I am a 41 year old guy who likes to share his opinion with others. I love music and sport, in partic...
I am a 41 year old guy who likes to share his opinion with others. I love music and sport, in particular football. I enjoy socialising with friends and have been known to play quizzes from time to time.
Member since:02.09.2009
Reviews:13
Members who trust:1
Prior to this album I was never a fan of Muse. I thought they were very "arthouse" without much substance. This album however changed my attitude towards them, so much so that I am more or less certain to buy their next album when it is released in a couple of weeks time and may go back and listen to "Absolution" which was the previous album.
This album spawned 5 UK hits singles, 2 of which reached the top 10 and 2 others which reached the top 20, "Invincible", the other single even reached number 21 so was hardly a failure.
"Take A Bow" is a more than satisfactory opening track. People who are familiar with Muse's music will probably class this as a typical Muse track.
Although there is no title track, "Starlight" contains the title within the lyrics and is a very good song.
Next up is "Supermassive Black Hole" and I think this is the track that probably turned me on to Muse. It is probably their most commercially aware song to date and explains why it is their biggest hit so far having reached number 4. I had always felt the vocals had been overlooked in favour of the instrumentation in the past but this track changed all that for me. This is my second favourite track on the album.
"Map Of The Problematique" is a rather dark tale exploring relationships and their difficulties. The lyrics here are quite deep as they often seem to be.
"Soldier's Poem" is a much slower track with a hint of "Bohemian Rhapsody" harmonies about it. A very short track at just over two minutes, there are obvious political references here.
Continuing in the more relaxed vein "Invincible" takes a while to get going but is not a bad song either.
"Assassin" rattles along at a fair pace whilst "Exo-Politics" is similarly aggressive and sees more deep lyrics, there is a hint in the title after all.
"City Of Delusion" has a gentle opening before building up the tempo a little.
Don't be put off "Hoodoo" by the spaghetti western style opening. What follows is very good.
"Knights Of Cydonia" finishes things of in style. I think it is the medieval feel to the song that does it for me and it just explodes into classic rock at the end with superb vocals. This is my favourite song on the album and in my opinion the best Muse song to date. I hope there will be more tracks like this on future releases.
The album lasts just over 45 minutes in total and I think this is just about the right length.
I can see why Muse might be classed as a Prog Rock band but for me it is more inspiring than what might have been classed as part of this genre 20 or 30 years ago. I'm not a big fan categorising music anyway and my opinion is that Muse are unique in some ways in the current market.
I would certainly recommend this album. It must be some good as it was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize and it may have won if Arctic Monkeys debut album had not also been on the list.
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I love "Starlight" and "Supermassive Black Hole", but the rest of the album is a bit hit and miss for me. Lexy
coco_pixie 03.09.2009 21:06
good coverage of the album, fab review =]
obscuredbykep 03.09.2009 19:46
I love Muse, and this album has some ace tracks, though personally, I prefer "Origin of Symmetry" as an album - that is amazing and what drew me to Muse.
Advantages: Wide range of styles; MotP; live, these songs are amazing; band's talent is immense Disadvantages: So many different styles, some may not appeal to you
Advantages: Wide range of styles; MotP; live, these songs are amazing; band's talent is immense Disadvantages: So many different styles, some may not appeal to you
Advantages: An awesome piece of work. No music fan should be without. Disadvantages: Not long enough! Could be challenging to beat in terms of quality.
Sep 3rd, 2009
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