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This Is War is the upcoming third studio album by 30 Seconds to Mars, due to be released on October 20. This Is War is the first studio album by 30 Seconds to Mars for four years since A Beautiful Lie released in 2005.

Controversy

When the band decided to leave their Virgin/EMI record for a new label, EMI sued them for $30 million on account of the fact that the band had not given them the promised three records. The band's response was that no band had to be signed to a contract for more than 7 years, and they claimed they signed 10 years ago. Eventually, the band settled the matter and re-signed to EMI with Jared Leto saying this:

"There came a time where it was appropriate and important to end the fight. And we are very relieved and very excited to say that we have resolved our differences with EMI and that we have re-signed with EMI and that we'll be putting our new record out, probably, in September," he said. "And that's ... wow, that's the first time I'm saying that. Honestly, it feels pretty intense."

The Summit

During recording sessions, the band hosted a gathering in they called "The Summit" at the Avalon club in Hollywood. The purpose of this was so that fans could see how far into recording the band was, and maybe even participate in the recording. In an interview, frontman Jared Leto said this:

"The Summit was an experiment in our recording process, and we were just trying to think of ways that we could deepen the connection between ourselves and our family of fans around the world. We do that often, and think of ways to break the boundary. And we thought, 'How great would it be to invite the world to come and be a part of the next 30 Seconds to Mars album?"

"There were some things that were left-field sound experiments — using the group, the collective, as a musical instrument," he continued. "We did everything from percussive expression to whispering to things that were a little bit more familiar, like inviting the 1,000 people that were there to sing the chorus of a song. And those people who were a part of it all will be a part of the next 30 Seconds to Mars album. ... It was quite simply one of the best things we've done as a band.".

Further on in this interview, Jared revealed that album's style will be leaning more towards that of their self-titled debut than that of A Beautiful Lie, saying that "The longest song on there is, like, eight minutes. The shortest, probably five. ... I don't think we have one under five, that's for sure. I think we do a really good job at just chasing the feeling, the core of the song, and allowing the song the ability or right to go where it leads us, where it wants to go. The song dictates that, and we've been working on this collection of songs for 12 months, so we know them pretty well."

Collaboration with Kanye West and Brandon Flowers

During May, 2009, Kanye West posted a photo of himself, Brandon Flowers (the frontman of The Killers) and Jared Leto together and announced that the trio were working together on a song named "Hurricane".

Jared said that he "...had actually brought up some time ago, but it's pretty unbelievable that it actually happened," and went on to say that "He came by here, he was here in the studio, and we did some initial kind of listening, and he did some singing, and we knew we needed to kind of follow up and finish things, so I went over to Hawaii an engineer and a small crew, and we had a great time."

Album title

After 18 months of work, 30 Seconds to Mars are closing in on the release of an album that includes Tibetan monks, a screaming hawk, and the voices of fans' from eight countries along with Jared Leto's soaring vocals. Now that album has a title: 30 Seconds to Mars confirmed exclusively to Buzznet that the hugely anticipated project will be called This Is War.

Long the working title of the album, This Is War was not locked in until the band members agreed on it in their Los Angeles work space the other day.The title early on appeared closely tied to the battles the band found itself fighting, most prominently a lengthy legal fight with its record label, Virgin Records. But Leto has always said it encapsulated far more, including the spirit of the band's whole creative process.

"It's representative of the battles that we were fighting, us with the record label, creative battles, personal demons," he told. "We've discussed, like, is it relevant anymore? Some of the battles - obviously the creative, and the battles with the record label, have all come to pass, but I think it really still represents this record in the best way possible, so we're sticking with This Is War.... It represents too clearly this period of time in our lives."

He added that the title does not have to literally refer to any specific fight. "Also come the ideas about winning, ideas about compromise, about defeat, victory of course. But I think as I've tossed it around, it's always been the working title for the record as well, This Is War, so it's been important because I think it really represented the goal in a good way, a strong way."

Part of the goal for the band as it prepared it's first album in four years appears to have been a dramatic expansion of its sound. (The album includes production from Flood, among others). Tracks from the album, which Leto played for Buzznet, include an emphasis on synths, heavy drums, and the constant presence of the band's own fans, recorded in specially organized "summits" held around the world. Filled with what are essentially field recordings of fandom, the album seems almost custom-built to be played live.

Songs

Night of the Hunter

Leto says the band was attempting "a collision of the small, the intimate, the minimal agains tthe grandiose and the bombastic." The song spans both the soft voice of a French girl counting "Une, deux, trois... cinq," to Leto's high vocal lines against a stark backdrop.

Kings and Queens

Opening with a wild hawk scream, recorded live over the band's work space, the song includes a heavy contribution from the band's fans, captured singing a chorus created from layers of the band's "summit" recordings. Leto said the title and theme were inspired by a book found at the band's South African work space, but that it "ended up being a good metaphor" for world events from the past year. It was announced as the first single of the album

Hurricane

Already generating online buzz because of the somewhat surprising inclusion of a cameo from Kanye West, the song sizzles with electronics and represents one of the biggest departures from the band's previous music. West sings "I need a heartbeat" over Leto's own vocals to powerful sonic effect.

References

1. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1610285/20090429/30_seconds_to_mars.jhtml
2. http://www.myspace.com/thirtysecondstomars
3. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1610134/20090428/30_seconds_to_mars.jhtml
4. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1610134/20090428/30_seconds_to_mars.jhtml
5. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1610414/20090430/30_seconds_to_mars.jhtml
6. http://tunelab.com/2009/09/02/30-seconds-to-mars-select-kings-queens-as-new-single

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