Coldplay – Viva La Vida

Capitol 2008

Rating: 8/10

With Viva La Vida, Coldplay have finally realized the potential that A Rush of Blood to the Head promised and X&Y obscured in a haze of vapid soft rock. Chris Martin and Co. have always tried to be the next “important” rock band, and with a little push in the right direction courtesy of producer Brian Eno, they might have just hit the gold mine.

The album starts out with an instrumental, “Life In Technicolor,” already a strange move for the usually verbose band. The song sounds curiously washed-out, but the guitars chime in all the right places and this minor opener, which almost seems like a throwaway at first glance, turns into something nearly epic. Martin’s distinctive voice immediately comes in on following “Cemeteries of London,” and everything seems in order until roughly a minute in the drums erupt and the guitar ups the ante along with the distortion. And what do you know: it works.

“Lost!” finds Martin in standard melancholic form, but the tribal beat underneath and squealing guitar halfway through announce that, finally, Coldplay has grown beyond the same old marching, piano-heavy mega-hits that “Speed of Sound” epitomized. Coldplay are trying out new things, and it has never sounded better.

Martin seems to have grown up as well, reining in some of the more wailing tendencies of his voice and keeping it, for the most part, within a lower register than the falsetto that was previously beginning to grate. Ridiculously successful single “Vida La Vida” is a great example of the old merging with the new; at first glance, it is the most similar to previous Coldplay hits, anthemic and self-consciously majestic, but Martin sounds desperate and nostalgic, with lyrics that seemed to have come straight out of a medieval tale. The pulsating strings and orchestral timpani lend the track an appropriately grand flavor without mellowing into the bombastic balladry of old.

“Violet Hill” is even better, making a case for best song on the record with a pounding drumbeat and a buzzing, angry guitar groaning to escape, but it’s Martin’s inspired, lovelorn vocals that make the track.

From the arching Middle-Eastern strings on “Yes” to the gentle sitar-esque guitar line on “Strawberry String,” Coldplay have never sounded as adventurous as they do on Viva La Vida. If there’s anything wrong with this record, it’s the band’s decision to squeeze disparate tracks together, like the My Bloody Valentine homage tagged onto the end of “Yes” that sounds nothing like anything before it. “Lovers in Japan – Reign of Love,” another two-parter, fails simply because neither section is strong enough to stand up on its own, the former lost in too many waves of sound and the latter a fairly mediocre piano torch song. Along with the completely unnecessary “hidden” track, “The Escapist,” which is essentially a retread of “Life In Technicolor” with vocals, it’s one of only a few missteps on the album.

From the triumphant, hand-clap-heavy climax of “42” to the jarring string work on “Yes” that stays with you long after the track is over, it’s obvious that Coldplay have made something fresh and exciting. Viva La Vida is not perfect, and it’s certainly not going to be the defining statement from the important rock band of the decade, but it makes a good case for maintaining Coldplay’s relevance and proves that even Britain’s most ordinary band can still throw a couple worthwhile curveballs.

Comments are closed