There's a lot to be said in favour of musical ambition. Far too many bands are content to churn out similar sounding records every time they do something or make the minimal amount of change possible to their sound.
Kudos has to go to Muse, whose every album feels like a departure from the one before it. But this has been divisive, with many people happy to call them Radiohead or Queen soundalikes and thinking they need to restrain themselves.
The 2nd Law arrives at an interesting time for the band. Despite 5th album The Resistance topping the charts in 19 countries and leading to a tour that sold out some of the world's biggest venues, it has gone down as one of Muse's worst albums.
Certainly, as a Muse fan, I liked the album at first but three years on there's only 4/5 songs I listen to, whereas I would happily play the preceding three albums back-to-back-to-back.
With promises of their most diverse album, it remains to be seen what they have created this time. Well, here's what they've created:
1. Supremacy
Muse album openers usually tend to be songs that build into crescendos, with only Uprising immediately going for the heavy punches. This, however, is also a heavier tune, with meaty riffs reminiscent of Led Zeppelin, Bond-film string parts and huge falsetto yelps.
It's strangely similar to Citizen Erased from Origin of Symmetry, with the slow verses leading into heaviness, albiet with a cheeky Bond-theme chord at the end to close the song. Even after one song it seems we have an early contender for one of Muse's biggest and best numbers.
2. Madness
This is technically the lead single but it's feels a weird choice. Although Bellamy has genuinely meaningful lyrics, it feels somewhat underdevolped for a lead single. The hypnotic m-m-m-m-mad-mad-madness synth line and basic drum beat gives it a more minimal feel, save for a fairly pointless Brian May influenced guitar solo and electro-pop style end.
On it's own terms its a good pop song, but as the lead single for a rock band's record it's more than a bit of a let down. Saying that, it sounds a lot better louder.
3. Panic Station
Funk. If you want to pigeon-hole this song's genere down to one word, the word you're looking for is funk and quite a few people seem to be going "what the funk" after hearing this one. The devilish bass groove and drum parts are impressive, but that's nothing compared to a huge guitar riff and brass solos.
It sounds like a cross between Red Hot Chili Peppers and brass-led ballroom music, which is both ridiculous and faintly laughable. But it also has created one hell of a tune that not only works, but is delightful in doing so. It certainly sounds more lead single territory than Madness did.
4. Prelude
Technically the first cut aired from The 2nd Law, this is just over a minute of lovely, almost filmic piano, strings, trumpets and brass.
5. Survival
After the calm, the histronic storm. The official 2012 Olympic song starts off with rather odd jazz piano, handclaps, choir noises and possibly some of Bellamy's iffiest lyrics... "Race, life's a race, and I'm gonna win" doesn't exactly scream lyrical genius. And this is before things truly go over-the-top with some huge riffs similar to those in Supremacy before an almighty ending where the singer sounds like he's right at the edge of his vocal capability.
Yet somehow, everything works. It feels truly anthemic, like We Are The Champions written for The Hunger Games. It seems to fit in more with the album then it did when it first surfaced at the start of the summer, given the apocalyptic overtones it feels more like a blast for survival.
6. Follow Me
Possibly the first rave song about raising a kid that starts with piano and baby heartbeats. After the sombre piano build up, keyboards begin to swell in place of the baby heartbeat sounds and the song begins to bubble before hitting a full on rock-rave drop.
This song begun life as a rock song and I can't help but feel it would work better as such a song, although it does make a lot more sense in live versions. It has a peculiar sound when it hits this part with sounds like Kasabian, U2, Nero's own work (they produced the album mix) and various 80s dancefloor hits.
7. Animals
This song is oddly reminiscent of Showbiz-era Muse, with delicately precise flamenco guitars and a spiralling piano riff underpining the tune. It's only the aggresive banker-baiting lyrics that hint at change from that era - well, that, the time signature of the piece, and the ending riff layered with aggresive chanting.
Without the aggressive stockbroker chanting at the end of the piece and more prominence on the riff, this would have ended better. As it is though, it is still a very good piece, with the spindly structure and lovely falsetto cries of "strike those in distress" particularly making up a strong track.
8. Explorers
Twinkling pianos seems to be a recurring theme, with just vocals and Matt saying "There is nothing left for you". However this song really goes into what the hell territory when it suddenly develops a melody reminscent of Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, Christmas carol-like melodies and bells and, perhaps even more ridiculously, ends with the phrase "Ssssshhhhhh... go to sleep".
For a song previously described as the album's most pessimistic and defeatist song, there is something oddly uplifting about it's instrumentation. Lyrically though there is bleakness in it, but it passes by fairly unremarkably and certainly goes on a little considering that, at almost six minutes, it's the albums longest number.
9. Big Freeze
Anyone who listens to the musical stylings of Bono and company will find this one surprisingly familiar. The guitar tone, in particular, is very Edge, although the bass is a lot heavier in the chorus. A Brian May-solo also rears its head towards the end, making what feels like a sort of Stadium Rock 101.
U2 are a very love-it-or-loathe-it band and your opinion of them certainly flavours this tune. But this song just feels like something Bono could write in his sleep, making for a fairly underwhelming song.
10. Save Me
This is a real scene change for Muse - the first song on one of their albums not sung by Matt Bellamy. Instead bass player Chris Wolstenholme steps up to the lead microphone for the first of two numbers relating to his alcoholism.
This is the softer of the two numbers penned by the bass player at first, but like a lot of good Muse songs, it spirals into a heavier piece with some impressive drum work and some lovely work on the keyboards. It's certainly a grower of a tune.
11. Liquid State
Heavier Muse songs tend to be fan favourites and this is certainly one of the heavier numbers of the record. A huge guitar riff and pummeling drums fuel this number, while Chris' voice certainly fits in well with cries of "bring me peace and wash away my dirt" blending nicely into the riffs.
It sounds quite like Foo Fighters with a heavier punch on the guitar work, and Chris' vocal tone is oddly reminscent of Dave Grohl. The chorus is also fairly punchy, with billowing synth and shouty guitars. It makes for a punchy early Muse tune quite similar to Dead Star, and it is also one of the best tunes from the record.
12. The 2nd Law: Unsustainable
This is the trailer music that caused huge rumbles on the internet that Muse had turned into a dubstep act. Yet it's more hugely ambitious than that.
Spiralling strings and ominous newsreader lines about the 2nd law of thermodynamics give way to a rock interpretation of dubstep, robots chanting "unsustainable!" and a huge prog-rock style solo. The whole song is ambitious, ridiculous, and probably one of the album's best songs.
13. The 2nd Law: Isolated System
After the huge storm comes something completley wilder and different. Exorcist-style pianos and strings kick-start a song that builds up, almost like a filmic journey into the unknown. An almost gallery of shouting newsreaders and what sounds like the baby heartbeats out of Follow Me surface through it.
Even this is not prepared for a huge storm-like swell that could very well soundtrack an apocalypse movie, before the sounds of a powering down UFO and fractured repetitions of the line "In an isolated system, entropy can only increase" send the album hurting to a stop.
Overall the album is a very confused piece of music. Unlike previous albums where things flowed very well, it's only really the vocals, certain sounds (a guitar riff here, a twinkly sound there) and the production (which is top-notch thoroughout) that indicate the songs share an album, and even then there a few numbers that could ideally be ommitted.
As songs though, there are a number of songs that come close to a top Muse 30, with Supremacy and Unsustainable top 15 at least. And it's the strength of the songs in question that are the highlights, rather than any cohesion or it being a fantastic collection of songs.
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment