I've been a Muse fan for years. Not necessarily as hardcore as some other bands I like, but I've retained an interest in them and I saw them at Fuji Rock Festival 2010 (just sayin' . . .). They were one of the first rock bands that I actually properly listened to, so I have them to thank for preparing me to enter the world of music that I am in now. However, I have always been a bit wary of the things Matt Bellamy does when you let him compose music - I'm talking about that clarinet solo in I Belong To You (+ Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix) - so I was apprehensive about their latest album, The 2nd Law, when it came out. I heard Madness a few times, and to be honest, it disappointed me, so I neglected to give the album a proper listen.
Time has passed since then, though, and I'm feeling that I should at least give the album one try, especially since Supremacy sounds so badass.
Supremacy
I love how this starts off. You can tell it's building up to something awesome, and the riff makes me nearly wet myself. The vocals get a bit boring, because they're so slow, but Matt's voice is always so powerful, and then that high-pitched bit is jaw-dropping. I like the Western-style bit at the very end.
Madness
This one . . . it's the 'ma-ma-ma' thing that gets to me. This song makes me constantly feel like it's going to kick off into some awesome crazy chorus, and it just doesn't. There's the guitar solo, yes, but I want the whole thing to go faster, not just Matt's guitar. It's more of a stadium one, this. Maybe the effect of the song isn't best felt in a small bedroom.
Panic Station
Bass. Funky bass. This is really quite cool. Wow, I like this one, it sounds kind of eighties. Wow. Wowwww. I am all over this. I have no idea what's going on here, but this is fucking awesome. I believe I have indeed arrived at Panic Station. Matt seems to be having a lot of fun singing this, too. It reminds me of The Cure a bit, vaguely similar to Hot Hot Hot! Duuuudde this is my favourite song on the album, I think.
Prelude
Why is this the fourth track? Oh, what a surprise, it's a piano one. What a bloody surprise. Muse just lives in a piano, don't they? Can we not just give Matt Bellamy an orchestra for his birthday?
Survival
This sounds like the start of a musical. What's going on here? Yeah, it sounds a lot like the start of a musical, the powerful main diva's solo number. Actually kind of reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West. Oh, the guitar is awesome, yes yes yes. I get the feeling that sometimes his wife wakes up in the middle of the night because he's crept downstairs and just started playing this in the living room, and she has to drag him off to bed with him still shouting "I'M GONNA WIN!". Jesus Christ, he can hit high notes.
Follow Me
This is the one with his son's heartbeat in, isn't it? That beating thing sounds like a heart. His son's going to be so creeped out when he hears this song when he's older. Ooh, I like this. This is promising. Ooh, dubstep, and well-applied dubstep at that. Yes, this is good. I was hoping for guitars, but I think it's better like this. I like this one, but I think it'll grow on me even more, given time.
Animals
Sounds very faintly similar to New Born at the very beginning. It's quite quiet, but it sounds like it's hiding something. So far, this sounds the most similar to their older stuff. It definitely sounds more familiar than the others.
Explorers
Gentle piano stuff, kind of dreamy, like a lullaby. Very chilled out. Is this what he plays for his son at night? It's kind of freaking me out a bit though.
Big Freeze
Oooh, this sounds like the theme to Bugs Life! Ooh, I like this. Very uplifting and cool-sounding. I like the use of backing vocals on this album.
Save Me
This is not Matt singing. What is this? What's going on here? I'm not sure about this one. It's venturing too far into the realm of powdery clouds and unicorns, even for this album. It drags a bit, this one.
Liquid State
Oh, now this sounds good. Dark and badass, and I like dark and badass. Sounds like the older stuff as well. This is a vast improvement on Save Me. Yes, this one's good.
The Second Law: Unsustainable
Aah. This sounds like some crazy evil villain's soundtrack. This is the one with the Earl of Lemongrab (from Adventure Time) version, I think - yes, it's here. Oh god, they've actually put the second law of thermodynamics into this, I thought that this was a joke when I saw it on tumblr. This is the most interesting physics I've ever heard. Wow, that was good.
The Second Law: Isolated System
Piano again. What is this? The isolated system was mentioned in Unsustainable. Oh god, it's like the news is attacking. This is good, but I feel like it's kind of unnecessary after Unsustainable. They could have finished the album there and we wouldn't have lost out on anything major.
It's a better album than I originally thought it would be. Not amazing, as there's a few too many tracks that don't quite cut it, or just seem to be the band resting on their laurels, but then there's a fair few amazing ones in there as well that really stand out. I'm glad I listened to this at last.
No comments:
Post a Comment