Surprised the thread hadn't been made already, so let's get the ball rolling.

 

30 Seconds to Mars are releasing their anticipated fourth studio album later this year, following a rather successful era in 2009-2010 (including "Kings and Queens" [#28], "This is War" [#51] and "Closer to the Edge" [#44]).

 

Lead single, "Up In the Air", will première tonight on Zane Lowe's show (assuming it's the Hottest Record, so 19.30). Will be released shortly afterwards I'll assume too - reckon it could score them their first T20 - the fanbase/demand is certainly there. Plus, given the recent success of Fall Out Boy's comeback track, I think the band are in for some high peaks this era.

Bit messy on first listen but then again I said the same about "Runaways" last year and that ended up being a bit of a keeper to say the least.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/30_STM_-_Love_Lust_Faith_+_Dreams.jpeg

 

On second listen this is a bit awesome. Not "Kings and Queens" awesome, but that was always going to be difficult to top. Not sold on the album title though.

A month after release, my thoughts on UITA can be summarised in two words:

 

DAT RIFF.

 

Seriously, the opening riff is crazy addictive. I kind of wish they'd based the song more on that and less on the gang vocals that are becoming a bit clichéd if you listened to This Is War all the way through as often as I did. Still, it's not far behind "Closer to the Edge" in my affections and it's still growing. Considerable hype over the video so I don't think we've seen it peak yet. I hope not anyway, would be a bit of a duff start to the campaign if the lead single missed the top 40.

Speaking of which.

 

 

ZEBRAS