Viva La Vida Is Here
Posted: 3 November 2008
British rock band Coldplay return with their fourth studio album titled “Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends” (Viva La Vida for short), released in mid June 2008. Frontsman Chris Martin had mentioned in interviews that he would compromise his trademark falsetto for a lower pitch in this album, and that is quite evident from most of the tracks.
The track that caught my ear the most is the title track and second single from the album. Viva La Vida begins with a rich string ensemble that permeates throughout, and coupled with Chris Martin's warm voice, lends to quite an interesting listen. The track also features quite visual lyrics: “For some reason I can't explain / I know Saint Peter will call my name / Never an honest word / But that was when I ruled the world”, as if reliving the times of an era gone by. If you've just got the album, make sure this is the first song you listen to.
The next best track is Violet Hill, actually the first single from the album. It's more rough, featuring a catchy guitar riff at the middle and carries a strong anti-war message. The video is quite hilarious though, and has received a lot of video airtime on VH1.
Lost! is another great song that sounded more like a UB40 track to me. Death And All His Friends begins with peaceful piano accompaniment and then grows into a saturated uptempo piano rock ballad: classic Coldplay. It also contains a hidden track, The Escapist. An interesting track is Cemeteries Of London, which features a 6/8 time measure, something I've never heard on any Coldplay album.
The other tracks are okay, I would say; if you're an avid listener of the band's music: the album's intro, Life In Technicolor, is an instrumental track that has an oriental sound to it. The third track, 42, is a another two-faced track: a sleepy beginning and then an explosive rock sound with obscure guitar riffs. Lovers In Japan is the liveliest track on the album and contains the second hidden track, Reign Of Love. Yes has a Middle Eastern flavor to it and features Martin singing atleast two octaves lower than his normal pitch. Finally, Strawberry Swing, is passable; a guitar-centric track that seems to push Martin's vocals to the background.
The majority of tracks on the album gave me the impression that Coldplay are exploring new musical territories, the tracks are not exactly the piano rock type that the band has built its worldwide fan base on. The band's website coldplay.com, has stated that a lot of the music was recorded in churches in Latin America and this gave rise to the Hispanic influences on many of the tracks. Nonetheless, in my opinion, the album is another very solid release from the English band. As of June 15 2008, it has already sold over 302,000 copies — making it "one of the fastest-selling records in history”: a must-buy for Coldplay fans. If you've never heard Coldplay before, follow the sequence of tracks reviewed above and the album will surely make a Coldplay fan out of you yet!
