FEATURE:
Second Spin
Muse - Drones
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OVER the course of eight studio albums…
Muse have established themselves as one of the greatest Rock bands in the world. Their debut, Showbiz, of 1999 was a promising start, but many would consider their classic period to be Origins of Symmetry-Absolution-Black Holes and Revolutions between 2001 and 2006, when they started to expand their sound and become more ambitious and otherworldly. Whilst their music has a very spacey and Progressive Rock sound at times, and it has a definite pomp, Muse can always bring it down to Earth when they need to! 2018’s Simulation Theory was their last album, and whilst it got a smattering of good reviews, not everyone was on board – I really like the album, and it is one of the simplest albums Muse have released in a while. Its mix of relationship and political lyrics confused some, but one cannot deny that the brightness and sillier moments on Simulation Theory are fantastic. Arriving three years before Simulation Theory came Drones. Perhaps Muse’s most political and rawest album ever, it was produced by Muse and Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange – who has worked with the likes of AC/DC. Drones is another straightforward album whereby it doesn’t have piano flourishes, multi-part songs and the theatrics that they delivered on albums like Absolution. Songs on Simulation Theory like Pressure had definite kick and fun, but Drones is a more serious and down-to-business sort of album.
I think a lot of critics reacted coldly because of that, and many were not convinced by Matt Bellamy’s lyrical intent and authenticity; others harked back to the Muse of old and wondered whether Drones as a misstep. There are some weak lyrics on Drones, but I think Muse show a more serious and mature side on Drones that should be applauded. I really like the album, and I think it was not given proper respect. Muse threw out some of their sharpest and most memorable riffs through Drones; some of the songs on the album rank alongside their best and, apart from a slightly weak last couple of numbers in The Globalist (which is over ten minutes!), and Drones, the album is excellent! Despite Drones receiving mixed reviews, the album topped the charts in twenty-one countries, and it has sold over a million copies. It is another case of an album proving very successful commercially, but that not being reflecting in the reviews. Drones is a concept album following a soldier’s abandonment, indoctrination as a ‘human drone’, and his eventual defection. Some people have read into songs like Dead Inside – the album’s opener – as a shot against Bellamy’s ex-wife, Kate Hudson, but I think they missed the mark. Although I do like it when Muse are kooky and eccentric with their music (where they have a bit of fun), Drones was a necessary evolution, and bands who repeat themselves can become boring and too predictable.
Muse were keen to make Drones simpler and more stripped than the album before it, The 2nd Law. That is a great album, yet there are a lot of layers on some songs, and it couldn’t have been that fun to play live. Drones’ songs have that simplicity and traditional Rock sound that trades layers and electronics for grit and power. Muse self-produced the two albums before Drones, and they brought in Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange so they could work more on performances, and he could shoulder most of the production effort. Recording at The Warehouse (Vancouver, British Columbia) between October 2014 and April 2015, Drones has so much muscle and force that it is impossible to ignore! I think the band sound completely fired up and rejuvenated on the album, and Psycho, Reapers, and Defector are highlights for me. The guitar work from Bellamy is insane; Dominic Howard puts in some of his best drumming to date, and Chris Wolstenholme’s bass work is, as always, top rate! I will bring in a couple of reviews that are broadly similar to many others, in that they have some good words to say about Drones but they are left underwhelmed. I think it is unfair, as Drones is a great album with plenty to enjoy. This is what AllMusic said when they reviewed the album:
“Muse, and Matt Bellamy in particular, make no bones about Drones: their seventh album is political through and through, a bold statement concerning the dehumanization of modern warfare. As Muse is not a subtle band -- any suspicion they were is erased by the artwork depicting a hand controlling the joystick of an office drone controlling a joystick directing drones -- it's hard to avoid their conclusion that war is bad, but this inclination to write everything in bold, italicized capital letters is an asset when it comes to music, particularly here where they've teamed with legendary hard rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange.
Always a sucker for oversized guitar riffs and bigger drums, Lange also allows the trio to indulge in a bit of Floydian fantasies -- the made-to-order dialogue of "Drill Sergeant" is straight out of The Wall -- but he spends much of Drone sharpening Muse's synthesis of every arena rock idea ever essayed. Echoes of other bands can certainly be heard -- an early Radiohead influence still lingers, due largely to Bellamy's vocal phrasing, but that can soften into a glimmer reminiscent of Coldplay, while elsewhere they aim for the majesty of U2 and the showboating velocity of Van Halen ("Reapers" opens with an erupting hurricane of finger-tapping pyrotechnics), but this absurdly overstuffed synthesis is unmistakably Muse's own, so thunderous it drowns out any good intentions the band may have had”.
When they sat down to assess Drones, NME wrote the following:
“The two pre-release tasters, as usual, were red herrings. ‘Dead Inside’, considered by some to be an attack on Bellamy’s ex Kate Hudson with its quivering cries of “Do you have no soul?/ It’s like it died years ago”, threw back to ‘The 2nd Law’’s electro-pop bangers ‘Madness’ and ‘Panic Station’. ‘Psycho’, in which our hero is trained to become “a super drone” by a bawling drill sergeant, apes every glam rock stomper from Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’ to Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ to Muse’s own ‘Uprising’. But from there, ‘Drones’ swoops and dives like its navigation system has malfunctioned. ‘Mercy’ is infectious electro-rock about the “men in cloaks” and “puppeteers” at the controls of the world, while ‘Reapers’ has Bellamy indulging his hair-metal bent alongside android backing vocals.
Once our protagonist has reached peak drone on ‘The Handler’ – “I have been programmed to obey… I will execute your demands” he parrots over ‘Radio Ga Ga’ powerchords – and starts fighting back, ‘Drones’ likewise reaches peak Muse. Wrapped in a sample of a JFK speech decrying shadowy cold war tactics, ‘Defector’ is a brilliant slinky pop squealer, while ‘Revolt’ is among their most creative songs, a two-speed storm built on monumental riffs.
The lack of an indulgent multi-section symphony like those on ‘The Resistance’ and ‘The 2nd Law’ makes ‘Drones’ the most focused Muse album since 2006’s ‘Black Holes And Revelations’, but the weirdness (obviously) lingers. ‘Aftermath’ is an after-the-battle singalong in the vein of Rod Stewart’s version of The Sutherland Brothers’ ‘Sailing’ or, oh yes, Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers In Arms’. ‘The Globalist’, in which our hero starts his own nuclear state and destroys the planet, is a 10-minute epic taking in chunks of Ennio Morricone funeral scene metal and Elgar’s 19th century ‘Enigma Variations: Nimrod’. The title track – do not adjust your NME – is a choral piece based on 16th-century hymnal ‘Sanctus And Benedictus’, featuring a choir of Matts intoning “My mother, my father, my sister and my brother, my son and my daughter, killed by drones”.
‘Drones’’ trademark Muse themes of brainwashing, warmongering superpowers, suppression of The Truth and the urgent need to fight the hand that bleeds us still resonate in 2015, but obliquely. It’s Bellamy’s job to prise open deeper socio-political dimensions as much as it is to comment on the times, and Muse’s music once more matches his adventurous intrigue”.
Five years after its release, I think Drones deserves new ears and eyes. It is not up there with the very best Muse albums, but it is one of the strongest of more recent years, and I think it copped a lot of undeserved criticism back in 2015. So many of the songs stand up still, and I keep coming back to Drones when I need that hit of adrenalin and that heady rush. I would encourage anyone who has not heard Drones – or was not sure of it first time – to give it…
SOME of your time.