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Track List
01) Escape
02) Night of the Hunter
03) Kings and Queens
04) This Is War
05) 100 Suns
06) Hurricane
07) Closer to the Edge
08) Vox Populi
09) Search and Destroy
10) Alibi
11) Stranger in a Strange Land
12) L490
01) Escape
02) Night of the Hunter
03) Kings and Queens
04) This Is War
05) 100 Suns
06) Hurricane
07) Closer to the Edge
08) Vox Populi
09) Search and Destroy
10) Alibi
11) Stranger in a Strange Land
12) L490
2:23
5:40
5:47
5:27
1:58
6:12
4:33
5:42
5:38
5:59
6:54
4:26
Data Complete
80%
Total Rating
80%Total Rating
(0 users)
Back Cover
CD Art
3D Case
3D Thumb
3D Flat
3D Face
3D Spine
First Released
2009
Alternative Rock
Epic
Rock/Pop
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Album
1,500,000 copies
Album Description
Available in:
This Is War is the third studio album by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, released through Virgin Records and EMI on December 8, 2009. Upon its release, it peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200.
30 Seconds to Mars were sued for breach-of-contract by their record label, Virgin Records, in mid-2008. The label sought $30 million in damages, claiming that the band had failed to produce three of the five records they were obligated to deliver under their 1999 contract with the now-defunct Immortal Records. In 2004, Virgin took over the contract. Leto responded to some of the claims in the suit on the band's website and was coerced into dismissing rumors that the group had disbanded. He said the claims were "ridiculously overblown" and "totally unrealistic", before stating "under California law, where we live and signed our deal, one cannot be bound to a contract for more than seven years." 30 Seconds to Mars had been contracted for nine years, so the band decided to exercise their "legal right to terminate our old, out-of-date contract, which according to the law is null and void."
After nearly a year of the lawsuit battle, the band announced on April 29, 2009, that the case had been settled. The suit was resolved following a defence based on a contract case involving actress Olivia de Havilland decades before. Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with Warner Bros." 30 Seconds to Mars then decided to re-sign with EMI (the parent label of Virgin). Leto said the band had "resolved our differences with EMI" and the decision had been made because of "the willingness and enthusiasm by EMI to address our major concerns and issues, (and) the opportunity to return to work with a team so committed and passionate about Thirty Seconds to Mars". He said it was "the most challenging business obstacle that we've ever gone through as a band."
Upon completion of the record, Leto spoke of the troubles the band faced whilst working on This Is War; "We spent two years of our lives working on that record, and it was us against the world... There were times that it was overwhelming. Everything that was going on was brutal... It was a case of survival, to tell the truth."
User Album Review
The stage is certainly set for a comeback. Anyone who’s not part of the swooning fanbase 30 Seconds to Mars gained with their 2005 multi-platinum sophomore effort, A Beautiful Lie, is just as likely be aware of the band’s high-profile falling out with their label for non-payment of royalties and subsequent re-signing to them as they are their music.
As it happens, the episode ”“ turmoil, followed by a slightly flat resolution ”“ handily foreshadows This Is War. It’s an album that should roar into life and bristle with righteous indignation, but instead perpetually plays it safe and consolidates the status quo.
The slow building intro of Escape is a dawdling set up for frontman Jared Leto’s breathy, nondescript vocals to be overtaken by a choir of their fans bellowing the album title in a compressed, overproduced delivery that robs it of any urgency. The seed of their angst has been planted, but it quickly sounds played out and affected.
The squelching electro-pop of first track proper Night of the Hunter comes with more gang vocals, which appear throughout like units neatly dropping off a production line. Lyrics as hackneyed and tautological as its refrain ”“ “Honest to God I will break your heart / Tear you to pieces and rip you apart” ”“ immediately start opening cracks along the thin ice on which they perform their pirouettes.
Elsewhere, the sheen of leadoff single Kings and Queens can’t disguise that it’s a song about the end of humanity that sounds anything but apocalyptic. Several tracks later, on Vox Populi, we’re still getting the ‘include the fans’ sleight of hand underpinning vague angst that reverberates so much there’s no room for any substance, just a stomp-stomp-clap motif that sounds hastily borrowed from Queen’s We Will Rock You.
People who want more of the same will enjoy the bittersweet, saccharine rush of their quiet-loud-quiet delivery as it pops up in blockbuster movies where everything turns out alright in the end, but taken as a whole This Is War sounds like its creators have tried to create a sense of drama and failed, dramatically.
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments
Available in:
This Is War is the third studio album by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, released through Virgin Records and EMI on December 8, 2009. Upon its release, it peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200.
30 Seconds to Mars were sued for breach-of-contract by their record label, Virgin Records, in mid-2008. The label sought $30 million in damages, claiming that the band had failed to produce three of the five records they were obligated to deliver under their 1999 contract with the now-defunct Immortal Records. In 2004, Virgin took over the contract. Leto responded to some of the claims in the suit on the band's website and was coerced into dismissing rumors that the group had disbanded. He said the claims were "ridiculously overblown" and "totally unrealistic", before stating "under California law, where we live and signed our deal, one cannot be bound to a contract for more than seven years." 30 Seconds to Mars had been contracted for nine years, so the band decided to exercise their "legal right to terminate our old, out-of-date contract, which according to the law is null and void."
After nearly a year of the lawsuit battle, the band announced on April 29, 2009, that the case had been settled. The suit was resolved following a defence based on a contract case involving actress Olivia de Havilland decades before. Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with Warner Bros." 30 Seconds to Mars then decided to re-sign with EMI (the parent label of Virgin). Leto said the band had "resolved our differences with EMI" and the decision had been made because of "the willingness and enthusiasm by EMI to address our major concerns and issues, (and) the opportunity to return to work with a team so committed and passionate about Thirty Seconds to Mars". He said it was "the most challenging business obstacle that we've ever gone through as a band."
Upon completion of the record, Leto spoke of the troubles the band faced whilst working on This Is War; "We spent two years of our lives working on that record, and it was us against the world... There were times that it was overwhelming. Everything that was going on was brutal... It was a case of survival, to tell the truth."
User Album Review
The stage is certainly set for a comeback. Anyone who’s not part of the swooning fanbase 30 Seconds to Mars gained with their 2005 multi-platinum sophomore effort, A Beautiful Lie, is just as likely be aware of the band’s high-profile falling out with their label for non-payment of royalties and subsequent re-signing to them as they are their music.
As it happens, the episode ”“ turmoil, followed by a slightly flat resolution ”“ handily foreshadows This Is War. It’s an album that should roar into life and bristle with righteous indignation, but instead perpetually plays it safe and consolidates the status quo.
The slow building intro of Escape is a dawdling set up for frontman Jared Leto’s breathy, nondescript vocals to be overtaken by a choir of their fans bellowing the album title in a compressed, overproduced delivery that robs it of any urgency. The seed of their angst has been planted, but it quickly sounds played out and affected.
The squelching electro-pop of first track proper Night of the Hunter comes with more gang vocals, which appear throughout like units neatly dropping off a production line. Lyrics as hackneyed and tautological as its refrain ”“ “Honest to God I will break your heart / Tear you to pieces and rip you apart” ”“ immediately start opening cracks along the thin ice on which they perform their pirouettes.
Elsewhere, the sheen of leadoff single Kings and Queens can’t disguise that it’s a song about the end of humanity that sounds anything but apocalyptic. Several tracks later, on Vox Populi, we’re still getting the ‘include the fans’ sleight of hand underpinning vague angst that reverberates so much there’s no room for any substance, just a stomp-stomp-clap motif that sounds hastily borrowed from Queen’s We Will Rock You.
People who want more of the same will enjoy the bittersweet, saccharine rush of their quiet-loud-quiet delivery as it pops up in blockbuster movies where everything turns out alright in the end, but taken as a whole This Is War sounds like its creators have tried to create a sense of drama and failed, dramatically.
External Album Reviews
None...
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