Thursday 10 May 2018

Album Review: THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS - America

Thirty Seconds To Mars - America

01. Walk On Water
02. Dangerous Night
03. Rescue Me
04. One Track Mind (feat. A$AP Rocky)
05. Monolith
06. Love Is Madness (feat. Halsey)
07. Great Wide Open
08. Hail To The Victor
09. Dawn Will Rise
10. Remedy
11. Live Like A Dream
12. Rider


Hollywood actor Jared Leto and his band have always been a pretentious bunch, but I've turned a blind eye to their more irritating qualities because they've always been so good at what they do. Earlier tracks like The Kill, Attack, and Night of the Hunter are all solid gold and have found their way onto my car stereo many times. However, over the last couple of records, we've heard them move further away from the world of Rock and Metal, and more towards the realms of Pop and Electronica. The crossover of styles always worked well, and they really have produced some amazing songs over the years.

Unfortunately, America sees the band, if you can even call them a band anymore, become completely Pop. I'm not convinced that there are any guitars, drums or real instruments on this album at all! Linkin Park made the same move with their last record, but I think that Thirty Seconds To Mars are more likely to get away with this transition due to Jared's mainstream celebrity factor, and also because they have written better Pop songs.

I recently heard the single Dangerous Night when I was at the hairdressers and was being subjected to the local godawful radio station. The song was sandwiched in between Drake and Rihanna and fitted in seamlessly. That says it all really!

America isn't a bad album. To be honest, I quite like a bit of Pop music now and again. It just feels so contrived, as though Jared has conquered the Rock scene and knows that the band can get even bigger by making a record targeted at the mainstream. It even has 'millennial whoops' (Google it!). It's easy to see why plenty of the older fans feel a little betrayed by this. I even have a friend who saw the band in Germany recently and he is sure that everything apart from the lead vocals were on a backing tape. These shenanigans are expected in the Pop scene, but cause a huge loss of credibility within Rock circles. Considering how much they charge for a ticket these days, rightly so! I doubt Jared gives a fuck as his band will blatantly get even bigger with America.

There are some bands that I need to walk away from, and Thirty Seconds To Mars is sadly the latest one. This self-important, commercial Hipster-Pop just isn't for me. Oh, and that album cover isn't clever or an interesting piece of art. It's fucking crap.

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