Origin Of Symmetry - Muse

Advantages: Consistency of tracks, nice guitar work, can be heavy
Disadvantages: Overblown? Falsetto overkill?

Origin of Symmetry opens quietly with the piano arpeggios of single, 'New Born'. Note Matthew Bellamy's noisy breath intake (his style). Thankfully, this is a rock record and soon, with a distorted guitar riff he signals the band to do what they do best (that is rock by the way). As the drop D riff relies on a chord progression to get anywhere, none of the parts of the song stood out to me - thus making for a good but not great start to the album. ...
...only acoustic guitar song on Origin of Symmetry is an obvious target for weakest track on the album but the use of guitar scales and percussion (human skulls, apparently) makes it not too bad a listen. As a conclusion, 'Megalomania' doesn't hit you until the chorus with it's pipe organ, though there is a (keyboard) alto sax waltzing about in there, still, with Bellamy's vocal overlays being at their most ambitious it's a nice way for the album to ... Read review

Advantages: Everything
Disadvantages: Just a bit long and drawn out.

...to Radioh-sorry, Muse's new album, Origin of The Bends. Or was it Origin of Symettry. I just bought the new Muse album, Origin of Symmetry. Amazing stuff! I used to be a professional Muse hater, but now thanks to just randomly picking up the new album at my local CD shop (17 miles away...) I am now heavily in to Muse. Many people have described them as being extremely similar to Radiohead's older stuff (eg. The Bends), which I have to agree with. ...
...listenable. Origin of Symmetry does seem very similar to The Bends, and this can only be a good thing. It's a bit heavier, and more radio-friendly than The Bends, and seems just as angsty. The current singles we have had so far are Plug in Baby and New Born, both amazing tracks. Bliss is also in the grinding wheels of coming out. If like me, you watch quite a lot of music TV (like Kerrang!, MTV2 and Q, not the awful standard MTV pop-tripe), then ... Read review

Advantages: Great tracks which you will come back to time after time.
Disadvantages: Leaves you wanting more Muse :)

Here is guitar-based music at an extremely high level indeed. This is the second album released be this alternative three piece and it only goes to extend there reputation as being one of England best new bands. The album starts off with New Born, which is a well-crafted piece, which shows Matthew Bellamey putting together a great riff that is backed up by the usual high standard of Chris Wolstenholmes bass lines, this is the kind of song you can ...
...gives you a good jolt of adrenaline. Next up is Bliss after the initial pulse of New Born this track brings you back to a normal pace again and with some fine keyboard work this is again a gem of a song and after a few plays will become a firm favourite. Third up is Space Dementia another slower paced piano piece here and with Matthew singing in such manner as a wounded animal (hurt but still able to inflict pain of his on) it can give you Goosebumps ... Read review

Advantages: Heavy rock, light rock, alt rock- a flippin big mix
Disadvantages: One weak track :-(

The opener on this album is the highly infectious New Born . This is where you get a small taster of Matt Bellamy's piano skills, it's just him, a piano and Dom on drums for 1:20. Then you get the inevitable transition to guitar and what a sweet transition it is too. This is where Matt exhibits his guitar ability, ok, it's an easy riff but remember, he�s playing this through the whole song, which takes stamina. One noticeable thing about a ...
...the bass while the synth work is going on. Dom's Drumming on this song isn't particularly anything to write home about except in the choruses. The intro to Bliss is Matt on his trusty Synthesizer, this synth loop carries on throughout the whole song. One thing that is truly noticeable is Matt�s songwriting skills, in this it's worshipping/ stalker lyrics everything about you is how I want to be� tell me that doesn't sound a bit creepy. ... Read review

Advantages: More muse obviously
Disadvantages: too many swirling pianos

...Woolies for the album entitled Origin of Symmetry, I had a mild panic attack when I couldn’t find it! Not to worry it was right there under my nose in bright orange. How could I miss that?! So I picked it up, gazed at the back of it to check it was the right album…yup, Plug In Baby was there. Paid for it, got home, put it in the CD player and pressed play. Oh my, I thought, am I disappointed? Or do I need another listen? Another listen ...
...back with their second album Origin of Symmetry. Their sound has changed somewhat from their last album and perhaps is more experimental and not so bassline heavy as the first album. However Muse more than make up for that with new instruments including Matt Bellamys zipper to his flies. Nice? Ahem… The songs on this album are a mixed bunch of imaginative lyrics but some tunes are kind of lacking in that Muse trademark hook. I have thoroughly ... Read review

Advantages: A good 21st century rock record
Disadvantages: Lyrics are rather obscure to say the least

...Origin Of Symmetry was Muse's second album and came out in summer 2001, predated by two earlier singles Plug In Baby and New Born, both of which are pretty representative of the overall sound of this album. The CD came complete with a set of pictures by various artists all titled "Origin Of Symmetry", which I thought was a nice touch. God knows what the cover is supposed to represent but as an album cover it looks pretty good I reckon. For a three piece, Muse get to deliver a pretty powerful sound. It's obvious to me that this is Matt Bellamy's band, and although bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dom Howard are not there just to make up the numbers, it's Bellamy's plaintive vocals and (occasionally overplayed) guitar that dominates. Whilst the lyrics are quite often incomprehensible, the arrangements and playing are... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Every track is amazing!
Disadvantages: None! Great album!

...Origin of symmetry is the second studio album of musical hitmakers MUSE! The Devon born artists recorded the album through a number of recording studios from tracking in abbey road studios (where previous music superstars the beatles had famously recorded of course!) to mastering the album in sonys mastering studio! The album was finally released in June 2001 on mushroom records. The album did remain relatively close in style to their previous, and debut, album 'showbiz' unlike the bands most recently released album 'black holes and revelations' which has quite a unique new sound for the band. The album quickly took off around the world and featured in the top 75 of Q magazines top 100 albums. One of the tracks on the album in particular is the only cover to feature on one if their released albums, the track 'feeling good... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: See op
Disadvantages: See op

...Muse have had a huge amount of pressure on them in the music business. Being compares to several top bands, most notably Radiohead and a superb debut 'Showbiz' meant that they have a lot to live up to in the future. 'Origins of Symmetry' received a lot of publicity, and if all the pressure could have cracked them, it really does not show. Still a great second attempt, if not up to the standards of the first, this is a great piece of music. 'Origins of Symmetry' is the second album from Muse, a trio from pretty close to me down here in sunny Devon, they are South Devon bouys from Teignmouth. Matt Bellamy is the lead singer as well as pianist and guitarist, bass with Chris Wolstenhome and drummer Dominic Howard. Their first album Showbiz won them a lot of praise and are currently signed to Maverick Records. This is only their... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful