By Alex Useman

Going into this album, I had only a vague idea of what I was getting myself into. 30 Seconds to Mars newest album, “This is War” is, by far, their best album. “This is War” is the bands third studio album and it delivers raw emotions and hard-hitting melodies.  When listening to the album don’t expect the sound to closely follow the sound of their last album “A Beautiful Lie.” They have taken a new direction with their sound that’s dark yet uplifting and poppy yet hard-hitting.

The band, despite having issues with Virgin Records and it showing in their latest album, did their best to channel the frustration and suffering into songs of hope, optimism and strength.

Their single that is burning up the airwaves is “Kings and Queens.” A song that is a bit different than their previous singles but demonstrates where the bands direction is going and what they are capable of.

“Kings and Queens” starts out with a soft piano melody and instantly picks up as the drum kicks in. The intensity of the song subsides as Jared Leto’s voice enters sings the verse and once the chorus hits, the entire band explodes into a beautiful assortment of instrumentation, choric background vocals, and Leto’s soaring voice. When the bridge begins, the storm of the song seems to subside and what is left is Leto’s voice ringing out “The age of man is over/The darkness comes and all/These lessons that we have learned here/Have only just begun” and through the bridge, there is an intense build up which leads into the final chorus.

Other mentionable songs on the album include: “Night of the Hunter,” “Closer to the Edge,” “A Call to Arms” and “Hurricane.” In the original version of “Hurricane” there are two artists featured, Brandon Flowers, of the Killers, on keyboard and Kanye West as background vocals.  The song has many enjoyable aspects form the simple yet elegant keyboard sections, techno/electronica sections, the auto-tuned rap sections, Leto’s ascending voice singing “Do you really want me?/Do you really want me?/Do you really want me dead or alive to live alone?”

The direction of the band is turning it into the kind of music you can listen to with your eyes closed and see the sun rise; the kind of music you blast with the car’s windows rolled down; the kind of music that brings hope for no other reason that just listening to it in the background. They have moved on from their previous style and evolved into something, which I think, that they have wanted to be all along. Above all, this album gives you chills from its first notes.