Pros: Holds a high standard throughout entire album. Unique songwriting'n sound. Jared does a good job.
Cons: Jared could be just messing around lyrically, and most songs has the same pace.
The Bottom Line: Strong album, not only for a debut, but definitely overall, too. If you like your music to have futuristic undertones, weird lyrics and rock, this is worth buying.
gravalus's Full Review: 30 Seconds to Mars by 30 Seconds To Mars
"Capricorn" was the first song I heard by Thirty Seconds to Mars, and although I wasn't blow away or really payed any serious attention, their name still got stuck in the back of my mind, and I remember thinking that they probably named every song after a starsign or something odd along those lines.
That theory turned out wrong, but the music turned out to become positively surprising.
"Capricorn" is the opening song, and a very good one at that. I'm especially fond of when they have a sudden stop before the song culminates. It was pretty relieving for me to get done with that song early in the album, or else I would have focused on wanting to hear that one again, and this way I could find out of the following songs matched up, without wondering how it was that the single I'd heard sounded like. Of course, there was a chance that "Capricorn" was the only worthwhile song on the album, and the rest just was unimaginative mumbo jumbo.
It did turn out to be partial mumbo jumbo, but in the most imaginative and thoughtful way possible.
After getting "Capricorn" out of the way, "Edge of the Earth", "Fallen" and "Oblivion" came, and as I was hoping, all three of them were able to more or less match up with the opener. Then "Buddha for Mary" started. It faded in with a robotic introduction accompanied by some drumming,before it really punched through, and revealed the heaviest song on the entire album, before swiftly simplifying itself for the first verse, driven mainly by the drum and the bass.
The song has some interesting lyrics, and although I'm not sure if Jared Leto has just written mumbo jumbo for the heck of it, or because he feels as though he's an advanced medicin man who can intelligently bring a message to people through metaphors, I still feel it's quite wellwritten,and as the song concluded in a massive, dusty atmosphere of noise and sounds, I immediately adopted it as my favourite.
The album continues on with good songs, having a quite large number of songs that stands out, among them being the hyperdynamic "The Mission" (which always wants to make me bring out the stuff I've got bottled up inside out, through positive vibes) and "Year Zero" (Which I feel ends the album perfectly. It also has a short part after originally ending it).
Some of you may know Jared Leto from the movies he's starred in, and some of you may not.
Personally, I'm not too familiar with his career, other than not noticing him in a few movies, and hearing about him allegedly dating Britney Spears and being a typical Hollywood. In truth, I'm not really all that bothered or interested in any of that, anyway, as he does a marvellous job on TSTMs selftitled debut.
His vocals are slightly reminiscent of Maynard James Keenans, but only slightly. Fans of TooL probably would be able to recognize some parts that sounds a mighty lot like something done on one of their releases, although Jared always sounds like 'himself', not stretching his
voice more than it can take, not purposely trying to emulate someone enough to sound like he's a ripoff, but sounding like an original artist with vocal abilities.
To me that is definitely a good thing, and a skill that some vocalist doesn't seem to know of, these days.
On the music note, all is good, and I'm especially impressed by the neat offbeat drumming that each song has
Their futuristic sound doesn't quite sound like any other worldwide mainstream band, although they do sound a tad like a softer Fear Factory, with some Nu-Metal influences.
If you're familiar with Carpark North, then think them mixed with a few more droplets of hardness, and you'll have 30 Seconds to Mars, one of the strongest and most relevant bands I've heard from the mainstream scene, whos selftitled album is among the best albums this person here has heard.
Now excuse me while I go get something to eat and drink for the first time all day (Damn bloodtests), to the pulsating tunes of 30STM in my headphones.
Standout songs: "Buddha for Mary", "Edge of the Earth", "The Mission" & "Year Zero".
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