After quietly selling more than a million copies of their last record, Thirty Seconds To Mars return with a collection of 12 new tracks. If there was one word to sum the record up, it would be epic. The group is clearly aiming for a massive sounding record, adding layers of keyboards, guitars, children’s choirs and vocals to the point of almost being too ambitious.
Ironically, some of the best songs on the record are those where they seemingly relax and let the music guide them rather than the other way around. Even though those moments aren’t too plentiful, This Is War exemplifies this, as does Search and Destroy.
Otherwise though, you can’t help but think that James Brown might have summed up this record best with one of his song titles without even knowing it: talking loud and saying nothing.