Martin compares Coldplay to U2

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has compared his group's new album to U2's The Unforgettable Fire.

Martin told The Telegraph that their album Viva La Vida, which is released this Thursday (June 12), is comparable to U2's fourth record.

"I always view our albums in terms of U2 albums," he said. Viva La Vida is our Unforgettable Fire in that it's less straightforward, more oblique. It's about sex and death and love and fear and travel and illness. There's light and there's dark."

Despite Coldplay's albums achieving huge sales, Martin admitted that he doesn't think his group is the best in the world.

"The best bands in the world today are probably Arcade Fire and Sigur Rós," he said. "I think Coldplay is only the seventh best in the world."