Alrighty then! I'm sure you've been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for me to review this album for you...right? What? You don't give a rat's rear end? Well... that's rude. I'm going to tell you anyway! Hah! I've been excited to hear this for a while now and I've been soaking it up for the past week or so.

Coldplay's new album, Viva La Vida:

First of all, my general impression is: I like it a lot, but it's not mindblowing. For me, some of the songs were spot on, while others didn't really do it for me. More specifically:

Life in Technicolor: My first thought- "Oh crap, this sounds like U2! NOOOO!" I found out later that the guy who produced some of U2's albums did this one, so it's no surprise. This is just an intro song with no words, and it's not a BAD song, per se, but just very different from what I expect from CP.

Cemeteries of London: I like this one a lot. It's dark with a lot of minor notes in it, which is great sometimes. I especially like at minute 1:18 and other places in the song where they sing an anthem-like "La la la". I imagine that will be fabulous singing it with them live with your fists raised.

Lost!: In general, this is one of my favorites in the album simply because of the first line, "Just because I'm losing doesn't mean I'm lost, doesn't mean I'll stop." Gives me chills! For a person like me who's mood is severely altered for the better by music, this is the kind of song I'm sure I will sing when things are going lousy and I'll scream it loudly in my car.

42: This sounds a lot like Radiohead, especially after minute 1:33 for over a minute, in my opinion. What I don't like so much about this song is that it seems kind of disconnected. The first part of the song is quite melancholy with lyrics such as "Those who are dead are not dead they're just living in my head"...till they go into a completely different type of song for about a minute, then a completely DIFFERENT type of song the last 3rd of the song. It just didn't flow to me.

Lovers in Japan: I liked this one a lot too, except to me I heard too much Bruce Springsteen who I don't like. Maybe I'll get over that. Anyway, very positive and upbeat. I even like the last half which is a soft piano mix.

Yes: One of my least favorite songs on this album. I don't like his voice so low, it just doesn't sound as good as his high voice. He's pushing it, it seems, and it makes me sad to listen to it.

Viva La Vida: I LOVE THIS SONG. It's by far my favorite on the album. Unfortunately it's going to get overplayed on the radio and I'll get sick of it soon, but I tell you I love everything about it. When I first listened to it all the way through on my iPod in my car (with the great sound system) I got chills and even shed a tear. I know, that's weird, but it's so incredibly powerful and full of emotion, and just mixed really well. It gets me!

Violet Hill: This one's great too. At first I didn't know what to think about the un-Coldplay distortion on the guitar but I think it fits well. The only thing I didn't like was the first 30 seconds of semi-silence- I hate when songs do that.

Strawberry Swing: My second favorite song! I love this one. It's so stinking happy! I'm not exaggerating when I say that when I listen to it I really imagine myself sitting on a swing in the countryside drinking some lemonade at sunset. Love it, love it.

Death and all His Friends: Do NOT like this one. I'll tell you why- it's SO disconnected, it does not flow for me at all. First minute and 30 seconds is cute and nice. After 1:30 it turns into this very less than average alternative rock song with a bad drum beat. The only redeeming part of this song is at minute 2:46, they're all singing this very anthem-like chorus which is really nice. Then at 3:30, the song basically stops silent for a while... then goes back into the first song melody which is boring. My least favorite song by them, I think EVER.

So if you got the CD, what did you think of it? Disagree? Agree?