30 Seconds To Mars, hailing from Southern California released their debut album in late summer of 2002, introducing audiences to their world of what many referred to as “space-rock”. Using space imagery highly metaphorically throughout each track, 30STM earned a name for themselves touring with many well-known acts such as Incubus (I actually picked up their album to check them out about a month before I was seeing them with Incubus in Detroit.)
30STM’s front man, Jared Leto, may appear familiar to you, and there is a good chance you have seen him up on the silver screen many times as he acted in films such as Fight Club and Requiem For A Dream. Some may be turned off by albums sung by actors turned musicians (I mean honestly, who the hell gave William Shatner a record deal?!), but Leto’s voice really delivers and flows wonderfully with the music.
Now in August of 2005, 30 Seconds To Mars has released their follow up album, A Beautiful Lie. For those who have heard the old album, you will notice that 30STM has matured a great deal in between the two albums. It isn’t quite as heavy but new guitarist Tomo Milicevic (who was actually a huge fan of the band before they auditioned him to replace Solon Bixler) still delivers power and melodic riffs that paint a broad stage for the album. But enough of this, lets break down the album
30 Seconds To Mars is:
Jared Leto- vocals and guitar
Tomo Milicevic - guitarist
Matt Wachter- bassist
Shannon Leto- drummer
A BEAUTIFUL LIE:
1. I’ll Attack – The first song, the first single, and deservingly so. One of the heavier songs on the album, I’ll Attack features a haunting main riff with a breathtaking chorus. The first thing I noticed was that Leto has defiantly improved his vocals and has a nice scream bridging you from the verse to chorus. Well done. 5/5
2. A Beautiful Lie – Creepy soft piano into takes us into a more melodic song. This is the title track and is about the lies we live in that, however beautiful, don’t actually achieve us anything. Once again, great chorus. Very soft bridge and the song fades out with the piano from the intro. Great song. 4.5/5
3. The Kill – This is my favorite track from the album. Very tormented lyrics “come break me down, marry me, bury me”; so much emotion is running through the chorus. The definite highlight of this song is the bridge where Leto lets out a bloodcurdling scream “This is who I really am!” A perfect song for heartbreak. 5/5
4. Was It A Dream? – Very soft and melodic. I really like the sound of Jared Leto’s voice in the verses, and builds to a nice chorus. Very haunting, heart broken song. 3/5
5. The Fantasy – The bass intro is pretty tight sounding, and a nice guitar riff accompanies it. Once again, the chorus is great and this song is full of tension. Reminds me a bit more of the older album, especially with the shouting as the chorus kicks in. The song quiets out for the bridge with some cool drum fills and soft lyrics over clean guitar. The last chorus is quite rocking and ends very nicely. 4/5
6. Savior – More along the lines of the first album. This song is louder than most, and still relatively melodic. Once again, the bridge gets quieter and features some piano. Good song, nothing too special however. 3/5
7. From Yesterday – The beginning of this song actually reminds me of U2 a lot. Leto sings a story about a boy who “can’t get enough of the world” and wants to see it all. I really enjoy the lyrics and the chorus is rather uplifting and soaring. The bridge to this song is awesome, breaks into with Leto screaming, and features a great guitar riff. The drumming nicely brings us back into the final chorus. Great finale to the song. 4.5/5
8. The Story – Probably the softest song on the album. Sound effects softly take you into a nice ghostly riff which builds to a slow melodic chorus. This song is Leto’s take on his own life and finding himself, the lyrics are very well written “I swear to God I’ll find myself in the end.” The bridge is has a great melodic guitar riff laced with a lot of phaser effects. 3.5/5
9. R-Evolve – Another good melodic track. Good solid verse and chorus leading up to a great ending where it finally begins to really rock out. I really enjoy the chorus with the airy guitar and the solid drumming. Not quite as soft as some tracks, but still not entirely heavy. Worth a good lesson 4/5
10. A Modern Myth – As the finale to the album 30 Seconds to Mars give us a beautiful, ghostly acoustic piece. The violins are a nice touch, but I wouldn’t have minded it being straight acoustic. Leto’s voice is soft and haunting but powerfully delivers at the end when he repeats Goodbye over and over. Very well done song. 5/5
If you were lucky enough to pick up the special edition of this album, it included two bonus tracks. Here are those.
11. Battle Of One – What a song. The drums kick it in and you immediately know it is going to rock you hard. After a sweet few seconds of drums, a thick heavy bass riff enters and the song kicks off. The lyrics are sparse but driving, and the guitar is great. The lead guitar in the chorus sounds amazing adding in a bit of Wah. The bridge drops down to the bass and what sounds like an alarm from a submarine echoing before it kicks back in. One of my favorite songs they’ve ever done 5/5
12. The Hunter – This is a cover of a Bjork song, kind of a cool idea. The techno sound is pretty cool and the drum machine sounds great. Leto actually does a good male representation of how Bjork sings. The lyrics are odd, but hell it’s Bjork. Well done song, but your own opinion will probably be based on if you like Bjork or not. 4/5
So thats A Beautiful Lie. Very melodic and beautiful. A much more matured version of 30 Seconds To Mars then the self-titled album. Not as heavy, but still good. 4/5
Reocmended Tracks:
Attack
The Kill
From Yesterday
Battle Of One
