Review: Coldplay, "Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends"

So much has already been written about Coldplay's fourth album, the recently-released Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, but unlike most reviewers, I'm not quite big enough to receive albums ahead of release, and (usually) don't give in to the temptation to download early leaks. As a result, my verdicts tend to come in a bit later than most, especially since I like to give new records time to sink in before judging them. A few weeks isn't exactly adequate time to render a long-gestating piece of work worthy of praise or not, but it's generally enough time to articulate some key points.

That said, I've loved Coldplay for a good few years now, since their groundbreaking (and still career-best) A Rush Of Blood To The Head came out in 2002. Before they were the biggest stadium rock band in world short of U2 or the Stones, their appeal lay in their songwriting and consistent, if formulaic, melodies. Their knack for simple, catchy ballads and addictive hooks was apparent on their debut Parachutes, and developed to its fullest extent on Rush. X&Y, however, saw the formula stutter, with their trademark builds and simplicity pushed aside in favor of epic widescreen flourishes and stadium grandeur. While it had some standouts, it failed to gel as an album and didn't have the repeat listenability of its predecessor. Viva La Vida, on the other hand, works in quite the opposite way. As an album, it improves greatly on the rehashing X&Y, and the whole ends up somehow being much more than the sum of its parts.

After kicking off with an engaging instrumental, the album's first real track, "Cemeteries Of London" sets the pace for the whole record. It relies more on its melodic builds and intricacies than just purely its songwriting, which had become Coldplay's nearly-debilitating crutch. Similarly, "42" must be listened to in full to truly appreciate or even enjoy it, a fact that extends to Viva La Vida as a collective whole as well. It isn't until its long-building climax more than halfway through its duration that "42" becomes a fully-realized song. The album is arranged to fit a similar pattern, building with upbeat tracks like the jangly "Lovers In Japan" and climaxing with the soaring love-as-a-kingdom metaphor "Viva La Vida," easily two of the standouts and obvious radio singles on the record. Sure-t0-be future single "Lost!" joins them as one of the few moments that can be isolated from the whole and dubbed "classic Coldplay," though unlike the best tracks on X&Y, it doesn't rely on any of their now-tired trademarks. After the off-beat groove and dissonant finale of first single "Violet Hill" (a song which took me a while to even like), the album wraps itself up with the unremarkable "Strawberry Swing" and majestic "Death And All His Friends," containing a memorable build reminiscent of Rush's amazing closer "Amsterdam." However, while "Amsterdam" ended Rush neatly, the hidden track following "Death And All His Friends" could have just as easily come at the beginning of the record, or wedged in between tracks like some of the other instrumentals. It's as if Coldplay are subtly remarking that the end is nowhere near, in both the context of this record and their musical career. While it hasn't scaled the impressive heights of some of their past work, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends has achieved the remarkable feat of shaking off their increasingly stale formula, a great sign for their future as still-developing career artists. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they've knocked out a damn good album on their way there, too.

Coldplay, "Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love" [YSI]
Coldplay, "Death And All His Friends" [YSI]

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