Jared Leto believes Thirty Seconds to Mars’ new record will prove to critics the band is cool.
The actor-and-musician is the frontman of the rock group, which has battled to be taken seriously for several years.
The band’s upcoming LP is called Love Lust Faith + Dreams and Jared is adamant it is the release which will help turn around their fortunes.
“I'm going to say this if you promise not to make it the headline: I think this will be the album that makes it OK to like Thirty Seconds to Mars,” he told MTV News.
The group’s last offering was 2009’s This Is War but they feel their fourth record is vastly superior. Jared is excited to hear how it goes down with both fans and critics, as the band have gone in a new direction.
They haven’t totally ditched their rock roots, but have certainly added something new into the mix.
“We feel like it's the best thing we've ever done in our entire lives. It's not just a rock record, we're still a rock band and a big part of what we do is guitars and drums, building on the tradition of rock music, but we've also thrown a lot of that aside," he explained. "There are songs like End of All Days or City of Angels or Pyres of Varanasi, that are something entirely new for us. But then you have Conquistador that's big and bombastic and full of guitars, and Birth, that's this huge, epic soundscape. I'm excited for people to hear it ... We're ready to unleash the beast."
The 41-year-old star is quick to point out the album isn’t a “rock opera”. Instead he calls it a concept record with a clear narrative. Jared and his bandmates brother Shannon and Tomo Milicevic wanted to make their sound as individual as possible, with Shannon coming up with an unusual way to make that happen.
“It was my brother's idea to get that music box on the album; it was an instrument my mother used to play for us when we were kids - I think my grandmother gave it to us," Jared explained. "She used to put us to sleep with this little music box. So it's a really personal element, and a great way to end the album. It all means so much to us."
