The Coldplay Album I've Been Waiting For: A Review of "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends"

10 years is a long time for a band, but time has given Coldplay both perspective and maturity. Their highly anticipated release, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, shows not only lyrical growth on the part of frontman Chris Martin, but additional musical development on the part of the entire band. They've been called "Radiohead-lite," and "U2 wanna-be's", and their earlier works are guilty of near plagerization of these influences, but thanks to the work of co-producers Brian Eno, best known for his work on U2's The Joshua Tree album, and Marcus Graves, known for his work with Arcade Fire, Coldplay has learned to pay proper respect to their influences while sounding like their own band. In fact, after their disappointing effort on X & Y, which succeeded more due to marketing hype than musical prowess, Viva la Vida hails as the Coldplay album the world has been waiting for.

The ambient opener, "Life in Technicolor," and hidden track at the end of the record, "The Escapist," serve to set the album apart from the band's first three works by immediately showing off the band's new artistic and musical direction. The album isn't quite as avante-garde as the band hopes it comes across, but the work does push pop music in a progressive and promising direction. The anthemic vibes from the church organ in "Lost!" and the string-dominant title track, "Viva la Vida," display a different side of the band, a side that isn't afraid to let go of it's old tricks and crutches. The absence of repetative drum beats and piano lines is filled by hand-claps, bass drums, and intelligent lyrical writing. "42," "Lovers in Japan," and "Violet Hill," give Martin a chance to show that he learned a lesson about using the piano as a textural instrument instead of as the main driver of the song, and the band no longer sounds like four separate players, but a distinctive unit.

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends proves itself to be a step in the right direction for one of the world's most commerically successful musical acts. As with their previous release, Coldplay assaulted the market with aggressive advertising, a free download of their first single, "Violet Hill," and an iTunes commercial. This time around, however, this critic was not disappointed and hopes that the band will continue to head keep putting their best foot forward.

To read what other critics are saying:

RollingStone.com
WashingtonPost.com
The Wall Street Journal

(originally posted on 6/17/08)