If Final Straw introduced Snow Patrol to the mainstream and Eyes Opencemented the band's popularity, then A Hundred Million Suns is thegroup's ultimate bid for stardom, its slick production and sonic upliftdesigned to catapult Snow Patrol into the upper echelons of modernmusic. Like "Chasing Cars," the mega-single from Snow Patrol's previousalbum, tracks like "Take Back the City" and "If There's a Rocket Tie Meto It" are slyly repetitive -- their hooks are cyclic, each comprisingonly a handful of notes, and their straightforward familiarity helpsmaximize the songs' singalong potential.

But A Hundred Million Suns also features more curve balls than theband's past catalog, from "Lifeboats" (an icy love song withsynthesizer glissandos and falsetto harmonies) to "The Golden Floor,"whose handclap-and-stomp intro recalls the light hip-hop flavor ofOneRepublic's "Apologize." This is where Snow Patrol sound best -- atthe intersection between marketable pop/rock and something morechallenging, whether it's an unexpected arrangement or an interestingmelodic turn. The band's appeal also owes a good deal to GaryLightbody, who maintains his status as the least famous frontman of avery famous band. He's the boy next door, a musical Everyman who's justas average looking as Chris Martin and only half as desperatelyself-effacing. Looks may have little to do with an artist's music, butsuch appearances help ground Snow Patrol's music, even while "Take Backthe City" and "Please Take These Photos from My Hands" reach for thesame stars that U2 routinely grab. When A Hundred Million Suns focuseson music -- not saccharine radio fodder like "Chasing Cars," but actualmusic, with twists and turns that haven't been mapped out bygenerations of likeminded balladeers