30 Seconds To Mars – “This Is War” Review
30 Seconds to Mars is a band which use to have an underground respect back in 2003 with their self-titled debut. In the past 2 or 3 years however, 30STM has been tarnished by douchebaggery, fashion, and ego. The last of the three being incredibly evident in their latest effort, This Is War.
I won’t lie…I actually use to be a big fan of this band. Their debut album I thought was amazing because it didn’t sound too much like everything else going on at the time, and being such a big fan of the movie Requiem For A Dream, I naturally thought it was cool to see Jared Leto having other talents outside of acting. It wasn’t so much him trying to make it as a singer because he wasn’t going on television putting his name out there as a musician. He came out with his band instead of as a solo act, which I thought was pretty humble. Even when A Beautiful Lie came out, I thought it was a pretty good album. It wasn’t until stories of Jared being a douchebag to people surfaced that I started losing respect (telling critics he wants to bash their heads in with a bat, pressing charges on a girl after getting punched in the face, etc). Along with that, every video they made was an epic attempt, which is nice at first, but can be extremely annoying three times after.
Enough on why everyone dislikes Jared, lets get to why I don’t like this album. Lets begin with the first track. Jared sings softly into the microphone similar to a Jonas brother while strings play in the background. The track ends with a choir of children yelling “this is war.” It then goes into the first fully-written song titled “Night Of The Hunter.” 30STM has always been known for their electronic sound, but the beginning of this song sounds far too similar to the cheesy Bon Jovi guitar effect. I keep waiting for Jared to scream out “it’s my life and it’s now or never.”
The rest of the album goes on to reveal more songs similar to “Night Of The Hunter” and the single, “Kings and Queens.” Though the production on this album is pretty amazing, I can’t help but feel that this album went far beyond what it needed. The song-writing is mediocre, and without the huge production budget this album would sound as terrible as the lyrics. In their previous albums, there was always a constant theme, but the songs seemed to differ from one another enough lyrically and musically to the point where it seemed justified. With This Is War, the theme is constant with the lyrics and all the songs sound far too much alike. At most times you can take the chorus to “Kings And Queens” and sing it over the others.
Jared seems to have bit off a bit more than he can chew with this album. The production is much bigger than his vision, and his writing has greatly suffered because of it. If you’re a fan of the band, you’ll find the album entertaining, but you certainly won’t like it as much as their previous efforts. It’s a shame to see such great production and engineering go to waste on mediocre music. For Jared’s sake, I know he’s been having a lot of money troubles so I hope this helps him, but I’m only giving this album a 2 out of 5. It’s not something I have much interest in listening to ever again.