VERDICT:
Oftentimes a spine-tingling listen and haunting, VIVA LA VIDA OR DEATH AND ALL HIS FRIENDS marks Coldplay's liberation into an entirely new musical palette. Hardcore fans might kickstart an uprising, but open minds will certainly embrace the warmth of this album, filled with epic anthems of love, life and death. Your choice, love it or loathe it.
RATING: A-
