Great album but the dub-step sort of spoils the momentum.
Muse Resistance album released in 2009 was a great album. Reviews of the album were mixed as most thought Muse was trying to sound like Queen in a few tracks, but they were able to blend their sound into each track well. Making Resistance a fine album in its own respects, but the transition from Resistance to 2nd Law has a lot of precautionary actions to be taken into consideration before reading on. One: This is still Muse, Bellamy still sounds like himself and the Muse-like sound is still infused in each track. High energy with strong vocals and fascinating lyrics, however all the good feels like it will shortly come to an end on a few tracks. This is where two will come into play. Dub-step with plenty of wobble and enough of it to make die-hard Muse fans want to barf. But before you go and think that this is another one of those songs that sounds the same like the rest. You just have to remember that Muse did incorporate electronic sounds into their music way before Resistance. Just think, super massive Black Hole, Bellamy wanted to create a funky danceable song that was different from anything Muse had ever done.
There are really better ways of creating danceable songs without going the lame route of dub-step. Which all sounds the same and can be heard in so many pops songs on the radio. Before we sound like we are bashing Muse, let’s get more into the new album. The first single released from the album was Survival. This song was used as the official song of the 2012 Olympics in London. Survival starts off as an innocent song that gradually builds up as the song goes on. It’s a typical Muse song that gets really loud and full of energy in a very short amount of time. The song gets pretentious very quickly and the lyrics get very stellar and dry quickly. It’s a great song with strong vocals and instruments used to give it such strong energy, but at times it feels rather sloppy and over the top. Madness is an okay song and was intended to appeal more to the fan base who loves the wobble – wobble from the dub-step. Bellamy grabs much inspiration from Queen I just want to break free and George Michael’s Faith including samples of I want your sex. Another song that grabbed mixed reviews, most of them were positive in favor of this track. It’s a catchy pop track and displays a new direction that the band is trying to head into.
Follow Me is another fine example of how Muse can take a song and push it over the top. Bellamy vocals sound so crisp and strong, the lyrics are good and the energy is high. It feels like it’s going to lead up to a fantastic array of guitars and drum solos. Instead the vocals are quickly greeted with once again wobble – wobble from the dub-step. It sounds as if the song is trying to be edgy and ended up failing completely on all aspects. But then again, the song isn’t completely bad if this is your first time listening to the band. However for hardcore fans, this will either disappoint or you’ll learn to love it like their previous albums. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, the rest of the album is actually not that bad. Panic Station takes inspiration from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. The song itself is not that bad, it’s quite catchy and Bellamy vocals are decent. Big Freeze and Animals are also very good songs as well. After that, the rest of the album just goes from okay it’s starting to sound good to what the fuck Muse? It seems as if Muse isn’t really playing their instruments in the tracks. This once again pulls inspiration from Resistance the last three tracks were just completely random from the rest of the album. It wasn’t bad because the music was raw and full of energy. But this however just makes you wonder what was really going on when they were recording these songs.
2nd Law really does open new doors for the band. They are entering new sounds, and are really trying to make a statement for themselves. Many fans will miss their more guitar heavy songs such as Plug in Baby, Sober and Uno which was a symphony of guitars. Those were the great songs of the past and the new Muse dipping into new charts that were never before thought to happen. It’s not bad but it just doesn’t quite fit the image that you’d expect from Muse. It’s a great album, but it was gradual let down by the lame dub-step and pretentious Survival song. The rest is a great collage of songs and really is a good listen if you try to ignore the early days of Muse Career. Try to see them as growing with them time’s kind of album and you’ll see why Muse is still a great band despite the few somewhat stellar songs. ****
Devon M
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