Think of Jared Leto and you’ll probably think of his gritty roles in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for A Dream, playing a messed up gun runner in Lord Of War and pummelling the crap out of Brad Pitt in Fight Club ( oh..and if you’re a girl you’ll probably remember Jordan Catalono in My So-Called Life…) – but it’s his role as frontman with his jagged edged act 30 Seconds to Mars that starting to cause waves.
Formed back in 2002, Leto has now bought onto board Shannon Leto on drums, Tom Milicevic on guitars and Matt Wachter on bass to complete a line up that’s got people talking. The band have sold over 900,000 copies of their Josh Abraham produced album ‘A Beautiful Lie’ in the US, and have now set their sights firmly on the UK market. ‘Attack‘ is our first taster of what’s coming our way, and what an introduction it is. Epic guitars and a chorus that digs under your skin ” Run away..run away and I’ll attack’ roared out by Leto. The track punches out emotive cries soaring up to aggressive threats, it’s a broad sounding single, with a power-pop slant and giant choruses that can’t hurt it in the charts.
Taken at face value, ‘Attack‘ is a impressive debut from the band, but realistically, it’s nothing we haven’t heard before really – it could be Gerard Way singing vocals, or any one of the kohl-eyed frontman you can’t escape from. In a commercial sense, 30 Seconds To Mars are a dream, and kudos to Leto for making the switch from actor to frontman with such panache, and they’re sure to be a runaway success ( their only two UK dates had to be upgraded to larger venues and still sold out). And to be honest, so what if they sound similar to other american acts – with all the same same gritty indie bands out there, 30 Seconds to Mars and their LA sheen and eye candy frontman could be just what the doctor ordered. Just turn it up and enjoy.
Dee Massey