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Coldplay Viva La Vida Album or Death and All His Friends

Their anthem like songs filled practically every arena they performed with audience singing en masse, their last three albums, Parachutes, the Scientist and X&Y (2005) sold 30 million copies, and they have also picked up the Grammy’s and Brit award while they are at it.

It is surprising when Coldplay's frontman, Chris Martin, confessed that success had almost destroyed the band.

“After the last album we weren't really talking to each other, we were falling apart. We didn't own ourselves: there were too many swanky dinners, too many award ceremonies. We could almost just have phoned in the songs for the new album from our holiday homes. I wanted to burn all the awards, erase the past”.

Viva La Vida Album or Death and All His Friends is about the band starting afresh and reapplying to be a band again, they even rehearsed together in s small room in Campden and reunited with their former manager Phil Harvey who left them after he felt the band was too big for one person to manage. 

Even before playing the first song, Viva la Vida, it is a work of art, precisely, the title name is borrowed from Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo which is Spanish for “Long Live Live”, an Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People over the Barricade on the cover, is romantic depiction of the spirit of revolution of the album.

There were still their big choruses, melodic sounds, in other words, the staple stadium scale anthem. What is different about Viva la Vida is the new range of sonic palette, which now includes more exotic and experimental sounds. This reflects the diverse range of music the band global influence. Aggressive guitar reefs in Violet Hill is something more commonly associated with German Industrial band, Rammstein than Coldplay while the instrumental opening track Life in Technicolors has Zenlike qualities of the Far East.

In term of lyrics Viva la Vida is like reading Marquez in songs.

Viva la Vida for example reads 

“I used to rule the world/ Seas would rise if I give the word/ Now in the morning I sleep alone/ Sweeps the street that I use to own/ I use to role the dice / Feel the Fear in my enemy eyes/ Listen as the crowd would sing/ Now the old king is dead, Long live the king”

While Violet Hill sings 

“Was a long and dark December/ From the rooftops I remember/ There was snow/ White snow/ Clearly I remember/ From the windows they were watching/ While we froze/ Down below/ If you love me/ Wont you let me know?”

Even reading it, I feel like being part of a euphoric mass sing-along.

While Coldplay, can’t get any better, Viva La Vida proves that they can get better. Long live life! long live Coldplay!