FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
Part Sixty-Six: Muse
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THERE were two…
PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Riley/NME
fairly big Muse anniversaries this year. The band – who formed in Devon in 1994 – released their second album, Origin of Symmetry, in 2001; Black Holes and Revelations – their fourth album – was released in 2006. It was good to celebrate those huge albums. Their eighth studio album, Simulation Theory, was released in 2018. I think that of Matt Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums) are working on new stuff. Before recommending Muse’s best albums, here is some biography from AllMusic:
“Evolving from their late-'90s alt-rock origins into a bombastic force that fused progressive rock, electronica, and pop, English trio Muse carved out a niche as a genre-blurring powerhouse that balanced intergalactic sci-fi and government-conspiracy-theory themes with yearning anthems of love and heartbreak. Initially plagued by Radiohead comparisons on debut Showbiz (1999), the trio steadily matured over a decade, incorporating a wide range of sonic inspirations ranging from the grandiose arena rock of Queen and the R&B-funk of Prince on Black Holes & Revelations (2006) to the dubstep grind of Skrillex on The 2nd Law (2012). In 2016, they scored their second Grammy win for Best Rock Album with the muscular, antiwar Drones, and in 2018 they issued the flashy, synth-heavy Simulation Theory. As their albums consistently topped international charts, Muse also built a reputation as a top live draw with award-winning concerts that often featured big-budget, U2-esque stage setups, selling out arenas and stadiums worldwide.
The band's core comprises guitarist/vocalist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard, a trio of friends who began playing music together in their hometown of Teignmouth, Devon. They started the first incarnation of the band at the age of 13, changing the name of the group from Gothic Plague to Fixed Penalty to Rocket Baby Dolls as time passed. By 1997, the bandmates settled on the name Muse and released their self-titled debut EP on Dangerous Records, followed by the Muscle Museum EP in 1998. The group's emotive, passionate sound and live presence drew critical acclaim and industry buzz, which resulted in a deal with Maverick Records after a trip to New York's CMJ Festival. The singles "Cave" and "Uno" preceded their debut full-length album, Showbiz, which was released toward the end of 1999. The effort went platinum and peaked inside the U.K. Top 30. Two years later, Muse issued Origin of Symmetry, which featured hit singles "New Born," "Plug in Baby," "Bliss," and "Hyper Music," which helped propel the album to multiplatinum status in the U.K. The following year, fans were treated to Hullabaloo Soundtrack, a combination of Showbiz/Origin rarities packaged with a Parisian live set that peaked at number ten in the U.K.
Muse returned in 2003 with their third album, Absolution, an apocalyptic sci-fi love epic that became the band's big U.S. breakthrough and first U.K. number one. Featuring radio hits "Time Is Running Out" and "Hysteria," Absolution eventually went platinum in the U.S. and triple-platinum back home. On their follow-up, the band pushed further into outer space and incorporated more beat-driven influences. Released in 2006, Black Holes & Revelations marked the band's brightest, most dynamic set of material to date, topping the U.K. album chart within its first week and earning Muse their second consecutive number one album at home. In America, the album broke into the Top Ten upon the strength of funky, Prince-indebted single "Supermassive Black Hole" and uplifting anthem "Starlight." Taking advantage of their expanding international reach, the band toured Europe, America, Australia, and Asia in support of the effort, and their dynamic stage performance won the band multiple awards for Best Live Act, including accolades from the NME Awards, the Q Awards, and the Vodafone Live Music Awards. (It was also captured on 2008's H.A.A.R.P. Live from Wembley.)
The trio spent the remainder of 2008, as well as the early part of 2009, in the recording studio, eventually emerging with The Resistance in September. Incorporating an epic orchestral scope on the album's closing "Exogenesis" trilogy and channeling Depeche Mode and Queen elsewhere, the album hit number one in more than a dozen countries, while lead single "Uprising" became their highest-charting U.S. song to date. The band kicked off another world tour, headlining shows as well as supporting U2. In 2011, Bellamy and company were asked to write the official theme for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which were being held in London, and the band returned with the triumphant rock anthem "Survival." The song also became the lead single of their next album, 2012's The 2nd Law. An outlier in their catalog, the album featured the electronic pop single "Madness," an experimental dubstep influence, and a pair of tracks written and sung by Wolstenholme. The road-hungry band undertook another large-scale tour to promote The 2nd Law, and their spectacular show at Rome's Olympic Stadium -- complete with pyrotechnics, video walls, and acrobats -- was filmed in ultra-high definition for the concert movie Live at Rome Olympic Stadium, which was released in December 2013.
When Muse returned to the studio, they took a step back from the electronic textures of The 2nd Law, returning to a heavier rock sound. In early March 2015, Muse issued the singles "Psycho" and "Dead Inside," the first offerings from their seventh studio long-player, Drones. Released in June of that year, the conceptual album was their fifth consecutive U.K. number one album and their first release to top the U.S. charts, netting them a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in February 2016. The accompanying Drones World Tour, which featured actual drones that flew over audiences, was captured on film and released to theaters in the summer of 2018. By that time, the band was already in the midst of promoting its neon-washed, '80s-inspired eighth LP, Simulation Theory, with singles "Dig Down," "Pressure," and "Dark Side." The effort was released that November and became their sixth consecutive U.K. chart-topper. An international tour occupied the band for much of 2019 and they closed the year with a massive box set that commemorated their Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry eras. Origin of Muse boasted nine CDs and four vinyl records, collecting the B-sides, demos, EPs, and some live tracks from each period. In 2021 Muse released a remixed and remastered version of their sophomore long-player titled Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX”.
If you are new to Muse or need some guidance as to which albums to buy, then I hope the suggestions below are of some use. I have listed their four essential albums, their underrated gem, the latest studio album. I have also named a book that is a useful guide. Here are my recommendations regarding where to start when it comes to…
THE epic Muse.
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The Four Essential Albums
Origin of Symmetry
Release Date: 18th June, 2001
Labels: Mushroom/Taste
Producers: David Bottrill/John Leckie/Muse
Standout Tracks: Space Dementia/Plug in Baby/Feeling Good
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/origin-of-symmetry and https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/origin-of-symmetry-xx-anniversary-remixx
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1Dh27pjT3IEdiRG9Se5uQn?si=VHqF9kihTuiU565j09xYQg&dl_branch=1
Review:
“In two years of public life Muse have accumulated a high-pressured mythology. Half a million copies of their debut 'Showbiz' and one iMac advert down the line, they've strewn a totemic trail of destroyed equipment, confessed to a taste for mushrooms, seances and Hector Berlioz's 'Grande Messe Des Morts', and announced, "If I couldn't do this I would not want to live".
The stakes were high. Their reinvention of grunge as a neo-classical, high gothic, future rock, full of pianolas and white-knuckle electric camp, is a precarious venture. Yet as the bloody abattoir riff kicks in on 'New Born', colliding with Bellamy's fairy dreamtime piano, it's apparent that Muse can handle their brutal arias.
Almost everything on 'Origin Of Symmetry' is overstated, but with Matt reined in by the constraints of a dirty rock three-piece, the operatic stuff is devastatingly channelled. 'Bliss' is all carnage riffs and a pleasingly corrupt lyric about innocence envy. 'Space Dementia' sets Bellamy's grand piano mastery up against vaulting rock. 'Hyper Music' burns with a genuinely new, art punk rage.
Given the ultra-vivid tones of Muse's palette - purity, insanity, corruption, virtual consciousness, Bach, metal and barking madness - it's not surprising they overstep their overstepping. A happy Bellamy singing (literally) to the butterflies on 'Feeling Good' sits oddly, and the organ fugue finale is somewhat Hammer horror, even if the track's called 'Megalomania'. But relentlessly, on 'Dark Shines', 'Screenager', particularly 'Micro Cuts' and of course 'Plug In Baby', they add vicious, original serrations to the hysterical edge of extreme rock. It's amazing for such a young band to load up with a heritage that includes the darker visions of Cobain and Kafka, Mahler and The Tiger Lillies, Cronenberg and Schoenberg, and make a sexy, populist album. But Muse have carried it off. It's their 'Siamese Dream'. Now begins the psychoanalysis.
Thom Yorke's least favourite word is 'angst'; Matt Bellamy's is about to become 'psychotic'. We're the lucky ones who get to look at the pretty shapes as the blood hits the wall” – NME
Choice Cut: New Born
Absolution
Release Date: 15th September, 2003
Labels: East West/Taste
Producers: John Cornfield/Rich Costey/Muse/Paul Reeve
Standout Tracks: Time Is Running Out/Stockholm Syndrome/Hysteria
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/absolution-669fd592-21aa-4633-bf4e-9975549b347d
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0HcHPBu9aaF1MxOiZmUQTl?si=EL2WBAxMQiWs5K8PgLU7MA&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Which brings us nicely to the inter-stellar guitar battle that is ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, possibly the most audacious and grandiose rock song of the last ten years. It’s where the sentiments of virtuosic muso munchkin, Matt Bellamy, become as crystal clear as his gruesomely beautiful voice. "Look to the stars…we’ll love and we’ll hate and we’ll die unto no avail," he gleams. Similar themes to Coldplay's 'Politik', except where Chris Martin and co simply stargaze, Muse Earthgaze from a distant star. These undertones of purity, fear and emotion override the whole record, and as the ricocheting solos clamber over each other, fighting for sonic superiority, you feel that the most progressively rock tune on the album must surely be the peak of this whole glorious affair.
Perhaps it is, because by the time we reach ‘Hysteria’, it seems like ‘just’ another overdose of future-rock, but there’s no dead weight here. It is true that Matt’s vocal phrasing does often plagiarise itself, but when the song lurches into the three-way harmonic guitar instrumental it all becomes clear. Absolution isn’t about revolution, it’s about elevation. Everything about Muse is on a completely different level to anyone currently claiming to be best band of the week. The only hyperbole here is the music.
The most painfully beautiful moment is the masterfully gushing ‘Falling Away With You’. Twinkling with the kind of meticulous guitar picking trademarked by Vinnie Reiley (The Durutti Column), it's the closest Matt comes to bearing a soul. Whilst the bursting middle section gushes into typical, extravagent Muse, gloriously juxtaposing the quiet part, the exquisiteness of the song definitely lies with the melody and guitar playing of the mellower sections, rather than the operatic hollering of which do occasionally threaten to overbear.
Sometimes though, they're incapable of going over the top. "Got to change the world and use this chance to be heard," Matt parades on ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’, as if it’s one of ten commandments. The track bursts and resonates across desolate minor chords, riveting time-signatures and flamboyant string arrangements. It isn’t just the masterful musical ability on show, nor even the quality of their songs, it’s their violent longing and instinctive ambition. This track is Muse coming of age. It's absolutely wonderful.
Reason, referencing and the constraints of genre took their leave of Muse long ago. As the possibility of any band coming forward to better them disappears faster than the last ‘revolutionary’ garage rock act, we're left to salute them as the best rock band of our generation. So scream for the guitar album of the year and sing for Absolution. God knows, we'll be singing” – Drowned In Sound
Choice Cut: Butterflies and Hurricanes
Black Holes and Revelations
Release Date: 3rd July, 2006
Labels: Helium-3/Warner Bros.
Producers: Rich Costey/Muse
Standout Tracks: Supermassive Black Hole/Assassin/City of Delusion
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/black-holes-and-revelations
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0lw68yx3MhKflWFqCsGkIs?si=wCzb5jymTMuhT2WGXw4Hrg&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Since forming in 1997, alternative rock trio Muse have ambitiously created a sound of their own, mixing elements of glam, pop, and symphonic music into a rock hybrid. While British fans have praised Muse for years, it wasn't until 2003's Absolution that Americans discovered the band and gave them their rightful props. Whether or not you championed the grand dramatics of Absolution, it was obvious that Muse are a solid and unique band, and Black Holes and Revelations, the follow-up, confirms those strengths with a passion. Rich Costey joins Muse in the co-production of this 11-song set; together, they create the band's most realized and meticulous album to date. "Take a Bow" sets the scene by layering full rock orchestration with waves of synthesizers and percussion, all of it building up to vocalist/guitarist Matthew Bellamy's aching observance of a world torn apart by its own instability. Though frequently compared to Queen's Freddie Mercury and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Bellamy comes into his own as a vocalist here, and he, drummer Dominic Howard, and bassist Chris Wolstenholme pull equal weight as instrumentalists throughout. The sultry, swaggering "Supermassive Black Hole" and the razor-edged, paranoiac "Assassin" are prime examples of how adamant Muse are about delivering the biggest rock & roll package possible, while "Starlight" proves they can write a radio-worthy anthem without jeopardizing their ethics. Bellamy howls "You and I must fight for our rights/You and I must fight to survive" during the riotous, Rush-like megalomania of "Knights of Cydonia," and it's true -- they've totally fought for their craft on this one. It may have taken four albums for Americans to get with the program, but with Black Holes and Revelations, the whole world should be watching” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Knights of Cydonia
The 2nd Law
Release Date: 28th September, 2012
Labels: Warner Bros./Helium-3
Producer: Muse
Standout Tracks: Panic Station/Survival/Liquid State
Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/2nd-Law-VINYL-Muse/dp/B008N4XC2I
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3KuXEGcqLcnEYWnn3OEGy0?si=7jFRysoUTVSZx6Fiz__IhA&dl_branch=1
Review:
“The understated single Madness suggested a new stripped-back approach: there's not much to it beyond an electronic bassline, a decent pop song and Bellamy's vocal, which declines to unexpectedly burst into an ear-splitting falsetto (or scream), or proclaim the imminent arrival of the apocalypse, or indeed do any of the things he usually does within seconds of getting near a microphone. But clearly any discussions about toning it down a bit were shortlived. Supremacy's musical DNA is equal parts Led Zeppelin's Kashmir and Wings' Live and Let Die: its idea of restraint is to leave it a minute and a half before bringing the choir in. It should be noted that, Madness aside, The 2nd Law's lowest-key track is Animals, which concludes with what sounds like a recording of a riot in full swing.
In fact, the most obvious sign of change on The 2nd Law is its incorporation of the kind of dubstep produced by Skrillex and dismissed by its detractors as "brostep". It actually meshes with Muse's existing style remarkably well, perhaps because Muse and your average brostep producer are cut from the same cloth in at least one sense: neither of them has much interest in subtlety. Unsubtle or not, the concluding two-part title track – the most obviously brostep-indebted thing here – is thunderously exciting stuff, a boiling mass of fidgety strings, electronic voices and sub-bass wobble.
This is obviously all great rollicking fun, but there are problems with The 2nd Law. You can see why the organisers thought Muse would be the right band to provide the official song of London 2012, but Survival didn't work – partly because it seems to have no tune whatsoever, but mostly because it didn't fit the event. The Olympics turned out to be as much about tiny human stories – from Chad le Clos's dad to Kirani James and Oscar Pistorius swapping nametags – as epic spectacle. With their choirs, string-laden intro, hysterical vocals and lyrics you might characterise as a bit Ayn Randy – "I chose to survive whatever it takes … vengeance is mine … Fight! Win!" – Muse got the scale but missed the humanity. Six albums in, this is a recurring problem: amusing and enjoyable as the aural histrionics are, you do start to wonder what, if anything, they're trying to express, or if it's just bombast for bombast's sake.
Occasionally, you get the sense the band's sound is actually antithetical to genuine emotional impact. Follow Me is a song about Bellamy's baby son: "I will keep you safe, I will protect you, I won't let them harm you," he sings. He obviously means it, but delivered as it is, in a portentous voice that leaves teeth-marks on the scenery, to a backdrop of distorted dive-bombing bass (courtesy of co-producers Nero) and florid synthesiser arpeggios, it sounds like he doesn't. Similarly, it's hard to tell whether there's actual political conviction behind the title track's equation of the second law of thermodynamics with global economic collapse, or if it's just showy grandiloquence, a lyrical counterpart to one of Bellamy's more baroque guitar solos.
None of this stops The 2nd Law from being a hugely entertaining album. Nor will it stop it being a vast success. After all, no one goes to see a blockbuster for its profundity and deep characterisation. They go for the stunts and the special effects, both of which The 2nd Law delivers” – The Guardian
Choice Cut: Madness
The Underrated Gem
Drones
Release Date: 5th June, 2015
Labels: Helium-3/Warner Bros.
Producers: Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange/Muse
Standout Tracks: Psycho/The Handler/Defector
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/7088529
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2wart5Qjnvx1fd7LPdQxgJ?si=jrWLeibXQAqZDw2wnX8VoA&dl_branch=1
Review:
“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” – NME
Choice Cut: Reapers
The Latest Album
Simulation Theory
Release Date: 9th November, 2018
Labels: Warner Bros./Helium-3
Producers: Rich Costey/Mike Elizondo/Muse/Shellback/Timbaland
Standout Tracks: Propaganda/Something Human/Thought Contagion
Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Simulation-Theory-VINYL-Muse/dp/B07FPYQT3W
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5OZgDtx180ZZPMpm36J2zC?si=nYEo6Q9PS2KgOoXmdwn1NQ&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Whether they're fighting alien invaders, shadowy government conspiracies, or the Apocalypse, Muse always do it for love. On their eighth effort, Simulation Theory, they attempt to break through the virtual matrix in search of that human connection and freedom from the machine. The least complicated or overly conceptual offering (for Muse) in over a decade, the 11-song set is focused and cohesive, blaring down a neon-washed highway of pulsing synths and driving beats while swerving to avoid the orchestral and dubstep meandering of their preceding 2010s output. Unlike these same predecessors, there's also no filler or wasted time, making it the most compulsively listenable and immediate Muse album since 2006's Black Holes & Revelations. Fully embracing their sci-fi tendencies, the trio dip into the nostalgic '80s, tapping the aesthetics of Tron, Blade Runner, and composer John Carpenter. After the dramatic opener, "Algorithm," introduces this new Muse era, they launch into "The Dark Side," one of their strongest singles to date, which blends the urgency of "Bliss" with the groove of "Map of the Problematique." Meanwhile, "Pressure" is a rollicking, horn-backed blast that wouldn't sound out of place blaring from the stadium speakers at a football game. From here, the simulation gets weirder as some of frontman Matt Bellamy's big influences rear their heads. His Prince love returns on the slinky, Timbaland-assisted "Propaganda" -- the type of camp that Muse have been perfecting for years -- while an homage to Tom Morello's guitar stylings -- wonky, down-tuned riffs and hip-hop scratching -- collide with Bellamy's pseudo-rapping on "Break It to Me." On the second half of the album, the mood is lifted as the simulation begins to crack. The uplifting "Something Human" is the "Invincible"/"Guiding Light" of Simulation Theory, leading into singalong anthems such as "Thought Contagion" and the politically charged "Madness" redux "Dig Down." Swedish singer Tove Lo even makes an appearance on the unexpectedly gorgeous "Get Up and Fight," a huge rallying cry produced by Shellback. On an album packed with such catalog standouts, the highlight here is "Blockades," which propels along a pounding gallop that recalls "City of Delusion" and "Knights of Cydonia." While Simulation Theory might appear to be overly polished mainstream trickery -- all part of the simulation! -- it's purely Muse at heart, successfully merging electronic-pop songcraft with their typically urgent, stadium rock foundation” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Pressure
The Muse Book
Muse: Out of This World
Author: Mark Beaumont
Publication Date: 10th February, 2014
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Synopsis:
“This updated edition of the bestselling biography now includes new interviews with the band conducted by the author between 2010 and 2012, including many extremely personal, never-before-seen passages. Alongside this is a detailed new chapter to the book, covering the extensive world tour for 'The Resistance' and the relationship break-ups, wild LA rock'n'roll parties, alcohol addictions and recoveries that led to the writing and recording of Muse's most recent album 'The 2nd Law'. Exploring the meanings behind the songs themselves, the chapter concludes with first-hand accounts of several up-close-and-personal live shows and looks forward to the huge stadium tour of the summer” – Waterstones