My Amazon Reviews: 30 Seconds To Mars "This Is War"

Battle Anthems - 4 Out of 5 Stars 

For their 3rd album, 30 Seconds To Marswant you to know that they're deep. They've got big thoughts. They're serious thinkers. They are epic. You will pump your fists. You'll feel liberated. Get on board, brothers and sisters, The Revolution will be digitized. Lights, fog machine, action! Drama! Get on your feet! Lift those cell-phones in the air and light up the stadium, concert goers!

"This Is War" is Jared Leto's big statement. There's plenty of rising up to be done here, with victory, faith, and railing against the

oppressors. Youthful choirs raise hopefully from song after song, with militaristic beats propelling Leto as he goes from whispers to screams. The music itself follows suit, with crashing, anthemic guitars blasting through barricades like U2 hadn't been invented yet. Lead single "Kings and Queens" is a penultimate radio record, all meat and huge hooks, utterly destroying any chance of you noticing how derivative the song itself is. Same with "Night Of The Hunter," "Stranger In A Strange Land" and the title track.

That pretty much describes "This Is War" overall. Like any good actor, Leto knows his moves and his music is both crowd pleasing and widescreening. Heck, I could imagine this being played under the visuals for "Avatar," or even some sci-fi cheese like "Starship Troopers" The big, emotive roar that is 30 Seconds to Mars - and worked so well on A Beautiful Lie- is still in full effect here, and "This Is War" is a really ambitious sounding album. However, the constant battle-cries that push this album to nearly an hour's running time eventually weigh it down, and when you compare it to the similarly themed Muse CD The Resistance, "This Is War" ultimately comes up short.