In 2005, Coldplay followed up their transatlantic breakthrough, “A Rush of Blood to the Head,” with the album “X&Y.” In response, many critics castigated Coldplay for putting out such a yawn-inducing bore-fest of an album, and rightly so. For their next album, the band did things a little differently: they enlisted the whiz elder Brian Eno as producer, expanded their sonic palette somewhat and cited Frida Kahlo and the French Revolution as sources of inspiration. It was enough to please most critics but new accusations quickly began to arise; weren’t those pale English softies getting a little pretentious? Shouldn’t they just go back to playing the whine-rock that gave us something to complain about in the first place?

Plenty of flak has already been dealt to “Mylo Xyloto,” the band’s fifth album. Frontman Chris Martin has professed to the press that it is a concept album about two doomed lovers in a dystopian future and that is inspired in part by the anti-Nazi resistance movement, White Rose, as well as New York graffiti artists of the 1970s. While he and the band may have overtly courted ridicule by revealing such ostentatious ambitions, he has also provided the necessary self-deprecating soundbits such as the proclamation that the band’s lyrics are in fact “a bit shit.”

Indeed, Chris and co. have never been known for their lyrical prowess, and this album is unlikely to change that. “Mylo Xyloto” contains its fair share of cringe-worthy couplets such as in “Charlie Brown.” “I stole a key/

Took a car downtown where the lost boys meet/I took a car downtown and took what they offered me/To set me free.” Unfortunately, Chris Martin, first-class honors student and decency personified, delivering lines about car-thieving rebels just feels forced. Another excruciating moment arrives with the first lines of “Paradise:” “When she was just a girl/She expected the world/but it flew away from her reach/so she ran away in her sleep.” Evidently, the sweeping mission statement lacks the lyrics to express it in a, well, lyrical way. Yet most of the band’s lyrics are, luckily, utterly bland and forgettable.

Despite its lofty conceptual strivings, “Mylo Xyloto” is the band’s most mainstream album to date. As befits a pop album of this scope, it is immaculately produced, bursting with sound and sporting a studio sheen that the band’s previous efforts never approached. First single, the anthemic “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall,” is probably the closest the band has ever come to producing a regular club banger, what with its icy synths and 4/4 beat. “Princess of China” features a cameo from actual club diva Rihanna. Once you wrap your head around the fact that it really is the pop princess calling on Coldplay, it almost works. Like “Every Teardrop…” it is a big, dumb song with senseless lyrics. It will also be stuck in your head after the first listen. Best of all is “Paradise,” a near-perfect pop song if you discount the lazy lyrics. Rihanna might have rubbed off on them since the R&B beat and staccato chorus make it sound a lot like “Umbrella.” What’s left to love is the euphoric “Hurts Like Heaven,” the trilling guitars and bouncy beat just begging to be played in super-size stadiums, and “Major Minus,” a diversion that sounds too much like Radiohead to fit in on this album.

Ditch the following: “Charlie Brown” (basically a subpar Viva La Vida outtake with embarrassing lyrics), the campfire acoustics, “Us Against the World” and “U.F.O.” (sure, live they will get lots of lighters and cell phones flashing. They will also make you head for that Pot-o-Gold), the “Fix You”-2.0-via-James-Blake-rip-off “Up In Flames,” and the disposable instrumental segue doodles, “Mylo Xyloto,” “M.M.X.I.” and “A Hopeful Transmission.” Ignore the band’s assertion that “Mylo Xyloto” is a whole album and not a series of singles. Very few pop albums can live up to such steep standards and this is not one of them. Instead, I recommend that you scour the album for the tracks you like, learn them by heart, and leave some money aside to go hear these songs live. Though many fans may feel that “Mylo Xyloto” falls short of what they have come to expect, Coldplay rarely disappoints in arenas.