But for the past three albums, beginning with Mylo Xyloto (2011), Chris Martin and his bandmates have courted an electro-pop audience by collaborating with the likes of Rihanna, Tove Lo and The Chainsmokers.

It did nothing to dampen their popularity, but the critical acclaim they once enjoyed has mostly evaporated.

On the double-album Everyday Life Coldplay have thrown open their studio doors to experimentation.

You'll hear gospel (BrokEn), country blues (Guns), choral (When I Need a Friend) and prog (Arabesque) among the sprawling 16 tracks.

Yet they've also returned to some of the sounds and song structures that helped Coldplay become the biggest band in the world during their A Rush Of Blood To The Head and X&Y period.

Not everything works. BrokEn is a bland and stereotypical attempt at gospel and the bluesy Cry Cry Cry plods along at an unexcited pace.

At his best Martin has always packed emotional weight into his lyrics. The heart-wrenching Daddy, is Everyday Life's answer to The Scientist.

It's a bittersweet ballad sung from a son's perspective to an absent father. As always, Martin's simplicity draws the most emotion when he sings, "Look Dad, we got the same hair/ And Daddy, it's my birthday."

The other highlight is the prog-influenced Trouble In Town.

Here Martin addresses racism vaguely until a recording of a US policeman threatening a black motorist is used to thrust the lyrics into clarity while the band explodes into a drama of sound.

The only electro-pop moment is the lead single Orphans, where Martin's story about the bombing of Damascus is offset by a bright melody complete with a hooky Sympathy For The Devil "woo woo".

Have Coldplay delivered a masterpiece? Not quite.

Everyday Life would benefit from editing, but it's undoubtedly the English band's strongest effort since 2008's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.