The celestial experience of 30 Seconds to Mars
A BEAUTIFUL LIE: Album delves deep into the band’s emotions Ru
By:  April Rumore, Culture Writer
April 17, 2006
The Arbiter
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I’m not gonna lie, 30 Seconds to Mars is quite the toe tapper. Their 2005 CD release of “A Beautiful Lie” is an awesome conglomerate of angst, passion and deep feelings. Emotions run rampant with classic breakup lyrics of “come break me down….I’m finished with you” and life observational lyrics of “do you live and do you die?” Flashbacks from Linkin Park’s song mixes of a harmonic ballad chorus, to a rapid transition to screaming words of pain and emphasis encompass the songs.

Lead singer Jared Leto, with the help of the band’s guitar player and bass player, wanted to create his music to be honest and pure reflections of life, personal experiences and the genuine consequential feelings that resulted from them. “We wanted to focus on the insides of the song,” Leto says. “To cut away anything extraneous. To get the truth of it all…As dark as some of the moments can be, there is always a huge sense of optimism and celebration.”

Leto actually wrote the songs from “A Beautiful Lie” throughout the tour of the band’s first CD. Amongst the traveling and bus rides in five different countries of four different continents, the bluntly honest and personal lyrics were brewed. It was in Capetown of South Africa, where the title track plus three other hits were born. Here, his band members joined him in coming up with the name of this record.

Living in a house overlooking the ocean, “that was breathtakingly beautiful,” much of Leto’s lyrics were also nurtured and transpired. “A Beautiful Lie” encapsulated many hardships that he and his band trudged through before and during the production of the record.

They have been touring from east to west coast of not only America, but worldwide. Just last night, they humbly reached Boise’s the Big Easy. But don’t let that get you down. If you missed this priceless concert experience, you can road trip it to Las Vegas for their April 21 concert this week. Or you can celebrate the semester coming to an end in Atlantic City for their May 12 show. Nonetheless, their CD is only a short drive to the Record Exchange away.

- Check out Thursday’s issue of The Arbiter for a review of Sunday’s 30 Seconds to Mars concert