Posted

Jul 7th 2008

Mood

Carefree

Music

Muse - Apocalypse Please

T'was about a time since I actually reviewed something, so lets do it again.


Artist: Muse
Album: Absolution
Genre: Alternative Rock
Progressive Rock
New Prog

There's something Ive never understood about myself and thats the part that every time I get myself hold of a band I really enjoy I always go from the most recent to the oldest. Its been that all the time. Slipknot, Mindless Self Indulgence, Nine Inch Nails, Gorillaz, everything has everytime gone backwards. So is it with Muse. Im sure all of you know of their famed album, Black Holes and Revelations which garnered them a bigger spotlight. You might get surprised that I didnt attempt in reviewing that album first, but I felt that overshadowing another piece for just an album and band that mostly garnered their fame from already die hard Muse fans and the fact that Knights of Cydonia and Supermassive Blackhole appeared on Guitar Hero III (the latter being an Xbox 360 downloadable and not built in) kinda annoyed me when there's a bit more to Muse than what people think.

The first time I came into notice with this album was thanks to Ninny, thanks to Black Holes & Revelations I managed to become a Muse fan, and that album was spectacular in my opinion. But as many others I was just one of them people who listened to Knights of Cydonia in Guitar Hero III and decided myself an immediate Muse fan cause of this, I didnt want that to happen, so when Ninny recommended me this album I went for it and got it. Sadly it was by then that I suffered from what I call ''The Megadeth Syndrome'' and basically ignored every song with an uninteresting title which wasnt very much, and when it did happen I'd just listen to it for 2 seconds, find it boring immediately and then skip ahead to the next. The only song that was spared by this was Hysteria because unlike the other songs this was one that Ninny showed me before I had gotten the album, and it was by then already found interesting for me. This was shortly destroyed when I realized myself that I just like in Black Holes and Revelations decided to not give the song Assassin a chance particularly due to its extremely boring introduction which I just frankly ignored and listened to it to fully at a time my laziness caught me, and made me realize the song is actually great. This would come to plague me at songs like Stockholm Syndrome but we'll get to that later on. I was also heavily reinstated to Muse during my current Summer Job as listening to the amazing music during work is quite relaxing and making me concentrated, so I decided to throw in Absolution, listen to it and then exactly state up my thoughts on it. So without further ado, Absolution.

My first thought when I started things up on it was the Intro, being so used to Black Holes and Revelations I wasnt exactly awaiting something like this cause seeing how much I listened to their recent album in its entity I would think that Muse was the kind of band who relies on Preludes rather than intros, and seeing on Wikipedia with their other albums I'm correct as this is the only album by Muse with an intro tune. Pretty much like Vol.3 was Slipknot's only album with a prelude instead of an intro. At this time I expected something different by the means that every intro either to an album is different in its way. It can be creepy, something simple, perhaps both. The intros are mostly different from the rest of the songs in the album. When I started up the album, all that existed was a 22 second intro with fading in drum beats as a march. This seemed as something simple for me, I expected something different, but then suddenly it bursted into the next song Apocalypse Please and in a matter that it literally made me jump considering it struck in way out of the rhythm you'd expect it to come in, and the epic piano chords gave you a real feel as if the world would come to its end. It was different, this Muse song was by far different from their most recent album. This one was epically crushing, more depressed feel in it, some slower and harder rhythms and it kept a bit more rock in it than the synth module they often brought in BHAR although it didnt stop it from being any good. As said, once I heard Apocalypse Please I realized to myself that this was pretty much getting itself ready to the entire album in its entity, and I was looking forward to what I would be hearing next, the song was giving you an epic feel as if this would be the beginning of the end, basically what Nine Inch Nails managed to pull off aswell in their 2007 release Year Zero.

It was continued with more amazing songs, Time is Running Out and Sing for an Absolution were the first two follow ups, both beautiful and amazing in their own ways but when it reached to Stockholm Syndrome I had to take a screeching halt and just admire this for every single second as I literally lost focus on my job and started doing everything slowly outside of my head where all the music was flowing in. Stockholm Syndrome would be from what concept the song Assassin in BHAR would build up from, they can be very comparable but very far apart aswell. This was the first song in the album to utilize the proper rocking in the bridges between the chorus and verses which were amazingly intense, and you can really feel the points of the Syndrome sung about while listening to it (For those of you who dont know it or havent bothered to find out, Stockholm Syndrome is the term of a psychological response of being held in an abducted hostage and showing signs of loyalty to the kidnapper no matter the risk or danger).

The whole album itself is given an concept and it feels as if its a progressing storyline, compare it to something similar to NIN's albums, The Downward Spiral and The Fragile. This is something which exactly like NIN, Muse manages to pull off quite well, as it is one of them things that is making the album move forward. But although many of these songs are amazing there are a few shallow ones like Endlessly, and the ending track Ruled by Secrecy which feels a bit slow in themselves, the latter one we can compare to Soldier's Poem in BHAR which blatantly was the weakest part of that album. At sometimes the album can feel a bit repetitive and you might not find much differences in the song considering the overall theme but its nothing that the melody will distract you over cause it would definitely take you awhile to actually notice it after you've been punished with the album's amazing piano chords, rock elements, electronic modules and crushing themes.

Bottom Line:
Being a Muse fan since listening to BHAR I expected that album to exactly showcasing how Muse would be, and after listening to Absolution Ive pretty much convinced myself to that its far more effective than BHAR, and in my opinion its their best release, although it didnt stop BHAR from being amazing aswell. Absolution however is, and will probably remain my favorite Muse album atleast until Muse releases their fifth anticipated Studio Album, and should by all means be acquired as soon as possible. Although critics already mentioning this not being the magnum opus of the band, this is an definite go get. If you're familiar with Muse or like any of their music, or even feel like getting into them, this album is the one you should have the look out for. Absolution first, then BHAR. You wont get dissapointed.

Overall Score: 9.4

Carbo's Recommendations:
Apocalypse Please
Time is Running Out
Stockholm Syndrome
Falling Away With You
Hysteria
Butterflies and Hurricanes