30 Seconds To Mars : 30 Seconds To Mars : Review : Rolling Stone

Meet actor Jared Leto's so-called band. The problem here is not Leto's voice, which has a self-possessed, strident edge that would fit on modern-rock radio. Nor is it the designer futurism of the special-effects-laden production. The album is undone by Leto's baffling, pretentious poetry (on "Edge of the Earth," he declares, "Apocalyptic and insane/My dreams will never change") and the sanitized quality of the heavy guitars. Many of the tracks sound nabbed from Incubus' incubator, and the aspiring anthem "Welcome to the Universe" feels as hollow as a Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster. The album has its moments -- such as when "Echelon" echoes Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" -- but its cumulative effect is one of dreary melodrama.

PETER RELIC
(RS 905 - Sept. 19, 2002)