After taking a critical beating for 2005's X & Y, everybody's favorite band to hate ("You know how I know your gay, because you like Coldplay") returns with an album that will even have haters retracting their pithy remarks. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is Coldplay's most adventurous album to date and chalk that up to hiring uber-producer Brian Eno to oversee the proceedings. Eno has a distinct way in pushing his clients, be they Talking Heads and U2 in the 80's and 90's and even more recent under-appreciated works from the likes of James and Paul Simon. Eno pushes Chris Martin and company in ways that I'm sure they didn't even know they could go and it makes for quite the compelling listen.

Viva La Vida opens with the rousing instrumental "Life In Technicolor," followed by the pulsating "Cemeteries in London" that has a rousing Flamenco beat to go along with its stirring handclaps. "Lost!" has some beautiful organ and drum work that makes it quite gripping and "42" starts off super mellow, but follow it to the end and you'll see that it turns into probably the biggest rocker of the entire bunch. But let's not kid ourselves shall we. If you've heard that Ipod ad with the self-titled track, you know where this album's bread is buttered. That song alone will trumpet in an entire wave of new Coldplay fans that originally thought they were nothing but U2's coattail riders. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is a superb record from a band that quite frankly deserves every hem, haw and accolade that is lavished upon them.