Muse Japanese

Japanese edition with bonus track.
Though some may still consider them Radiohead mimics, obviously Muse continues to strike a nerve with their alternative hard rock audience, here releasing their third album of heavy guitars, haunted harmonics, and paranoid musings in Absolution. Frontman Matt Bellamy and company stick to the same disturbed, and sometimes disturbing, formula that's worked in the past: the emotional intensity and style of Radiohead, a rock thunder descended from Black Sabbath, and the baroque drama of Queen. Longtime producer John Leckie sits this one out, and in steps indie über-engineer Rich Costey. With Costey manning the desk, the music feels more polished and slick, but less epic and raw. Longtime fans won't miss a beat though, because Bellamy delivers the same Thom Yorke vocal impersonation…

Japanese edition with bonus track.
Though some may still consider them Radiohead mimics, obviously Muse continues to strike a nerve with their alternative hard rock audience, here releasing their third album of heavy guitars, haunted harmonics, and paranoid musings in Absolution. Frontman Matt Bellamy and company stick to the same disturbed, and sometimes disturbing, formula that's worked in the past: the emotional intensity and style of Radiohead, a rock thunder descended from Black Sabbath, and the baroque drama of Queen. Longtime producer John Leckie sits this one out, and in steps indie über-engineer Rich Costey. With Costey manning the desk, the music feels more polished and slick, but less epic and raw. Longtime fans won't miss a beat though, because Bellamy delivers the same Thom Yorke vocal impersonation…

Japanese edition with Bonus track.
Since forming in 1997, alternative rock trio Muse have ambitiously created a sound of their own, mixing elements of glam, pop, and symphonic music into a rock hybrid. While British fans have praised Muse for years, it wasn't until 2003's Absolution that Americans discovered the band and gave them their rightful props. Whether or not you championed the grand dramatics of Absolution, it was obvious that Muse are a solid and unique band, and Black Holes and Revelations, the follow-up, confirms those strengths with a passion. Rich Costey joins Muse in the co-production of this 11-song set; together, they create the band's most realized and meticulous album to date…

Japanese edition with Bonus track.
Since forming in 1997, alternative rock trio Muse have ambitiously created a sound of their own, mixing elements of glam, pop, and symphonic music into a rock hybrid. While British fans have praised Muse for years, it wasn't until 2003's Absolution that Americans discovered the band and gave them their rightful props. Whether or not you championed the grand dramatics of Absolution, it was obvious that Muse are a solid and unique band, and Black Holes and Revelations, the follow-up, confirms those strengths with a passion. Rich Costey joins Muse in the co-production of this 11-song set; together, they create the band's most realized and meticulous album to date…

With its titanic guitar solos, symphonic suites, and multi-layered melodies, Muse's fifth album operates under the assumption that bigger is better. This is the very definition of a super-sized album, an album that takes its cues from Queen, its lyrics from science fiction novels, and its delivery from rock opera. It's also the first time that Muse has truly sounded like Muse, as few bands since Queen have so readily explored the intersection of bombast and extravagance. The Resistance is most certainly extravagant – there are snatches of classical piano entwined throughout, not to mention bilingual lyrics, concert hall percussion, coronet solos, and song titles like "Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 2 (Cross-Pollination)" – but it's also quite beautiful, capable of moving between prog rock choruses and excerpts from Chopin's "Nocturne in E Flat Major" within the same song.

Muse, and Matt Bellamy in particular, make no bones about Drones: their seventh album is political through and through, a bold statement concerning the dehumanization of modern warfare. As Muse is not a subtle band - any suspicion they were is erased by the artwork depicting a hand controlling the joystick of an office drone controlling a joystick directing drones - it's hard to avoid their conclusion that war is bad, but this inclination to write everything in bold, italicized capital letters is an asset when it comes to music, particularly here where they've teamed with legendary hard rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Always a sucker for oversized guitar riffs and bigger drums, Lange also allows the trio to indulge in a bit of Floydian fantasies - the made-to-order dialogue of "Drill Sergeant" is straight out of The Wall - but he spends much of Drone sharpening Muse's synthesis of every arena rock idea ever essayed…

Muse, and Matt Bellamy in particular, make no bones about Drones: their seventh album is political through and through, a bold statement concerning the dehumanization of modern warfare. As Muse is not a subtle band - any suspicion they were is erased by the artwork depicting a hand controlling the joystick of an office drone controlling a joystick directing drones - it's hard to avoid their conclusion that war is bad, but this inclination to write everything in bold, italicized capital letters is an asset when it comes to music, particularly here where they've teamed with legendary hard rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Always a sucker for oversized guitar riffs and bigger drums, Lange also allows the trio to indulge in a bit of Floydian fantasies - the made-to-order dialogue of "Drill Sergeant" is straight out of The Wall - but he spends much of Drone sharpening Muse's synthesis of every arena rock idea ever essayed…

Muse, and Matt Bellamy in particular, make no bones about Drones: their seventh album is political through and through, a bold statement concerning the dehumanization of modern warfare. As Muse is not a subtle band - any suspicion they were is erased by the artwork depicting a hand controlling the joystick of an office drone controlling a joystick directing drones - it's hard to avoid their conclusion that war is bad, but this inclination to write everything in bold, italicized capital letters is an asset when it comes to music, particularly here where they've teamed with legendary hard rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Always a sucker for oversized guitar riffs and bigger drums, Lange also allows the trio to indulge in a bit of Floydian fantasies - the made-to-order dialogue of "Drill Sergeant" is straight out of The Wall - but he spends much of Drone sharpening Muse's synthesis of every arena rock idea ever essayed…

Throughout their career, it's always been clear that Muse aren't satisfied to just do the same thing over and over again, as they have evolved from their early days when they were (perhaps unfairly) pigeonholed as a Radiohead imitator into purveyors of some of the most epic symphonic rock since Queen graced the stage. On their sixth album, The 2nd Law, they continue to shake things up, diving deeper into the electronic rabbit hole as they experiment with a sound that's less reliant on Matthew Bellamy's guitar heroics, resulting in an album that's a bit of a mixed bag. Incorporating some of the slickest production the band has ever had with a more synth-heavy sound, the album certainly succeeds in feeling different from Muse's previous work…