"This album was fuelled by a desire to move from black and white into colour," says Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. "Or, if you like, we decided to let our garden grow a little more unkempt. The bloodhound was let off its leash."

However you might describe it, there's no mistaking the artistic leap which 'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends' represents. "I think it's our boldest and most...

"This album was fuelled by a desire to move from black and white into colour," says Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. "Or, if you like, we decided to let our garden grow a little more unkempt. The bloodhound was let off its leash."

However you might describe it, there's no mistaking the artistic leap which 'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends' represents. "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."

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