Saturday, December 26, 2009

Kings & Queens



I am close to officially desiring this new album (This Is War) from 30 Seconds to Mars, whose last album (A Beautiful Lie) was just okay. Jared Leto often falls flat lyrically, but this anthemic sing-along summit of sound and force is a high point of inspiration for him and his band. This song is both balanced and epic, with driven, steadily built verses (pay attention to drummer and Leto brother Shannon's thumping and hi-hatting on the first and second respectively and to the complementary string section on the second) that rise into a soaring, glorifying chorus. The video is an equally powerful visual component to this (very well-produced, compliments of Steve Lillywhite and Flood) communal hymn; I wish I'd gotten to join that cast of characters riding my bike from LA to Santa Monica. When the dreamy-eyed Leto (who demonstrates his incredible range in this track) declares "the age of man is over," the hairs on the back of your neck just might stand straight up, and 5:00 onwards is one long goosebump-inducing choral send off.  I used to spend hours in my basement trying to write a song like this one.  Unfortunately I didn't have a band or great ability, and the sounds remained in my head.  They sounded sort of like "Kings & Queens."


Step into the rain: secondrain.blogspot.com

3 comments:

  1. This song is steadily growing on me. I had no idea Jared Leto had a band! This would be a good song to drive to, preferably in the Z4 with the top down.

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  3. I wrote an Industrial Revolution /Conquest /Age of Empire /Revelation poem once. I don't know where it went, though.

    Anyway, the visual imagery is beyond amazing (especially the white horse, the city setting, and all the fire). I know less about the musical intricacies, but they definitely seem amazing as well. At the very least, this song is an iTunes buy. For sure.

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