A new Muse album is an event in every sense, whether you
like them or not. Each new offering is heralded by an audacious and daring
teaser; for Black Holes and Revelations
it was the super-groovy ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, for The Resistance the outlandish and outrageous ‘United States of
Eurasia’. The 2nd Law is
no exception here; the album trailer released in June, containing part of ‘The
2nd Law: Unsustainable’, had fans and critics alike utterly bemused
as to how and why Muse had ‘turned dubstep’. Today, they will find out if this
is the case.
It turns out that dubstep is not where Muse are headed,
despite their experiment to make “Skrillex but with real instruments”. ‘Follow
Me’ is the only other track that is even remotely in this vein, as Nero
electrofies a tender ode to fatherhood driven by the beat of Matt Bellamy’s son
in utero. These explorations are relatively successful once the shock has worn
off.
And there are a lot of shocks on this album. Where to start?
There’s ‘Panic Station’ where Muse succeed in out-Princeing Prince, ‘Save Me’
where bassist Chris Wolstenholme steps up to the mic and delivers a stunningly
gentle performance amid some nice guitar work by Bellamy, and ‘Animals’ where,
god forbid, Muse actually do sound a tiny
little bit like Radiohead! But don’t let the 5/4 time signature fool you: this
track is Absolution-era Muse taken to
a whole new level.
In fact the only songs that don’t surprise are ‘Survival’
and ‘Supremacy’, the band mashing together every element that makes up the
essence of the Muse sound. ‘Survival’ is packed with ridiculous (in a bad way)
lyrics and even more ridiculous (in a good way) vocal gymnastics from Bellamy,
and the riffs-and-strings combination in ‘Supremacy’ makes you wonder why this
isn’t the new Bond theme instead of Adele (‘Supremacy’ even finishes with a
classic spy-thriller chord, for god’s sake).
With such apparent discordance, it’s easy to forget that
there is a theme here; a scientific spin on current economic events is put
forward and littered throughout the record, climaxing at the 2-part album
closers. Even these two tracks are rather odd put next to each other, but can
easily stand alone as solid offerings. ‘Isolated System’ is perhaps more
effective than its companion, as layer upon layer of haunting keys is painted
onto an aural canvas, joined by recordings of news reporters documenting our
current doom. The infant heartbeat used earlier in the album reappears and then
makes way to an almost trance-like beat, and just as real drums phase out the
electronics – it ends. The song shuts down slowly and completely, like a machine
that has run its course and run out of energy because of entropy. Or something
like that.
Luckily, your science knowledge doesn’t have to be top-notch
to enjoy The 2nd Law. And
it really is to be enjoyed; there is a playfulness here that was sadly lacking
on The Resistance. Of course, this
means that the band are more Marmite than they have ever been, but for people
on the ‘love’ side of the divide this record is a joy to listen to.
9/10
Buy The 2nd Law here
No comments:
Post a Comment