There wasn't a thread on this yet, was there?
I'm on my first listen now. It's damn good. Anyone who knows me knows I'm quite the Coldplay fan, but screw it, this is real good.
It retains the more outwardly experimental feel of VLV, but instead of the grittiness that they used to great effect in many parts of that album, this one is, bar a few moments, very poppy, keyboard-driven, layered and big. It sounds like a clash of VLV and X&Y, but whereas that album (X&Y) was great in parts and flat and uninspired in others, they pull it off extremely well this time.
Oh, and the Rihanna track's a stunner.