When a contributor for an popular online music magazine recently reviewed the new album Viva La Vida from Coldplay, they doused the sensitive Brits with such descriptives as “wuss messiahs” and referenced some obscure poll taken by Travelodge in which Coldplay won the “The Band Most Likely To Put You To Sleep” award. While I’m sure Chris Martin isn’t crying into his 1000-pound-note-stuffed pillow over it (actually, I’m not so sure….), these uninsightful observations are typical of the criticisms slung at the band. Now, every band deserves a little criticism - that’s why they call them “critical reviews” after all - but referencing a Travelodge poll? Come on, popular music magazine contributor, you and I both know this isn’t an accurate source of popular opinion - the average hotel guest is just going to pick the most popular band on the list. And after all, would you poll a frat house and expect Fleet Foxes to win over Disturbed? I think not. Pitchfork, as an unashamed and admittedly biased Coldplay fan, I abhor you at the moment… but that’s beside the point. Taking potshots at an easy target should be beneath such a respected musical weathervane as you.

The fact is, Coldplay have done everything right in their careers so far, from graduating to shimmering stadium-shaking songwriting on their second album, to adopting a unique performance style. While not everyone may appreciated the way Chris Martin prances and hops around onstage, you can’t deny that it is entertaining and uniquely ‘Coldplay’. And, lets be fair, not many bands can shower sentimental enthusiasm over an audience of 40,000 with such pounding zeal as these guys. They deserve credit where they’ve earned it, and if you don’t like sentimentally enthusiastic music, put on your new Disturbed album (oooh-ah-ah-ah-ah!).

Viva La Vida sees Coldplay fearlessly departing from the familiar soaring piano anthems that have marked their previous successes. Despite the bands’ famous humility and self-deprecation, and Chris Martins’ well-publicized apparent lack of musical self-esteem, their new album displays a confidence in their ability to create ass-kicking music on their own terms. With such a hot spotlight aimed at this band, combined with their modest honesty and openness, it’s easy to pick apart their intentions and methods used in creating this album. One attention-grabbing musician, capitalizing on Martins’ statements that he steals little bits of other bands’ music, even claims the band stole one of his melodies. First of all, every songwriter steals a little bit (they’re called influences), and secondly, attention-grabber, Chris Martin doesn’t need to steal from you. Read on after the break….

It’s fitting that Coldplay would choose Brian Eno, a pioneering producer known for his thoughtful experimental-ism and ambient sound-crafting, to helm their latest effort. While the band thankfully doesn’t take some wild conceptual direction tack on this album, they instead choose to tastefully draw deeper on the talents of each band member to create a slightly more complex, organic-sounding record here than previous ones. Of all the Coldplay albums to date, this one takes the most emphasis away from Martin and his melodies, allowing Eno and the other three band members to, well, clang away at various percussion instruments and fashion an intriguing layer of sounds over a relatively simple melodic song foundation. The best example of this is the album opener “Life In Technicolour”, a completely instrumental track that sets the tone for the rest of the songs to follow. The hallmark Coldplay sound of expansive melodramatic arrangements and thumping beats still dominate throughout Viva La Vida, but instead of reaching towards the lights on this one, they dig a little deeper. “Violet Hill”, like a sonic interpretation of the the album cover art, is a darkly coloured tapestry of war drums, deep apocalyptic guitar riffs, and a punchy, urgent melody. “Strawberry Swing” is Coldplays’ “Penny Lane”, an unabashedly optimistic blue-skies dreamer. “Lost” puts the albums’ most sticky melody over a foot-stopping, hand-clapping, tambourine-shaking jam. The album falters slightly in some intimate, melancholic moments where Martin takes the spotlight with his soft piano and vocal trademark. “Lovers in Japan/Reign Of Love”, an otherwise brilliant song, suffers this fate in the last three minutes of its almost seven minute length, as does the anticlimactic last two minutes of the album on “Death And All His Friends”. The rest of Viva La Vida easily makes up for these setbacks, though.

Like past albums from Coldplay, Viva La Vida is full of triumphant moments (a la the “Fix You” lightbulb-swinging) that makes this band one of the most exciting in recent history. While it has its’ weaknesses (some choices of lyrical concepts are questionable), the album is nevertheless an interesting direction for Coldplay to have taken. Where X&Y was criticized for being a watered-down Rush Of Blood To The Head, here they’ve managed to instill a sense of an album that sounds like it was made by a cool band that sounds a lot like Coldplay (aside from the dead-giveaway vocals, of course).

I say we poll fans at their next concert to see who comes out as “Best Band Within One Kilometer”. That would be an accurate indicator of public opinion.

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