Felt inspired for a change so wrote a Tumblr article about Muse. Word of warning - it's a bit tl;dr.

 

Why the new Muse album might actually be quite good

 

Any new album by a band with a reputation for slaying stadia across the globe would, you’d imagine, be fairly hotly anticipated. But Muse have garnered a bit more attention than most in the build-up to the October release of their sixth album “The 2nd Law” by releasing three tracks online that have attracted a wave of strong opinions.

 

The first was partially unveiled in the album’s trailer in June and then was given its own video in full length form earlier this month. Its full name is “The 2nd Law: Unsustainable”, and is part one of the two-part song which the album closes with and takes it name from. What sparked controversy was not the dramatic orchestral intro, nor the spoken word section explaining why the Second Law of Thermodynamics is going to kill us all. It was what happened next - a gigantic dubstep drop.

 

Plenty of fans (we can but presume they liked Muse in the first place) squealed that this was the band betraying its roots and even - after fifteen million record sales - selling out. I could wax lyrical here about how that’s nonsense but instead I’ll explain why I rather like “Unsustainable” as a song, pure and simple.

 

Unlike Korn’s flirtations with dubstep, Muse don’t simply make do with chucking a dubstep drop on top of a chorus that otherwise could have come from any of their other albums. “Unsustainable” doesn’t actually have a chorus at all, instead spreading its impact around both the drop and the aforementioned (exquisitely arranged) orchestral section. The dubsteppy sections are also done in typical Muse fashion with squealing guitars and - in a departure for the genre - drumming from a real life drummer courtesy of the ever-reliable Dom Howard.

 

It all makes for a satisfying move into new territory but it may have been a step too far had the band released a full-on dubstep album. Next to be premiered we had “Survival” which laid those fears to rest. This one’s gimmick was that it was the official song of the London Olympics, and consequently sports lyrics about life being a race which one must try and win. Otherwise it’s fairly standard Muse, but given the circumstances that’s no bad thing.

 

Last of the three new songs is the seemingly conventional first single “Madness”. This being Muse of course, conventional is a relative term. The song is almost entirely electronic and seems to take its cues from (whisper it) R’n’B. What were they thinking?

 

Actually, it’s a fairly easy transition to explain given the band’s recent output. Let me explain with a simple flow chart:

 

Stage 1 (album 3, “Time Is Running Out”) - standard Muse song

 

Stage 2 (album 4, “Supermassive Black Hole”) - stage 1 re-imagined as a funk rock tune

 

Stage 3 (album 5, “Undisclosed Desires”) - stage 2 with a sparser backing track

 

Stage 4 (album 6, “Madness”) - bingo!

 

Still with me? Good. The basic point I’m making is that while these three songs seem rather disparate, they share a certain Muse-ness that’s going to be essential to keep “The 2nd Law” from being an schizoid mess that many people have already written it off as. They also show that the album will hopefully have a fair bit of variety that was partially missing from predecessor “The Resistance” and conspired to paint the band into a corner.

 

All in all then it’s looking rather rosy for Muse from where I’m sat. If you’ve made it this far then you deserve some kind of congratulations. Roll on the 1st of October.

I'm really looking forward to the album, I love Black Holes & Revelations and The Resistance and have particularly enjoyed Suvival. What I've heard of Madness seems decent too! I'm looking forward to seeing what one of my personal favourite bands comes up with next! :D

I'm willing to give the album a chance because I know Muse have already reached their peak with albums such as Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution

 

this album seems a bit more experimental than BH&R or The Resistance which is good because I'd rather see them make a different album than try to make what they've done before. I like Madness and Survival, could do without the "dubstep element" in Unsustainable but the intro/orchestral bits in that more than make up for it and it's a 2 part song so who knows what will happen in Isolated System

The way I see it is that there'll be a handful of new Muse songs that I will enjoy/love and lots of rubbish. A bit like The Resistance, then.

Madness is quite catchy considering how subtle it is. (m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-madness), I'm a fan! Also listened to Unsustainable earlier, I think Tony called it Unlistenable, I wouldn't go quite that far, but it's quite odd!

Not a Muse fan at all, but I heard Madness yesterday and it's really good :o I also liked Survival, may have to listen to Unsustainable and see what's so weird about it :lol: Well tbf Muse go dubstep doesn't sound like the best idea ever!

Madness is kind of dull. Misleading title alert :angry:

Madness is just another sign that Muse are just producing drivel nowadays.

 

 

Madness is just another sign that Muse are just producing drivel nowadays.

 

 

 

I couldn't agree more.

"Madness" is growing on me so much. It probably speaks volumes that in an autumn when Green Day (still just about my favourite band) and The Killers (with a comeback single that sounds exactly how I wanted it to) are releasing, "The 2nd Law" is the album I'm most excited about.

I remember when they weren't shite.

 

Same. :(

 

 

...oh wait

...oh wait

 

 

I think you realised your own mistake.

Not so much.

Still loving Survival. Madness is good too. I'm very excited for this album, haven't been more excited about a non-Feeder album since The Resistance. :o (Could this be Muse cementing themselves as my second favourite artist?)

Supremacy :wub:

Downloading now. Serves me right for pre-ordering the super epic deluxe edition (it's a Muse album, what was I supposed to do?) since the audio files are HD and are about 1GB each. Probably why the site's not been working until now.

Just listened for the first time and made a Tumblr post while I was doing so.

 

Hot damn. The early part of this in which I catch up with what I’m listening to should be pretty easy, I’ve heard all these songs in one form or another before.

 

“Supremacy” sounds like it’s been ripped straight from Absolution, then Matt Bellamy’s blood-curdling howl of the title triggers some kind of monolithic titan of a metal riff. Amazing. I’ve fallen a bit in love with “Madness” in the last couple of weeks and it slots in perfectly here, while “Panic Station” comes across as “Club Tropicana” played by a man who’s very angry at the world. Predictably awesome, then. The lovely “Prelude” leads into “Survival” in a similar way to how Kanye had that lovely bit of piano leading into “All Of The Lights”, then we’re into safe and gonzo Olympic territory.

 

All caught up? Phew. I was quite intrigued to hear “Follow Me” with Nero on co-production and the duo deliver, the drop doesn’t quite seem to know what it’s doing with its own rhythm but Matt’s Bono-esque wail is all present and correct. Very nice.

 

“Animals” seems to suggest that, over a decade after anyone last suggested they ever did, Muse are actually quite comfortable in sounding like Radiohead. I’m not a massive fan of Thom Yorke and co. but since the track most closely echoes my favourite Radiohead tune in “Paranoid Android” I’m rather happy with this, it’s skipping all over the place and sounds like a grower.

 

“Explorers” starts off like about a dozen other Muse songs, but after everything that’s happened in the last half hour that’s almost a relief - it’s a while since filler on a Muse album has been filler for any other reason than it shooting for the stars and missing (hello “I Belong To You”!). Oh god, is it going to evolve into another pocket symphony now I’ve said that? Actually no, the drums are rather tasteful and have been joined by some sleigh bells. Not the band Sleigh Bells, then all sorts of shit would kick off. Weird that one of the album’s least crazy tracks is also one of its longest, they clearly knew we’d need a breather at this point.

 

My, “Big Freeze” is very U2-ish… nice shimmery guitar (I’m sure that’s not a technical term). Otherwise the production actually sounds quite grounded and intimate, really not sure where half of these song titles are coming from though.

 

Wait, this isn’t Matt singing! Ah, it’s “Save Me” - Chris Wolstenholme taking the mic must mean we’re in the home straight. This sounds a bit anonymous so far, but the album’s been teetering on the edge of not sounding much like Muse for a few songs so it would make sense for Matt stepping aside to make this so. Yeah, when I said I was quite glad of the break during “Explorers” I was expecting to be back in crazy town by now. Hopefully this will be a grower.

 

“Liquid State” already sounds more promising. Well, it actually sounds a bit like a soundcheck with the chugging guitar and a drum rhythm that it takes a while to work out. I can’t get the feeling that even though this is more Muse-y, with Chris singing it just sounds like a Muse covers band with a vocalist who can’t do an impression of Matt. I didn’t sign up for this, it’s going to take a few more listens.

 

OOH OOH I KNOW THIS ONE. Well, so do most of us by now. Dramatic orchestral opening? Check. Pretentious-sounding newsreader? Check. Scary robot? f*** YEAHHHHHHHHHHH! Sorry, got a bit excited there. Yup, it’s definitely the same “Unsustainable” that made us all think that Muse were just trolling YouTube for the hell of it back in June. Now in the context of the album it sounds if anything even more potent.

 

Having downloaded the video for “Isolated System” mere hours ago, I know what to expect from this one. It sounds a little more nuanced when you’re not distracted by the scary-as-f*** accompanying visuals, and two things are now becoming clear:

 

1. Muse sound far more natural writing a symphony rooted in contemporary music than in classical

 

2. If the world does end this December, we’ve found the soundtrack to armageddon.

 

As this thoroughly eerie piece of music comes to a close, I’m left thinking that Muse have done a rather good job of getting out of the corner they’d painted themselves into with “The Resistance”. The try-hard nature of parts of that album, namely the whole “Exogenesis” experiment, is now gone and the band have instead concentrated on making the more conventional nuts and bolts of the album more interesting and diverse. Diverse doesn’t have to mean singing in French and having a clarinet solo in one of your songs (I’m really slagging off “I Belong To You” tonight, aren’t I?), it can mean far more instinctive and rewarding things like taking cues from dubstep, a genre which they’re clearly interested in, and channelling the spirit of the band that surely now Muse have replaced as the world’s biggest. Or at least the most ridiculous. Stand aside, Bono. Stand aside even Chris Martin, since you’ve just been out-Bono’d (that’s definitely not a real word). Devon’s finest are back and, if they’re to be believed, no one’s really got time to wrestle their mantle off them before the Earth explodes in a huge ball of fire. I need sleep.

 

P.S. Don’t let the bassist sing again.

I've been listening to this a lot over the last few days and I have to say I like much of it. I will report back in a few days with a better analysis.

Surprisingly good. The last Muse album I bought was 'Black Holes & Revelations' which, despite cracker singles, contained a lot of unconvincing filler. This one is a lot more consistent. Yes, it does sound an AWFUL LOT like Queen in places, but it's a great record. Panic Station is my favourite song from the record. Who would've thought that Muse would go all Faith No More on us?