30 Seconds To Mars - This is War (Album)

I've been waiting for this album since I fell in love with 30 Seconds to Mars in march 2008.

I don't see this as a review of the album. I don't even have musical knowledge to make a review of an album. Movie is my thing. So let's call this "Confessions of an Echelon About This is War". Yup, that's better.

There are so many different things on this album that I don't even know where to start. Maybe I should start with the Summit. Well, to me, the first Summit, that happened in LA didn't really make any difference. We didn't even know what was it, and I was so occupied with my Global Glyphic Assault that I didn't care about it. I just realized what I missed when the Global Summits happened, 'cause some people revealed what happened in there. For the non-echelon (who probably looking at this saying WTF?!), The Summit was a 'recording experience' where the band recorded the fans singing, screaming, jumping, clapping and some other stuff. Check it out on YouTube. It's awesome :D. But thanks to an iranian kid, the Digital Summit happened, so everyone could record what they asked us to do and we submitted to them.

After that, was the Face of Mars. The band asked the fans to upload a picture of themselves to feature in one of the 2000 different covers that they were making. Yep, one cover to each fans. The coolest thing in the world, right? Well, for those who lived in countries that could submit photos, yes. But that wasn't my case. Brazil is FAIL, live with it. In any case, the covers are the coolest thing in the world. My cd hasn't arrived yet, but I can't wait to see who's gonna be on my cover :B

The first single, called Kings and Queens was released on the radios on October. I was at home, ready for school, streaming KROQ on my iTunes when the internet went down. I missed the whole interview with the band AND the song. I guess the Echelon can imagine how pissed I was back then. Thankfully, it played again 5 minutes later on 97x online. I jumped of joy for hearing that song. The wait was so long, but it certainly paid off. Kings and Queens is really good. REALLY GOOD.

I spent a long while just listening to K&Q non-stop. That was when, without previous warning, the song This is War was featured on a video game. I was talking to Marcela (@MarcelaBart), when she gave me a YouTube link to the 30 seconds preview, saying: "Did you see this!?!?". As usual, my internet went down and i just heard the preview an hour later. I am one lucky bastard, huh?

I woke up on December 8th and RAN into my computer. I pre-ordered the CD+T-shirt combo, so I got a free download of the album. My first impression was.... There's no word to express it. My second impression was.... just like the first. This album is just perfect. I don't know exactly how many times I heard it, but I simply can't choose a favorite song. This album is so deep, so powerful. I means so much, at least to me. It's just... 30 Seconds To Mars.

Here's an impression of each song:

1) Escape: There's no better way to start the album. Jared's voice. The 'This is War' in the middle of the song. I love this song. Not to hear it all the time, but I love it for its power.

2) Night Of The Hunter: This song is pretty fast and I like it. The lyrics are amazing. Jared's voice is really good in this song, particularly.

3) Kings and Queens: The melody is wonderful. This song gives me hope. 'In defense of our dreams'

4) This is War: My favorite lyrics of the whole album. This is a Masterpiece.

5) 100 Suns: I liked it, but it's not my favorite.

6) Hurricane: I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE this one. Melody, lyrics, piano. EVERYTHING. With or without Kanye.

7) Closer to The Edge: This one needs to be the next single. NEEDS!

8) Vox Populi: The first time I heard it, it gave me chills. A smile from ear to ear. It's the union of the strength of the people and the power of the band.

9) Search and Destroy: Very, very awesome. VERY awesome.

10) Alibi: It's a deep, even sad song. But I like it.

11) Stranger in a Strange Land: It reminds me of Björk. Hm... I don't know, I'm still analyzing it.

12) L490: Shannon's song. At first, I didn't liked it. But I'm starting to feel its deepness and I'm starting to like it.

I've learned so much since I've become an Echelon. About friendship, about love, about war. Even about losing. But I grew. And I see that as a good thing. I've made friends from every part of the globe. I am proud to say that I am part of this family. We fight every once in a while, but what real family doesn't? But we also support each other. I wanna Thank Jared, Shannon and Tomo for being who they are and for having strength to keep moving forward when everything was against them. Thank you, guys! We love you.

I know than when I click 'publish post' I will remember that I forgot to write something very important.

Love,

Gabriela Santos Augusto (aka Gabi)

PS.: Here are a few links related to this post:

30 Seconds To Mars Official Website

Twitter

Summit vids on YouTube

My Glyphic Assault

The winning Glyphic Assault by @EchelonBrazil

And also Google them, you'll find some interesting stuff :D

PPS.: Please comment! I wanna know what do you think about this :D