ANY notion of Coldplay being a rock band can be safely laid to rest with their fifth album.

Chris Martin’s outfit have always been more in thrall to pop than the grubbier stuff, right down to the falsetto ‘woh-oh-ohs’ which litter their songs, and Mylo Xyloto proves it once and for all.

After their last two outings – the water-treading X&Y and the strained Viva La Vida – it also finds them with something to prove. Whatever Coldplay say about Mylo Xyloto being a concept piece, it’s not.

Any theme – finding love, losing love, a world with the jitters – is simply their default setting, and for all the sharp hooks, lofty choruses and icy competence of Charlie Brown and Don’t Let it Break Your Heart, Mylo Xyloto is just another Coldplay album.

Hurts Like Heaven is their freshest, most kinetic song since Clocks, and Us Against The World and Up In Flames showcase their deft touch, but there’s too much clumsy, confused bombast to make Mylo Xyloto another A Rush Of Blood To The Head.

Musically, it’s a truer portrayal of what Coldplay are about than they’ve produced in a while. They sound excited and energised. They just can’t make everybody else feel the same.