After recently watching one of the best live performances I've ever seen at Reading Festival this bank holiday weekend, I felt it completely necessary to review what is, in my opinion, Muse's best album to date; Origin Of Symmetry.
After the general success of their debut Showbiz, this second ... Read review
Pomposity, bombast, pretension and prog-rock: they're four crimes that blight the ... more
landscape of modern music andOrigin Of Symmetry--the second record by Teignmouth angst-rockers Muse--is guilty of every single one. But the truly astonishing thing about this record is the way it twists every one of these cardinal musical sins into spectacularly silly and starkly individual strengths. Where their debut albumShowbizwas rightly dismissed as little more than Radiohead-lite, here Muse sound defiantly like their own band: on "New Born", they're torn somewhere between the purity of front man Matt Bellamy's angelic vocal tones and the corruption of a huge, dirty, distorted bass riff that electrifies the sound into crackling life; on the fraught, operatic "Bliss", they sound like an unholy--but very welcome--cross between synth-heavy Krautrock legends Tangerine Dream and youthful choirboy angst-peddlers JJ72; and even a wonderfully dippy take on the Nina Simone-popularised jazz standard "Feeling Good" is carried off with the requisite deadpan countenance. Bellamy's impassioned voice, in particular, is on spectacular form, soaring skywards until it cracks into a beautiful falsetto reminiscent of Jeff Buckley's greatest vocal moments. So gloriously overblown, it deserves to be huge--Origin Of Symmetryis a fascinating, flamboyant and satisfyingly individual album.--Louis Pattison
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Advantages: Brilliant, energetic music Disadvantages: Disadvantages?!?
...Muse's best album to date; Origin Of Symmetry.
After the general success of their debut Showbiz, this second album raised them into the high-society of headlining rock music acts. After this weekend's show, it's easy to see why Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard are thought of so highly.
Opener New Born, is simply breath-taking. The piano introduction builds the song up perfectly, with Bellamy's eerie ... ...perfect compliment. Then it all happens. The piano's die down and it comes the electric guitars, with a riff full of energy, rhythm and excitment. From then on the verses keep the tempo up to a fast pace before the crash-bang-wallop of the chorus with Bellamy's cries of "Destroy the spineless, show me it's real. Wasting their last chance to come away." It doesn't matter how often I listen to this song, I cannot get tired of it. And at six ... more
After recently watching one of the best live performances I've ever seen at Reading Festival this bank holiday weekend, I felt it completely necessary to review what is, in my opinion, Muse's best album to date; Origin Of Symmetry.
After the general success of their debut Showbiz, this second album raised them into the high-society of headlining rock music acts. After this weekend's show, it's easy to see why Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard are thought of so highly.
Opener New Born, is simply breath-taking. The piano introduction builds the song up perfectly, with Bellamy's eerie vocals - Thom Yorke-esque at times - acting as a perfect compliment. Then it all happens. The piano's die down and it comes the electric guitars, with a riff full of energy, rhythm and excitment. From then on the verses keep the tempo up to a fast pace before the crash-bang-wallop of the chorus with Bellamy's cries of "Destroy the spineless, show me it's real. Wasting their last chance to come away." It doesn't matter how often I listen to this song, I cannot get tired of it. And at six minutes longly, it's purely epic.
The follow-up to that is Bliss, and don't think it drops the standard. A quiet intro, that breaks into distorted guitars and drumbeats quicker than New Born. The choruses here show perfectly the band's penchant for the melodic vocals of Bellamy over quick rhythms which fit perfectly.
Space Dementia, like New Born at six minutes in length and with a piano introduction, shows the band's liking as well for musical effects. Guitar and vocal effects such as reverb are used in amounts here to produce another beautiful piece of music.
Now, I notice numerous music reviews on here, many of mine included to be honest, review song after song, which I find often at times to be labourious to read, so I felt I ought to avoid going down this route, but it's still certainly worth here mention a couple of other cracking, stand-out songs.
A track many people will be familiar with is Plug-In Baby. It's exciting, pacey guitar intro riff is synonymous with Muse. All you need to know about it is the energy of it, proven especially when performed live, is immense. Never letting down, yet never tiring the listener out by being over the top with repetitive bass drum banging and guitar crunching, like many "heavy" rock bands tend to do.
A good track to mention is the band's cover of Feeling Good. Bellamy's competence on the piano, as well as the guitar, are showcased here. To cover such a song in a "Muse" way may confuse people, but for those originally unaware that is was a cover, they'd struggle to realise it as the band make it sound like the perfect Muse track.
The overall competence of the band to consistently produce big tracks on this the album is something that many bands can only dream of. Instead of having just one or two "stand-out" tracks, such as New Born and Plug-in Baby - which are awesome, they have many other ones such Bliss, Hyper Music, Citizen Erased and Feeling Good. If anything, only the track Screenager can personally be said to be lost on the album due to it's lack of strength. But maybe that's just because it's a 'quiet' track compared to others.
Oh...and according to Amazon it's priced at £5.97 - in my mind that's an absolute steal...so get it!!
Do yourself a favour, if you like rock music with distorted guitars, a unique sound, epic melodies and energetic guitar riffs, then Muse is for you. Or to put it even more simply, if you like good music, Muse is for you.
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 ...
scream4bruce 01.12.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Origin Of Symmetry - Muse
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 ...
bigbtommy 22.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Origin Of Symmetry - Muse
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 ...
M.Frieel 28.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Origin Of Symmetry - Muse
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. ...
lost_in_muse 20.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Origin Of Symmetry - Muse
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 ...
mandymoo 21.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Origin Of Symmetry - Muse
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Reviews which might be of interest for "Origin Of Symmetry - Muse"
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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Product Information for "Origin Of Symmetry - Muse" »
Product details
Title
Origin Of Symmetry
Performer
Muse
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Alternative
Release Date
05/07/2004
Recomended Retail Price
10.99 GBP
Original Release Year
2001
Label / Distributor
Mushroom / Cinram Logistics
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Format
Performer
EAN
5050466847621
Catalogue Number
5046684762
Additional notes
Album Notes
'Origin Of Symmetry' is a lush, artfully arranged album of epic, heady rock complete with electronics, swirling guitars, baroque keyboard embellishments, and dramatic vocals which drew comparisons to Radiohead on its release. In addition to their grand sonic canvases, Muse have always had a way with a melodic hook, displayed perfectly on this second full-length album.
Titles on disc 1
1.
New Born
2.
Bliss
3.
Space Dementia
4.
Hyper Music
5.
Plug In Baby
6.
Citizen Erased
7.
Micro Cuts
8.
Screenager
9.
Darkshines
10.
Feeling Good
11.
Megalomania
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