Coldplay "Viva La Vida" Review
****/***** 4 out of 5 stars
I really need start reviewing some more bad music. For Coldplay’s fourth album, Chris Martin and co. have brought something fresh to their sound. A newfound maturity that will lift their status from being just another powerful love song providing pop band, to a serious, respectable outlet. With the help of Brian Eno, Coldplay have managed to create their most intricate, intelligent, and political (really?) album yet. The album opens with “Life in Technicolor,” and ends on the same sweet synthy musical piece which acts sort of as a prologue/epilogue would to a literature selection, introducing conceptual ideas that are all connected rather then various pieces of music that flow together, but never interact. ”Viva La Vida” presents international music into the spectrum, creating an actual world album, while still not deterring from their much desired (and achieved) arena rock status. With “Lost!” the band create a grooveable, beat driven setting through constant claps that coincide with the drumming rhythm.
Many have said that Coldplay have never sounded more like U2 at any points in their lives then now which I do somewhat see, but this album to me screams Arcade Fire. From the organ in “Lost!” to the anthematic “Viva La Vida,” a hint of the high achieving Canadian rockers is clearly an underlying element to the overall equation. On “42,” Chris Martin claims “Those who are not dead, are not dead, their just living in my head” which comparitively comes closest to the well know traditional Coldplay formula, that is until the 2 minute mark, where the tempo drastically increases, creating an unexpected staccato almost worthy of Sigur Ros. This isn’t the only time that Coldplay seemed to of pulled this trick either (also found on the 7 minute long “Yes.”) Brian Eno has mentioned recently that he has always been a fan of Prog Rock, and believes that it will soon become fashionable once again, which further justifies the prog rock template found within “Yes.”
The best song featured on the album has become their most overplayed song which is indeed “Viva La Vida.” This is it, this is Coldplay at their finest, leaving their niche in the dust. ”Viva La Vida” singlehandedly creates an atmospheric gigantism that comes close to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking for,” and “Rebellion (Lies)” but just barely falls one step short. On “Death And All His Friends,” the closing melody becomes apparent once again around the 3:35 mark, and feels as if the album is communicating with the listener, saying “thanks for coming, we know you’ll be back.” Once again, insert comparison to Sigur Ros here. The technological sounding pattern can additionally be easily visualized as background music to a scene in “Lost In Translation,” adding to the futuristic scenery of japan, while flowing harmoniously with the frustrating language barrier that was so apparent. Without Brian Eno, “Viva La Vida” could have gone in a totally different direction, but I guess that’s one thing that we will (luckily) never know.