| Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 17, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | April–December 2012 | |||
| Studio | The International Centre for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences of Sound(Los Angeles,California) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 44:50 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | ||||
| Thirty Seconds to Mars chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams | ||||
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Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (stylized asLOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS) is the fourth studio album by Americanrock bandThirty Seconds to Mars, released throughVirgin Records in the Netherlands on May 17, 2013,[1] in the UK on May 20 and in the US on May 21.[2] It was their first album in four years, followingThis Is War (2009), as well as their last album released through Virgin and Immortal.
The record carries theconcept album format ofThis Is War and expands the spectrum to revolve around the themes after which it is named. Its sound follows the experimental direction found on some of the band's previous work, incorporating elements ofart rock andelectronic music. The album was promoted with three singles, "Up in the Air", "Do or Die", and "City of Angels", two of which managed to chart within the top ten on the USAlternative Songs chart.
Upon release, the album was well received by critics, who called it a return to form for the band. It was the group's second consecutive nomination for theEcho Music Prize. The album debuted at number 6 on theBillboard 200, becoming the band's first top ten album on the chart, and reached the top ten in more than fifteen countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
In 2009, Thirty Seconds to Mars released their third studio albumThis Is War. The album saw a new direction taken by the band, employing darker lyrical themes, a louder sound and "much more electronic and experimental, with lots of vintage synths."[3][4]This Is War has since sold over four million albums and one million singles solicited from the album worldwide, making the album the band's most commercially successful so far. The tour that followed, theInto the Wild Tour, Hurricane Tour and Closer to the Edge Tour, spanned two years and broke theGuinness World Record for the "Longest Concert Tour by a Rock Band", playing a total of 309 shows.[5]
To follow upThis Is War, the band began to work on their fourth studio album immediately after the conclusion of the Closer to the Edge Tour. Frontman Jared Leto wanted "an album that has ebb and flow and content and structure.", a sharp contrast to the band's previous work.[6] Leto began writing for the album in December 2011, and by the time the band started the recording sessions forLove, Lust, Faith and Dreams in April 2012, he had amassed a total of 50 songs.[7]
On April 23, 2012,Rolling Stone released an article revealing that Thirty Seconds to Mars was currently in the studio recording a fourth LP. According to the article, the band previewed some of the new material in their April 27 VyRT stream, including a song called "Witness". It also stated that they were interested in working with other artists for the album. The band's official Twitter account confirmed this news. On April 25, 2012 MTV Buzzworthy confirmed that they are working with famed record producerSteve Lillywhite, who had previously worked withU2,Peter Gabriel, andThe Killers, among others.[8]
The recording sessions forLove, Lust, Faith + Dreams took place from April to December 2012, at the Laboratory in Los Angeles.[9] In September 2012, "The Summit", an event where fans are invited to contribute chorus vocals to tracks on the album and previously held to record choral vocals forThis Is War in 2009, was held. UnlikeThis Is War, where an entire audience-sized crowd took part in the recording, the summit that took place for the recording ofLove, Lust Faith and Dreams was more stripped-down and organic, with only 20 to 25 people contributing vocals to the record.[10]
Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams is aconcept album revolving around the themes after which the album is named. The album is divided into four segments, each namedLove,Lust,Faith andDreams, respectively, with the beginning of each segment declared by a female voice proclaiming the name of the segment before the beginning of a song or at the end of an interlude which introduces the next segment of the album.[11]
A more specific album concept can be seen inside the CD. It is recognized by four colors, with the colorred standing forLove,yellow forLust,green forFaith, andblue forDreams.LOVE contains "Birth" and "Conquistador".LUST contains "Up in the Air", "City of Angels", "The Race", "End of All Days" and "Pyres of Varanasi".FAITH contains "Bright Lights", "Do or Die" and "Convergence".DREAMS contains "Northern Lights", and "Depuis Le Début".
Stylistically,Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams has been described asexperimental rock,[12]electronic rock,[13] andart rock.[14]
The artwork forLove, Lust, Faith and Dreams featuresDamien Hirst's 2011 gloss-on-canvas work, entitled "Isonicotinic Acid Ethyl Ester".[15] The painting is part of Hirst's spot painting series. It has also been announced that a second piece of artwork from Hirst, a signwriting-on-canvas piece entitled "Monochromatic Sectors from Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Colour Ring, Dark Centre" will appear inside the booklet of the Compact Disc version of the album. This art is actually featured on the CD itself.[16]
Early promotion for the album during its latter recording stages were two programs on the online premiumStreaming media website VyRT, a service which was founded by the band themselves in the latter stages of theThis Is War album cycle. The two programs,The Mars Laboratory andThe Mars Laboratory II showed members of VyRT an insight into the band's activity during the recording of the album and also debuted acoustic versions of brand new songs fromLove, Lust, Faith and Dreams.The Mars Laboratory aired on April 27, 2012[17] whileThe Mars Laboratory II aired during post-production of the album on December 1, 2012.[18]
On May 2, 2013, the band'sTwitter hashtag, "#MARSmay21st", successfully reached the worldwide trending hashtags on the social platform. As a way of saying thanks to their fans, the band released the lyric video for "Conquistador" onVevo the same day, two weeks before the album's release.[19]
"Up in the Air" was released as thelead single fromLove, Lust, Faith and Dreams on March 19, 2013. It was announced it would be the first single from the new album on February 28 via Twitter. A CD copy of the single was sent toNASA andSpaceX for launch aboard theDragon spacecraft onSpaceX CRS-2.[20] The mission was launched atop aFalcon 9 rocket on March 1, 2013, sending the first ever commercial copy of music into space. The spacecraft berthed and docked with theInternational Space Station on March 3, 2013, making the single available to play by theExpedition 35 crew aboard the station. The song made its worldwide debut aboard the station on March 18, 2013 and was released as a Digital download single oniTunes the next day.[21] The music video was released on April 19, 2013 worldwide onVevo.[22]
"City of Angels" was sent to US Modern rock radio as a promotional single fromLove, Lust, Faith and Dreams on July 23, 2013.[23] A music video for "City of Angels", featuringBartholomew Cubbins as director, was released onto YouTube on October 29, 2013. It was shot over two days on August 18 and 19, 2013, inLos Angeles,California.
Despite not being released as an official single, "Conquistador" was used in a trailer promoting the upcoming video gameWWE 2K14.[24]
"Do or Die" was released as a promotional single fromLove, Lust, Faith and Dreams on September 9, 2013 in Europe.[25] During the Summer European Tour, Jared confirmed the band was recording footage for a live video for the song. The music video was released on August 5, 2013 worldwide onVevo.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 62/100[26] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [27] |
| Alternative Press | [28] |
| Billboard | [12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A–[29] |
| Kerrang! | [30] |
| PopMatters | 6/10[2] |
| Q | [31] |
| Rock Sound | 8/10[32] |
| Sound & Vision | [33] |
| Uncut | [34] |
Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams received generally positive reviews frommusic critics.[35][36] AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received anaverage score of 62, based on 11 reviews.[26] Emily Zemler fromBillboard praised the stylistic variety and experimentation, writing that the album "invests itself fully and artfully in its own vision" infused with "an even fuller sense of grandeur than heard on past releases", and "offers an opportunity to explore the boundaries of rock".[12]AllMusic senior editorStephen Thomas Erlewine acknowledged the band's musical adventurousness, describing the record as "galvanized for the present, pushing its thick processed guitars, chanted choruses, and clanging keyboards to the forefront, flirting with taboos underneath its shining surface". He felt that the group's "loosening of their stylistic confines" results in their "boldest, brightest, most imaginative record".[27] Andy Ritchie ofRock Sound complimented Jared Leto's vocal performance and the group's musicianship, praising the "massive choruses" and "titanic climaxes," and stated that the album reaffirms that Thirty Seconds to Mars is in a class of its own.[32] In a four-and-a-half star review, Ryan Jones ofAlternative Addiction commended the album's lyrical content and musical style, calling the new sounds "deep and plush", and wrote that the "entire record feels like an amazing journey".[37]
Ian Winwood, writing forKerrang!, found the album "lavish but not cloying, expansive yet often economical, approachable without being familiar", calling it a "release that defies genre" and deeming it as a "grand achievement befitting this most grandiose of bands".[30] Kyle Anderson ofEntertainment Weekly gave the record an "A−", writing that it displays "throbbing modern-rock anthems" which "offer visceral, hands-up hedonism", although he found the album's narrative inexplicable.[29] Dan Slessor ofAlternative Press commended the band's capacity for writing "titanic choruses full of sweeping drama in a manner that is almost untouchable", but felt that with "shorter songs and more restrained production" the album lacks the "epic quality" of its predecessorThis Is War.[28] In his review forSound & Vision, Ken Richardson noticed the band's ambition and commended the album's concept.[33] Brent Faulkner ofPopMatters gave a mixed response, stating that the album has "its finer moments as well as moments that are overwrought, overextended, and overproduced".[2]Q magazine found it "empty in the extreme",[31] whileUncut called it "wildly overcooked and deeply derivative".[34] John Watt fromDrowned in Sound wrote that the album "is a disappointingly tepid affair".[38] Andy Baber ofmusicOMH felt that the record descends into "something of a mess" despite "starting with what sounded like a clear direction".[39]
Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams was named one of the best albums of 2013 by a number of publications, includingAlternative Addiction (number two),Melodic (no order), andUnder the Radar (number six).[40][41][42] It was ranked as the best album of the year byThe Scene Magazine, with critic Shayla Miller writing, "This album’s flow is top-notch, making it quite a neat experience. It’s meant to be listened to as a whole. It is a complete piece of music, and it’s breathtaking."[43] The singles "Up in the Air", "Do or Die", and "City of Angels" were included in91X's year-end top songs list at number 44, 39 and 33, respectively.[44][45]Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams received a nomination in the category ofBest International Rock/Alternative at the2014 Echo Awards, but lost toOutlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies byVolbeat.[46] It was the band's second consecutive nomination for theEcho Music Prize.[47]Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams was nominated for Best Album at the2014 World Music Awards, but lost toCoup d'Etat byG-Dragon.[48] The album also earned the band theMTV Europe Music Award for Best Alternative in two consecutive years in 2013 and 2014.[49][50]
In the United States,Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams debuted at number six on theBillboard 200, selling 53,000 copies in its first week of release according toNielsen SoundScan. It became the band's first album to reach the top ten of the chart and was also their second-largest sales week in the nation, behind their 2009 albumThis Is War which opened with 69,000 copies.[51] The album entered both theBillboard'sAlternative Albums andRock Albums charts at number three.[52][53] It also debuted at number six on the magazine'sTastemaker Albums.[54] In March 2014, it re-entered theBillboard 200 at number 25 with sales of over 186,000 copies, following a promotion by the iTunes Store.[55][56] By the end of 2013,Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams was included among the best-selling rock albums of the year.[57] As of 2016, the album has sold 394,000 copies in the US.[58]
In the United Kingdom,Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams entered theUK Albums Chart at number five and debuted at the top spot of theUK Rock & Metal Albums Chart, the first album by the band to debut on the chart and secure their first UK Number 1.[59][60] During its first week, the songs "Conquistador" and "City of Angels" appeared in lower regions of the rock chart due to strong digital sales from the album.[61] In December 2013,Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams was certified silver by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI), followed by Gold in 2023.[62] In Australia, the album entered theARIA Charts at number four with first week sales of 4,814 copies.[63] In Russia, it debuted at number five, earning a gold certification in its first week of sales.[64]
In Portugal,Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams debuted at number three behindDaft Punk'sRandom Access Memories andThe National'sTrouble Will Find Me.[65] After fluctuating down the chart, the album reached the top spot on the issue dated July 15, 2013 and was certified two-times platinum by theAssociação Fonográfica Portuguesa (AFP), with sales of over 40,000 copies.[66] In Germany, the album debuted at number three and has since been certified gold by theBundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), denoting shipments of over 100,000 units throughout the country.[67][68]Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams also reached the top ten in Austria, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Canada, Finland, Norway, Spain, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Ireland.[69]
All tracks are written byJared Leto, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Birth" | 2:07 |
| 2. | "Conquistador" | 3:12 |
| 3. | "Up in the Air" | 4:36 |
| 4. | "City of Angels" | 5:02 |
| 5. | "The Race" | 3:40 |
| 6. | "End of All Days" | 4:46 |
| 7. | "Pyres of Varanasi" | 3:12 |
| 8. | "Bright Lights" | 4:51 |
| 9. | "Do or Die" | 4:08 |
| 10. | "Convergence" (Shannon Leto) | 2:01 |
| 11. | "Northern Lights" | 4:44 |
| 12. | "Depuis le début" | 2:33 |
| Total length: | 44:52 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Night of the Hunter" (Shannon Leto remix) | 6:28 |
| Total length: | 51:20 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mars 300: Tribus Centum Numerarae" | 35:54 |
| 2. | "Paris" | 2:53 |
| 3. | "Middle East" | 3:37 |
| Total length: | 42:24 | |
Credits adapted fromLove, Lust, Faith and Dreams album liner notes.[70]
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Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Austria (IFPI Austria)[105] | Gold | 7,500* |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[106] | Gold | 20,000* |
| Germany (BVMI)[68] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| Italy (FIMI)[107] | Gold | 25,000* |
| Poland (ZPAV)[108] | Gold | 10,000* |
| Portugal (AFP)[66] | 2× Platinum | 30,000^ |
| Romania (AIMR)[109] | Gold | |
| Russia (NFPF)[110] | Platinum | 10,000* |
| South Africa (RISA)[110] | Gold | 20,000* |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[62] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url= (help){{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)| Studio albums | |
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| Related articles | |
