Viva la Vida

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing, Roman cavalry choirs are singing

Since I'm so free now (lol!), I'll write a review on Coldplay's latest album, Viva la Vida which was released in June this year. It can be seen that Coldplay is venturing into a new zone based on the style of the album. There's a general Hispanic feel to the album given the title and also the band's new fashion front. Haha..I like Chris Martin's red and yellow cloth armband. There's politics injected into the album too and perhaps a host of other cultural mixtures. The cover of the album is taken from the French art piece of 'Liberty leading the people' which commemorates the French Revolution. So we have like music videos filmed in Italy, title in Spanish, cover art by a French..lol.

One thing about this album is that it's very unorthodox, in a sense that it uses many techniques which is not common in mainstream music. I dare say that some of the songs are breaking artistic boundaries and even more unorthodox than Muse. As such, it's not easy to accept what you just listened at the first time since it may sound weird. Even Chris Martin said that there was no lyrics in the first song since it's meant to be their safety net.

Anyways, some of the songs that are really good in there are Viva La Vida, Violet Hill, Strawberry Swing and Lovers in Japan. Viva La Vida has an anthem-like feel to it and the iTunes advert using that song is pretty cool =p. Violet Hill is THE political song in the album. I absolutely loved it and the guitar solo in it is just catchy! Violet Hill is also probably one of the rare moments where Coldplay uses heavy distortion for the electric guitar. Strawberry Swing is gentle and psychedelic which gives the listeners a tingling sensation.

If one had difficulty listening to Muse, then he/she would have a hard time listening and grabbing the concept in this album. Personally, it's quite a good album for me since its kinda artistic. Stan loves creative stuff :)

I took my love down to violet hill
There we sat in snow
All that time she was silent still
So if you love me
Won't you let me know?