30 Seconds to Mars
 

The old thread was locked because of spam so here we go.

I wanted to get some opinions on them because I'm generally torn. I only know a handful of songs and the seem like guilty pleasures to me. They have something of an atmospheric quality to them, though I wouldn't say its exactly that. I tend to think of atmosphere as being less "driven" instrumentally.

Either way, I think I'm too influenced by my personal hatred for Jared Leto and the sophomoric topics they tend to address. Maybe I need to get over it, but I hate vague bitching about how difficult things are. That being said, I still don't change it when they come on the radio or something so...

Whats your take on these guys?

Personally, I think Jared Leto should stick with acting.

From a musical perspective, their brand of proggy/alt metal with its heavily tinged sci-fi lyrics are at best quite average. Sure...there are some nice touches here and there and some decent songs as well. I`ve only listened to the S/T debut and A Beautiful Lie and they`re albums that as you say, put ambience over instrumentation.

If I want to listen to an ambient or prog metal band, then bands like Anathema and especially Pain of Salvation do the whole thing so much better.

I listened to A Beautiful Lie because I actually rather liked The Kill, but I found out that that's about the only thing on the album that I liked. The rest felt a bit generic and boring.

I'll have to check those out.

So you're saying in the scheme of things they don't have anything thats standout, they just happen to be the most popular of the acts that are doing this sound, not necessarily the best?

I feel like they're close to these two songs, and I've always been looking for an act that can capture this sound well for an entire album:

Generic is the word that Abominable Homan used and its perfect for 30 Seconds to Mars. There is nothing that really stands out about this group and their sound. The impression I have of this group, is that they have some really good intros and song passages, but just don`t have the ability to put it together over the course of a album. They rely on ambience, but they just haven`t got the oblique mood of Tool and neither the mystique and haunting beauty of Pain of Salvation, let alone the power of a decent metal band.,

I quite like them but I do think they're very overrated. The thing is, I don't like too many songs by them, but nor do I dislike many. For example I love Kings & Queens (although it's heavily overplayed) and This Is War but the rest of the album is quite undistinguished and melds together.

I like them a lot, and his voice realxes me, but I'm going to say their newest cd is not as good as the first. This is War and Kings and Queens are the only two I like as well.

That's why I don't listen to the radio anymore..

The general consensus seems to be that their music can be rather.. generic. I will agree with this statement only partially. As a whole, 30 Seconds to Mars loses my interest once you get past the usual 2 or 3 decent songs they come up with; however, by himself Jared Leto has one of the greatest vocal ranges (for a man) that I've heard in quite some time. I don't find him attractive in the least, but those high notes make me ruin underwear. :P If you've ever heard or watched them live, they are also able to keep the integrity of the music intact, a task that many bands are unable to accomplish. I'd give them 6 out of 10.

Noted.

And welcome back, by the way.