Only seems correct and proper to follow the mighty Queen with the muscular Muse.
Carrying the mantle of all things operatic and rock Muse have morphed from being Radiohead copyists into a world conquering behemoth, the most original and brave contemporary rock band out there. And they're from the West Country. Yay! Anyone who's seen them live will know how utterly exciting they are, a thrilling spectacle. They are the 21st Century Queen. The pomp and circumstance live, the ability to flounce between the rock, pop and classical on record. And of course the guitar solos. Bellamy's epic metal soloing owes a undeniable debt to Brian May.
The main difference is in the lyrics and tone. Whilst Queen could be vaudeville and camp Muse are serious and intense sometimes to the level of self-parody (there's only so many times you can bang on about the apocalypse without starting to sound like a a crank with a placard and megaphone). One bands lyrics could be written by Orwell or Huxley, the other by Arthur Askey and George Formby . All great English writers though!
Themes of fear, betrayal and mistrust run throughout ABSOLUTION. Bellamy has said that it was heavily influenced by the current affairs at the time, chiefly the start of the war in Iraq.
The album begins with the sound of marching drums and jackboots announcing the arrival of 'Apocalypse Please', Bellamy warns us that the end of the world is nigh and "it's time for something biblical". The doom-laden tone continued with 'Time Is Running Out' and 'Sing For Absolution'.
The comes the unstoppable 'Stockholm Syndrome'. The title taken from the psychological condition where captives come to empathise or fall in love with their captors. Sung in fact from the perspective of the captor it's hard, heavy and fast. Muse at their exciting best
'Butterflies & Hurricanes' is perhaps the archetypal Muse song. Thrashy guitars, thunderous drums, Bellamy's desperate sounding vocals and then midway through a complete breakdown to an inspired Rachmaninoff-esque piano-led classical mid-section.
Elsewhere Muse experiment further with classical (the beautiful swooning 'Blackout') and electronics (the melodic ballad 'Endlessly').
Blisteringly good. ABSOLUTION gives me little shivers of excitement every time I listen to it and that's not a bad feeling to start the day with.
'STOCKHOLM SYNDROME' (live from Wembley)
'BUTTERFLIES & HURRICANES' (live from Wembley)
'BLACKOUT' (live from Wembley)
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