After a career that took off like a rocket, Coldplay already reached an artistically dead end on the third album (2005). The record was mainly a repetition of moves and relied heavily on the sound of , after which the group was written off by parts of the music press. For the sake of convenience, the fact that many millions of copies of the disc went over the toneback was just overlooked. None
… other than , the ambient pioneer and music philosopher who was already involved in a song on X&Y, was approached to help the band out of the creative impasse. His influence as a mentor and sound wizard can clearly be heard in the curiously titled Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, on which Coldplay taps from unusual musical vessels, without doing injustice to its own style. Especially the rhythmic and melodic richness of world music has proven to be a fertile source, providing Coldplay's epic indie rock with enough fresh impulses for the time being. (MS)more
