30 Seconds to Mars released its self-titled debut album in 2002, offering up a bold experiment in atmosphere and imagination. Emerging seemingly overnight, the progressive-leaning, multi-faceted, art-rock outfit had actually spent a better part of a decade on the road and literally years in the studio with legendary producer Bob Ezrin, who joined the band in bringing their vision to fruition. With the release of this project, sometimes called "Welcome to the Universe", they traveled the world, played over 300 shows and eventually began writing new material along the way.
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With 2005's A Beautiful Lie, 30 Seconds to Mars explored a more confessional sonic landscape and progressive, multi-tracked passages gave way to leaner, far more impacting constructs. It wasn't a concept album per se, but it was certainly conceptual, unraveling like chapters from a spellbinding novel about a man on the precipice of collapse who must confront his own humanity, overcome immense challenges and embrace inevitable change in order to move forward. Revolver praised its "echoing riffs, moody bass lines, and strong vocal melodies" while Alternative Press said, "they just might be rock's best-kept secret."
The secret's out. A Beautiful Lie has gone Platinum, unleashing a succession of hit singles and videos that have kept 30 Seconds to Mars on the road for two years and counting. First single "Attack," climbed to #21 on the Modern Rock chart, "The Kill," peaked at #3 and became the longest-running hit in the history of Billboard's Modern Rock airplay chart, charting for 52 weeks, and "From Yesterday" hit #1 while the imaginative videos for "The Kill" and "From Yesterday" (the first American video shot entirely in the People's Republic of China), have been celebrated worldwide with awards from MTV, MTVU and FUSE, among many others.