There's a scene in Artifact with Shannon playing "Convergence" on this xylophone (or a similar instrument). I thought that scene really interesting considering you'd normally think this sort of sound was produced with a computer.
I think LLF+D is one of their best records to date. The feelings they capture in the songs make me feel good. I like that.
From what I've heard from 30STM's music so far, LLF+D is by far their most unique. A lot of their material (specifically the first album) is so generic it hurts, and sounds incredibly dated. I am in no way a big fan/expert though. This is just an outside perspective.
30STM and A Beautiful Lie are absolutely terrible. Very little standouts on both. I only know one person that loves their whole discography, other than that its all positive feedback on This Is War and LLF+D.
I used to be a pretty huge fan of the band (you can even check this very thread for proof of my fan boy-ish comments) but now my opinion has changed quite a bit. Each album is about as average as the next; nothing special in any of them while each is as decent as the next. ABL and TIW had some cohesive thoughts to their sound, but the band just can't write music for shit. There's always something poorly done with a 30STM album As well, seeing them live at the Carnivores tour made me dislike them even more. None of the band members (except maybe Shannon Leto) really exceeded in doing what they were doing. Jared was just a bad frontman and Tomo stood in the same spot and played the songs as they had to be played with no enthusiasm.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention the sappy, optimistic vibe of the album which is completely different from the dark moods of all their other albums, and makes me cringe on a regular basis when I listen to it, although I listen to it very rarely.
Instrumentally, Up in the Air, Conquistador, The Race and Northern Lights, are genius tracks, which I genuinely love. The rest. Meh.
I thought Jared was a good front man. He did a really good job of making their performance interactive. Their performance was one of the most surprisingly fun experiences that I've ever had at a concert. The confetti and balloons made me feel like a kid again.
30 Seconds to Mars has this abstract, spacey vibe that I love. It's a very mysterious album, and also has yet to be beaten in terms of heaviness. A Beautiful Lie is way more accessible, but not at the cost of quality. It's much more stripped down and has a vibe completely of its own. This Is War combines the qualities of the debut with the accessibility of A Beautiful Lie with epic results. LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS is a concept album like the previous ones, having a much lighter atmosphere as opposed to the dark thematic matter of its predecessors, but is extremely dumbed down by its lyrics, and the repeated use of crowd vocals from This Is War hints at a lack of creativity. I'm not over 30 Seconds to Mars. I'm not done with this band, and I believe I've said this before in this very thread, but I'll say it again: in an interview following the release of LLF+D, Jared asserted that the band will never make the same album again. The reason that intrigues me is that they truly haven't done that so far, unlike so many bands. Not that it's a bad thing to do, but somehow I really appreciate not doing that. As much as some people say LLF+D is similar to TIW, the albums leave completely different impressions on me. The former I rather dislike, while the latter I love. That's why I'm looking forward to what 30stm will do next; hopefully it's a 180° like the transition from the debut to the sophomore album was.
I'd love another album like This Is War, in the sense that it blows over all the other albums, because of how much it deviates from the status quo of the time. That's a big reason why Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams could never achieve the same amount of awesomeness that This Is War did, because, to simply put it, it was just another electronic / alternative rock album and borrowed too much from it's predecessor. That's not to say I don't love Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, just as much as I love A Beautiful Lie despite it's very own similarities to their debut. It's just that it would be awesome if Thirty Seconds to Mars did something completely different once again. EDIT: Could a moderator change the thread title to simply "Thirty Seconds to Mars"? I think it would be logical at this point.
I hold the opposite opinion. He wasn't really that great of a front man in the purest sense of the word. His vocal skills were very lacking and he totally skipped 2/3 of his actual singing duties to conserve his voice. Which is nice when the whole crowd will sing for you, but it's just lazy and once you recognize it it's hard to not be annoyed by it. On the plus side, he honestly does seem to care for his fans (even though he used literally the exact same banter in both Houston and Dallas, and in all likelihood EVERY show) and being able to go up on stage during Closer to the Edge was fun as fuck.
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/30-se...t-hackney-church-london-england-63c81663.html According to the note below the setlist, Mars has already began working on the follow up to LLFD.