Review: Thirty Seconds to Mars - This Is War

Thirty Seconds to Mars’ newest album title – This Is War – is more than a just a reference to the band’s personal battles, a commentary on global crises and economic turmoil and homage to their now infamous $30,000,000 lawsuit with Virgin Records. This Is War also represents the result of an 18-month creative battle, fought ferociously, but privately, inside a studio built into the side of a house tucked away in the Hollywood Hills. The result: a triumphant, sonically epic game-changer that builds on the vision laid out in their 2002 self-titled debut and 2005’s multi-platinum A Beautiful Lie.


This Is War is a major leap forward for Thirty Seconds to Mars, one that cements the trio (lead singer and guitarist Jared Leto, drummer Shannon Leto and guitarist Tomo Milicevic) as a world-class arena-crushing rock band. The L.A. Times calls This Is War “combative…sinister…the most confident-sounding thing the band has done.” Alternative Press echoes the sentiment, giving it four stars and hailing the album as “an artistic triumph for Thirty Seconds To Mars” and Kerrang! Magazine agrees, calling it the band’s “strongest and most accomplished work to date.”

I love music.  I don't know how I would get through life without it.  Whenever I am going through something big, I turn on the radio or pop in a CD and songs will speak to me.  They have a way of making me feel like I'm not alone and they are able to express feelings that I can't put my finger on.  The Thirty Seconds to Mars - This Is War is one of my favorites because the lyrics have meaning and you can feel the songs coursing through your veins. "Closer to the Edge" makes me want to cry every time I hear it and when a song can cause you to feel things you didn't even know you could feel, you know that you've found a piece of timeless art. I absolutely love this CD!

Tracklisting:
CD
1. Escape
2. Night of the Hunter
3. Kings and Queens
4. This is War
5. 100 Suns
6. Hurricane
7. Closer to the Edge
8. Vox Populi
9. Search and Destroy
10. Alibi
11. Stranger in a Strange Land
12. L490

Bonus Audio Content on CD:
Hurricane feat. Kanye West
Bad Romance - BBC Live Version
Stronger - BBC Live Version

DVD:
Closer To The Edge
Kings & Queens
Making of Kings and Queens
Into the Wild EPK
Behind the Summit
War is Coming spots
Photo Gallery




MARS FACTS:

• Thirty Seconds to Mars have sold more than 3.5 million albums worldwide.
• The band was formed by Jared and Shannon Leto and signed in 1998 to Virgin Records.
• Their videos have been viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube.
• The video for A Beautiful Lie’s title track and fourth single took the band 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
• “From Yesterday” was the first American music video ever shot in the People’s Republic of China.
• Thirty Seconds to Mars have won numerous awards and accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV EMA’s, MTV Latin, Asia and Australia Awards, a Fuse Award, and three Kerrang! Awards.
• Thirty Seconds to Mars now boasts nearly 42 million plays on MySpace and more than one million fans on iLike/Facebook.
• A Beautiful Lie produced two Top 5 Modern Rock singles in “From Yesterday” and “The Kill”
• “The Kill” set a record for the longest-running hit in the history of Modern Rock radio when it remained on the national airplay chart for more than 50 weeks following its No. 3 peak in 2006.
• www.abeautifullie.org was created as a bulletin board for educating the public on environmental issues and instructing on how and where to take action.
• The band have played nearly 500 shows around the globe since the 2005 release of A Beautiful Lie, including festival performances at Lollapalooza in the U.S., Pinkpop in the Netherlands, Download and Give It a Name Festivals in the U.K., Germany’s Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park and Japan’s Summer Sonic.

Check out Thirty Seconds to Mars online:

Website
Twitter
Myspace
YouTube

Disclosure:  I received this product for free.  All opinions are my own.