30 Seconds to Mars (album)

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30 Seconds to Mars

Studio album by 30 Seconds to Mars
Released	August 27, 2002
Recorded	Cherokee Studios The Center for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences of Sound
Genre	Alternative Rock Progressive Rock Space Rock
Length	53:10
Label	Virgin Records / Immortal Records
Producer(s)	Bob Ezrin Brian Virtue 30 Seconds to Mars
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
30 Seconds to Mars chronology
	30 Seconds to Mars (2002)	A Beautiful Lie (2005)

30 Seconds to Mars is the eponymous debut album of the alternative rock band 30 Seconds to Mars and can best be described as a concept album. The album was released on August 27, 2002, by Virgin Records.

The album produced two singles, "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" and "Edge of the Earth,". Of the two, only "Capricorn" charted, peaking at #31 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart.

The overall theme of the album is of that of human struggle. However, "Revolution," a song recorded for the album, was not included because its lyrics did not fit the rest of the album thematically, and because its lyrics could be misinterpreted. Ultimately, the band chose not to include the song in light of the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[1]

Two other tracks were recorded for the album: "Phase 1: Fortification" and "Anarchy in Tokyo"; the former was included on a promotional single for "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" released in the UK, and the latter was included as a bonus track with the Japanese release of the album.

The lyrics of the hidden track, "The Struggle," were taken from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Much of 30 Seconds to Mars features synth rock elements. In accordance to this, Elijah Blue Allman and Renn Hawkey of Deadsy contributed on the tracks "Welcome to the Universe" and "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)", respectively.

The song "Echelon" was played during the ending credits of the film The Core.

The phrase 'welcome to the universe' is repeated throughout the album in the songs "Welcome to the Universe," "93 Million Miles," and "The Struggle." The original name for the album was going to be "Welcome To The Universe".

1 Track listing
2 Performance line-up
3 Personnel
4 References

[edit] Track listing

Capricorn (A Brand New Name) – 3:53
Edge of the Earth – 4:37
Fallen – 4:57
Oblivion – 3:27
Buddha for Mary – 5:43
Echelon – 5:47
Welcome to the Universe – 2:38
The Mission – 4:02
End of the Beginning – 4:37
93 Million Mile – 5:18
Year Zero – 7:52

Contains the Hidden Track The Struggle (also called Hidden to Label) – 2:54
Capricorn (A Brand New Name) (Multimedia) (Video) - 3:33
Behind-the-Scenes Footage (Multimedia) (Video) - 5:52

[edit] Performance line-up

Solon Bixler — guitarist

Jared Leto — guitar, vocalist

Shannon Leto — drummer

Matt Wachter — bassist

[edit] Personnel

Produced by Bob Ezrin, Brian Virtue and 30 Seconds to Mars
Synth on "Echelon" by Brian Virtue
Piano on "The Mission" by Bob Ezrin
Additional synth on "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" by Dr. Nner
Additional programming on "Oblivion" by Joe Bishara
Additional bass and guitar on "Welcome to the Universe" by Phillips Exeter Blue I
Additional guitar on "Welcome to the Universe," "93 Million Miles" and "Year Zero" by Solon Bixler
Additional synth on "93 Million Miles" by Solon Bixler
Additional bass on "Buddha for Mary," "End of the Beginning" and "93 Million Miles" by Jeffery Jaeger
Additional guitar on "End of the Beginning" by Jeffery Jaeger
Phillips Exeter Blue I and Dr. Nner appear courtesy Dreamworks Records
Photography: Shannon Leto
Additional photography: Ken Schles
Creative direction: Mary Fagot
Design: Eric Roinestad
Art direction, concepts and iconography: 30 Seconds to Mars
Legal: Eric Greenspan
Management: Arthur Spivak (Spivak/Sobol Entertainment)
Business management: Dian Vaughn and Mark Walker Assante
U.S. booking: John Marks, John Branigan and William Morris
UK booking: Mike Dewdney (ITB)