Sorry for all the music posts recently! But I regret nothing.
Tonight Muse' new album 'The 2nd Law' was made available to stream online here, before its release on October the 1st. I just listened to it for the first time, and it seems like a very mixed bag.
On the first listen, I'm not liking the track 'Panic Station'. Started getting into the album at 'Follow Me' because it's dancy but awesome. 'Save Me' sounds a bit Coldplay-y, but Chris Wolstenholme's vocals on 'Liquid State' are delightfully Alkaline Trio-esque (in fact, I'd argue it could easily be an Alkaline Trio song). And while the two closing songs are dubsteppy, I definitely like them. I was appalled by 'Unsustainable' at first, but it did give me a science boner and grew on me really quickly!
My main criticism is that it doesn't have many classical-style sections (or at least they were not overly evident on first listen), unlike 'The Resistance' which obviously has 'Exogenesis' as its 3-part closer (well, not really a criticism, I just like that stuff and was hoping for more!). While the orchestrated parts in this album are epic, most of it is talked or wubwub-ed over, and that's a shame. I personally think Muse should do a whole album with full orchestra, as a side-project or something. A lot of people hate their 'classical' stuff and say it isn't musically brilliant though, which I think is arse. And I love how so much Rachmaninov is incorporated into some of their songs, most notably 'Space Dementia' as it's my favourite song of theirs.
Overall I'm not blown away, but then Muse has always been one of those bands that requires time. For me, anyway. I never used to like them at all, and it took me a good few listens of The Resistance before I really got into it. So I'd say it has potential, definitely! It's just a shame that it doesn't seem to flow too well as there are many different influences evident throughout.
I know there will be a ton of people who complain that it's too different, that they're trying to hard. But if they'd put out a record exactly like their old stuff, those same people would complain that it was the same old stuff, that they'd lost their spark. Because as artists, they push themselves to GROW. That's the whole point. And it's not exactly worlds away from their old work ('Explorers' is essentially a softer version of 'Guiding Light' to my ears), so stfu guys. If you don't like it that's fine, good for you, but don't take it out on the band because they obviously like what they're doing!
I look forward to listening to this album more, and I really hope I end up loving it after spending £130 on tickets to see them next month (and haven't even thought about travel costs yet, ugh). That said, I haven't actually pre-ordered it myself, but my dad is getting the super-special-awesome boxset! So I can just steal that as soon as it arrives, eheheheh.
Tonight Muse' new album 'The 2nd Law' was made available to stream online here, before its release on October the 1st. I just listened to it for the first time, and it seems like a very mixed bag.
On the first listen, I'm not liking the track 'Panic Station'. Started getting into the album at 'Follow Me' because it's dancy but awesome. 'Save Me' sounds a bit Coldplay-y, but Chris Wolstenholme's vocals on 'Liquid State' are delightfully Alkaline Trio-esque (in fact, I'd argue it could easily be an Alkaline Trio song). And while the two closing songs are dubsteppy, I definitely like them. I was appalled by 'Unsustainable' at first, but it did give me a science boner and grew on me really quickly!
My main criticism is that it doesn't have many classical-style sections (or at least they were not overly evident on first listen), unlike 'The Resistance' which obviously has 'Exogenesis' as its 3-part closer (well, not really a criticism, I just like that stuff and was hoping for more!). While the orchestrated parts in this album are epic, most of it is talked or wubwub-ed over, and that's a shame. I personally think Muse should do a whole album with full orchestra, as a side-project or something. A lot of people hate their 'classical' stuff and say it isn't musically brilliant though, which I think is arse. And I love how so much Rachmaninov is incorporated into some of their songs, most notably 'Space Dementia' as it's my favourite song of theirs.
Overall I'm not blown away, but then Muse has always been one of those bands that requires time. For me, anyway. I never used to like them at all, and it took me a good few listens of The Resistance before I really got into it. So I'd say it has potential, definitely! It's just a shame that it doesn't seem to flow too well as there are many different influences evident throughout.
I know there will be a ton of people who complain that it's too different, that they're trying to hard. But if they'd put out a record exactly like their old stuff, those same people would complain that it was the same old stuff, that they'd lost their spark. Because as artists, they push themselves to GROW. That's the whole point. And it's not exactly worlds away from their old work ('Explorers' is essentially a softer version of 'Guiding Light' to my ears), so stfu guys. If you don't like it that's fine, good for you, but don't take it out on the band because they obviously like what they're doing!
I look forward to listening to this album more, and I really hope I end up loving it after spending £130 on tickets to see them next month (and haven't even thought about travel costs yet, ugh). That said, I haven't actually pre-ordered it myself, but my dad is getting the super-special-awesome boxset! So I can just steal that as soon as it arrives, eheheheh.
No comments:
Post a Comment