This Is War (album)

*This article is about the Thirty Seconds to Mars album. For the title song, see This Is War (song).*

Studio album

### Producer

Flood, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Steve Lillywhite

***This Is War*** is the third studio album by Thirty Seconds to Mars, released on December 8, 2009 through Virgin Records and EMI. It was the band's first studio album in four years, after the breakthrough of their previous work, *A Beautiful Lie* (2005). The album was recorded over a span of two years, while the band was in the midst of a legal dispute with Virgin over an alleged breach-of-contract. The case was later settled in April 2009, and the band signed to EMI later that year.

The album marked a departure from the band's previous material, implementing a more experimental direction that draws influence from progressive rock, new wave, industrial, and heavy metal music. Lyrically, it is a conceptual record shaped by the band's personal struggles and legal battle with their record label, and is somewhat considered a rock opera. It was accompanied by the documentary film *Artifact* (2012), which chronicled the dispute.

*This Is War* received general acclaim from critics, who praised its instrumentation and experimental direction, and was nominated for the Echo Music Prize. It reached the top ten of several national album charts and has since sold over four million copies worldwide. The record was primarily promoted through the Into the Wild Tour, which earned the band a Guinness World Record for most live shows during a single album cycle, with 300 shows.

## Background

Thirty Seconds to Mars were sued for breach-of-contract by their record label, Virgin Records, in mid-2008. The label sought $30 million in damages, claiming that the band had failed to produce three of the five records they were obliged to deliver under their 1999 contract with the now-defunct Immortal Records. In 2004, Virgin took over the contract. Jared Leto responded to some of the claims in the suit on the band's website and was coerced into dismissing rumors that the group had disbanded. He said the claims were "ridiculously overblown" and "totally unrealistic", before stating "under California law, where we live and signed our deal, one cannot be bound to a contract for more than seven years." Thirty Seconds to Mars had been contracted for nine years, so the band decided to exercise their "legal right to terminate our old, out-of-date contract, which according to the law is null and void."

After nearly a year of the lawsuit battle, the band announced on April 29, 2009 that the case had been settled. The suit was resolved following a defence based on a contract case involving actress Olivia de Havilland decades before. Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with Warner Bros." Thirty Seconds to Mars then decided to re-sign with EMI (the parent label of Virgin). Leto said the band had "resolved our differences with EMI" and the decision had been made because of "the willingness and enthusiasm by EMI to address our major concerns and issues, (and) the opportunity to return to work with a team so committed and passionate about Thirty Seconds to Mars". He said it was "the most challenging business obstacle that we've ever gone through as a band."

Upon completion of the record, Leto spoke of the troubles the band faced while working on *This Is War*; "We spent two years of our lives working on that record, and it was us against the world... There were times that it was overwhelming. Everything that was going on was brutal... It was a case of survival, to tell the truth."

Leto produced a documentary *Artifact*, that chronicled the state of the modern music industry through their dispute with their record company. Other musicians also gave accounts of their industry experiences. The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival where it was well received and won the People's Choice Award for Best Documentary.

## Track Listing

All tracks are written by Jared Leto, except "L490" by Shannon Leto.

## Personnel

**Thirty Seconds to Mars**

* Jared Leto – vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, synths
* Shannon Leto – drums, percussion; guitar (on "L490")
* Tomo Miličević – guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, synths, violin, programming, percussion **Visuals and imagery**
	+ Mark Thecobrasnake – photography
	+ Varnish Studio Inc – art direction
	+ Jared Leto – art direction
* **Technical and production**
	+ Flood – production, co-production on "Kings and Queens", "Closer to the Edge", "Vox Populi"
	+ Thirty Seconds to Mars – production, co-production on "Kings and Queens", "Closer to the Edge", "Vox Populi", mixing on "L490"
	+ Steve Lillywhite – co-production on "Kings and Queens", "Closer to the Edge", "Vox Populi"
	+ Ryan Williams – engineering, mixing
	+ Brian Virtue – engineering on "Night of the Hunter", "Search and Destroy", mixing on "Stranger in a Strange Land"
	+ Tom Biller – additional engineering on "Night of the Hunter", "Kings and Queens", "100 Suns", "Hurricane", "Alibi"
	+ Rob Kirwan – additional engineering on "Kings and Queens", "This Is War", "Vox Populi"
	+ Dana Nielsen – additional engineering on "Night of the Hunter", "Stranger in a Strange Land"
	+ Matt Radosevich – additional engineering on "This Is War", "Search and Destroy", "Closer to the Edge"
	+ Jamie Schefman – additional engineering
	+ Sonny Diperri – additional engineering
	+ Andre Doucette – pre-production engineering
	+ Joe Wohlmut – additional Los Angeles Summit engineering
	+ Cenzo Townshend – mixing on "Hurricane"
	+ Neil Comber – mixing assistant on "Hurricane"
	+ Mike Shipley – mixing on "Search and Destroy"
	+ Brian Wholgemuth – mixing assistant on "Search and Destroy"
	+ Stephen Marcussen – mastering