Coldplay Disappoints

Viva La Vida could be better

A few months ago, I wrote an article on the upcoming Coldplay release with eager anticipation. I expected the album to be quite good given the wide range of influences the band was pursuing. The new album, Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends fell far short of that. This albums shows, once again, how far Coldplay is straying from the style they developed with Parachutes. It’s not that I want all bands to sound the same or that I’m against them developing new styles. I’m very much for it. However, with Parachutes, Coldplay’s debut album, sounded dark and melancholy, and quite original. It had a lot of potential and talent. Even their sophomore album, A Rush of Blood To The Head was for the most part, exciting and fresh. To say the least, the band has turned to a direction which I particularly don’t like.

The new album, kind of like X&Y, overuses studio production techniques. Instead of stripping it down to the bare instruments and the space that Parachutes portrayed, they over-synth it. Besides that, the melodies and rhythms themselves seem a bit recycled. “Violet Hill” reminds me of a couple other Coldplay songs I’ve already heard and I guess I’m just waiting for something new. Maybe they could make their lyrics more interesting also. In the song “Yes,” Martin sings: “God only god knows I’m trying my best. But I’m just so tired of this loneliness.”

It’s not that the album is awful in its entirety. It’s just that I expected more from this band. Maybe next time they might release something a bit more fresh.