Coldplay is a group comprises vocalist/pianist/guitarist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Will Champion. Coldplay have been one of the most commercially successful acts of the new millennium, selling over 30 million albums. The band are also known for their hit singles, such as "Yellow", "Speed of Sound" and the Grammy Award-winning "Clocks".Now they are back with their latest and boldest album to date. This is their fourth album, releasing 16th June 2008 in Malaysia.

'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends' represents the four friends collectively known as Coldplay. "I think it's our boldest and most confident record," says bassist Guy Berryman. "We were much more open to new ideas and influences and much less afraid to experiment." "It can be easy to stop yourself from trying things because you're scared of what people might say," adds Martin, "but we forced ourselves not to do that."

The result is a record where groovesome programmed beats jostle with grand swells of church organ, where the space between verse and chorus is filled with deliciously propulsive stabs of North African-styled strings and tablas, where breezy Flamenco handclaps drive a tale of gloom and despair, or where four-to-the-floor rhythms meld with weeping strings for an ode to lost glories. It sounds like Coldplay, only different.

"I'm driven by two things," Martin continues. "One is trying to make sense of existence. The other is when I hear something brilliant, trying to write something as good as that. With this album, we were inspired by so much amazing music. We'd listen to Rammstein and Tinariwen next to each other. For another track, we'd listen to Marvin Gaye and Radiohead. Or Jay-Z and the Golden Gate Trio. Or My Bloody Valentine and Gerschwin. Or Delakota and Blonde Redhead. There were no limitations."

'Viva…' might find Coldplay in experimental mood, but its 10 songs still burst with big, life-affirming hooks and choruses. "I hope so," says Buckland, "We've never been ashamed of tunes and we never will be." "We're still obsessed with making songs that can be sung to the rafters," agrees Martin. "We just wanted to present them differently."

In that spirit, the band decided at the very beginning of the recording process that 'Viva…' would be their shortest album. "We realised we hadn't really listened to any albums all the way through for quite a long time," explains Buckland, "the simple reason being that people put too many songs on them." "So, although it meant leaving off some tracks that we love," says Martin, "this album had to finish before an episode of CSI is over." Sure enough, the band kept the album's ten tracks within their target of 42 minutes (though additional hidden songs do bring the overall length to 46 minutes).

'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends' takes its title from the extremes of emotions that fuel it. This is an album characterised by loss and uncertainty, travel and time, happiness and regrets. "I'm not sure if it's bi-polar syndrome, but we definitely have something going on in our heads which is as much down as it is up," says Martin. "Unfortunately it's uncontrollable. I wrote these songs in both states; they're up and down and all over the place. There was no lyrical plan, they just come out like that. But they're rallying cries too. There's always love, joy and excitement in our music."

What then, of Coldplay's ambitions for 'Viva…'? "I wanted this record to prove us worthy of the position we've been given," says Martin. "And there's no question that we've come out of this process a better band; whatever anyone makes of the record, when we play live, we're gonna be on fire. But, ultimately, however cerebral you try to get about it, this album is there to entertain people; to provide 42 minutes of enjoyment, with ten great songs that will each be somebody's favourite. I'm really hopeful that we've achieved that."

Check out their first single ‘ Violet Hill’ on air now.