Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Jun 17 2008 By Paul Cole

(Parlophone)

"IF there's something wrong in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call? Brian Eno.

Just like he helped re-invent U2 in the 1980s, the studio svengali has worked similar magic on Coldplay, stripping away complacency and challenging Chris Martin & Co with new horizons.

Not that is the experimental equivalent of Radiohead's Kid A. The band's widescreen melody remains, but somehow it's even bigger than before - IMAX pop, perhaps.

Significantly, it sounds more of a band affair rather than the Chris Martin show, and the turbulent Chinese Sleep Chant banishes the frontman's vocal to the backseat.

There's an African feel to Strawberry Swing; Violet Hill is a bluesy strut; Yes boasts Middle Eastern strings and the three-part 42 shoots off in unexpected directions.

But surprisingly, it's a brief instrumental that damn near steals Viva's thunder.

Spine-tingling opener Life In Technicolour boasts strings, timpani and a U2 groove before gorgeous guitar chimes remind you this is indeed Coldplay.

A full-length vocal version will doubtless crop up as a bonus track sometime in the future. Global domination awaits.