2nd Law

Muse has always attempted to top each previous album with something more grand than any before it. They have done this consistently, but they lose some aspects of themselves each time and it becomes more apparent on this album. Some subtlety is lost, but overall the album is likable and a worthy purchase.Incorporating other styles has always been something Muse caters to, but on the last album they let loose with a sound that drew comparisons to Queen. It was well received so this time they decided to go for broke in a couple of places. The result can be disturbing and in places un-enjoyable.1. Supremacy - Similar to some sounds from  Origin of Symmetry  but with a dark, symphonic sound lain over it like a blanket. A grand way to kick off an album, but lyrically it doesn't have the clever subtlety to its politically inclined lyrics that they were once great with. This becomes a recurring issue in places on this album, but here it is handled with enough care that it ends up working. Bellamy is in top form here, with his distorted wailing of the title rising over the rest of the song to remind us that he has one of the most incredible ranges in rock music today.2. Madness - When asked about this song in an interview Bellamy stated that it was the band stripped down to the bare essentials, a love ballad in a low-key sound with a less-is-more vibe. Out of all that the true statements were that it was a low-key love ballad. This song is excessively electronic and the vocals seem forced in places. I want to hear Bellamy use his Michael Jackson sound almost as much as I want to hear Chris Martin exhale sensuously mid-ballad. The redeeming grace here is Wolstenholme's use of the Misa Kitara, a new kind of digital/electronic guitar that requires completely new skills to play. This song is entertaining but over-produced and easily forgettable.3. Panic Station - This took me by surprise at first, but admittedly wound up being one of the most fun songs on the album. Channeling the dead pop star, Bellamy lets his inner Jackson out with wails and shrieks. This (shockingly) winds up working quite well in a catchy song. The beat is basic but the real drive lies in the mixture of brass instruments with the band itself to create a fun, full sound. All members of the band fire on all cylinders on this one and you can tell that more than anything the group is just having a lot of fun with it. This will become a live staple in no time and is set to become a single before too long.4. Prelude - Orchestral piece meant to lead into the next track. Nothing super special about it, but it winds up being an emotionally swelling introduction.5. Survival - I have mixed feelings on this song. When it was released as the official song of the Olympic Games this year I got nervous. This is where they let their Queen influence shine the most and outside context of the album as a whole it suffers. Muse has always been known for attempting to be over the top and grand, but short of resurrecting Freddy Mercury live onstage to help perform the song there isn't much more they can rise to here, its as extreme as it gets. The lyrics are interesting, and I'm not sure if this is a good type of interesting. It feels like Muse sat down and watched every action movie ever, picking out cliche or overused lines dripping in Van-Damme-ish machismo and then lining them up so they rhyme in the time signature of the song. Having said all of this the song actually fits well on the album, if only a bit awkwardly. It is nowhere near a favorite of mine, but I don't cringe at the sound of it like I did when it first came out.6. Follow Me - I feel sad that this will wind up being one of the more overlooked songs on the album because it is a treasure. This is a simple, adorable song that is audibly pleasing and uplifting in a rare show of emotion for Muse. They have always been about the larger picture, but here we see them do something that hasn't truly been done since  Absolution . The guitar work here fuses perfectly with the electronics. Listen and enjoy.7. Animals - The line "Buy when blood is on the streets" seems to indicate a media-aimed shot taken here. The track is similar to the style they used to adhere to, with the bass guitar taking the rhythm and leaving the single guitar in the band to play lead throughout and it winds up working really well. For a song about how horrible humanity can be it came off as a fun, reminiscent track. About halfway through it picks up and leads Bellamy into a basic solo, nothing as impressive as the riff to Plug In Baby but still entertaining as it continues to swell into a more brutal sound that they used to be known for. One of the better songs on the album overall.8. Explorers - Opens with a keyboard line and Bellamy's softer vocals singing semi-awkward-for-Muse lyrics about freeing the soul from the world so that it can soar with its' great love and see things in lands that aren't owned. Overall a forgettable track but no doubt post-modern progressive rock lovers will be composing adorable youtube videos to each other with this in the background before too long.9. Big Freeze - Jangly guitars and an unimpressive rhythm are saved here by excellent, soaring vocals. Rather odd as its a song about how global warming has destroyed us all, but its a fun song about how global warming has destroyed us all.10. Save Me - One of the most impressive songs on the album. Nothing on this set is as different as allowing Chris Wolstenholme to take over lead vocals here and sing his first of two songs about his problems with alcoholism. The softer of his tracks, this one is slow and sweet. Lead in by basic, drag-picked chords and light overlays, this song is meant to showcase his voice more than anything. It screams "This isn't Matt singing, its the other guy!" and it couldn't be better for them. After a set of ok to good songs we get something that feels honest, open, and pleasant as the energy picks up and Bellamy joins is a background harmony. The bass here is simplistic and unimpressive, but its overshown by his singing. This will be a live staple and one of the more talked-about songs from this collection.11. Liquid State - Wolstenholme's other track on The 2nd Law is more brutal and harsh in tone and delivery than the other, and its excellent. The songs were meant to showcase what he is capable of and we are treated to two completely different sounds. Gritty and harsh, Chris snarls like Liam Gallagher or Craig Nicholls with a big more meat in his performance than either. He shows here that he is capable of carrying his own ideas and songs, something I hope to see more of on the next album. Lyrically it isn't too different than any other song about a person dealing with alcohol addiction, but it doesn't do any less than the best of them.12. The 2nd Law: Unsustainable - If only the second half could have delivered musically what the first half delivers. The dramatic, epic introduction feels cinematic with its orchestral and choral pieces fusing together in a sound worthy of Hans Zimmer or Clint Mansell. Too bad it is ruined by the dubstep second half. I'm all for experimenting, but this isn't even an interesting portrayal of the new electronic fad sound. It carries the most basic and disappointing feel, with the robotic cries of "unsustainable" in the background. I get that it is supposed to be more impressive because they do it with instruments instead of a computer, but when it sounds like every lazy dubstep song out there it can't hold itself up. Even when the orchestration comes back the song just comes off as patronizing and pandering. I skip this almost every time. A word on the lyrics: there are 2 ways to get your point across in music. One is by being clever and disguising it in lyrics, by using poetry and the charm of your sound to carry your personal beliefs to a willing audience. Then there's the way that involves musically writing it on a hammer and hitting your audience in the face with it. This is the latter. The 'lyrics' (which are included in the album sleeve...ridiculously unnecessary) are a fake broadcast on the dangers of basing an economy on constant growth and how the 2nd Law makes this unsustainable. Previously Muse has been known for disguising their political leanings behind excellent music/vocals and clever lyrics, going so far as to have the album  The Resistance  be one larger political statement in and of itself. And all this used to work. But they gave up on subtlety on this album. This is a song that will be jammed down fan throats at performances and by other fans and media outlets, but there aren't many saving graces to it.13. The 2nd Law: Isolated State - The music is much more well done on this song. The piano riff fuses perfectly with the bass line thundering behind it and the drums here are as minimalist as it gets. I would have been happy with this as an instrumental with Bellamy wailing in the background, but it has more 'lyrics' (also included in the album sleeve...again ridiculously unnecessary) that are merely leftover pieces of the the previous song's fake broadcast. The song is nowhere near ruined, but it could have been better without the forced message.Decent album overall, mostly enjoyable. As with all music there will be fans that hail every new release as the best the band has ever done and of course will praise it without any doubt (see Coldplay fans for examples of this, they could release an album full of auto-tuned Kesha covers and their fans would buy it) but I urge you to listen to this objectively. There is a lot of promise for future releases contained on this album and a lot of good and bad experimentation. This could be a stepping stone to a true masterpiece, but it isn't perfect by any means. Muse have created something worth the purchase with only a few complaints, and I urge anyone serious about experimentation and creativity in music to buy this but don't worship it. Fan worship is how bands get stuck.Enjoy the new Muse ladies and gentlemen.

Muse is my favorite band, and one of the things that entranced me about them to begin with is how different each of their songs can sound from one another. They tend to blur the lines between rock, pop, classical, etc., while bringing out the inner "awesome" of each genre they touch, and that is what I love. So unlike some others, I do not really mind that they "change sounds" all of the time, because for me it is this variety that sets them apart. With all that being said, the tracks on The 2nd Law just don't seem as "strong" to me as some of their other songs. It is not merely the lack of a rockin' piano piece, or the scarcity of really heavy guitar songs, or even the prevalent 80's music vibe throughout many of the tracks (although I really like 80's music). It is hard for me to put my finger on exactly what is lacking, but all I know is that on my first playthrough of this album I did not have that immediate sense of "This is awesome!" with each song that played. Many of the songs came off as "interesting" or "cool" or "different," but very few came off as instantly amazing. This album maybe exudes a more "subtle" kind of awesomeness, because after a few listen throughs I have gained a greater appreciation for each track. The album is very good, but in a more subdued way.1) Supremacy - Really solid rock-out song. One of the strongest tracks on the album.2) Madness - One of the songs we were well familiar with before the album's release. Good, punchy, mellow 80's sounding track that crescendos to greater, more triumphant awesomeness near the end.3) Panic Station - This song seemed very humorous and weird to me at first, especially with Matt's cheesy background vocals accompanying him. However it is very catchy. This is one that has grown on me and now I love singing along with it. Its goofiness has become part of its charm.4) Prelude - It's all in the title, simply an instrumental lead-up to Survival.5) Survival - This song is still a mixed bag for me. It's very cheesy, and still not quite in the good way that Panic Station is. Great guitar parts, but the vocals are just weird. In some moods I really enjoy it, but I also skip it a lot, too.6) Follow Me - I love this track. I wouldn't call it love at first listen, but certainly by the second or third. Sort of starts out sounding like "I Will Survive," but that's okay, it gets so much better. A very high energy song. I hope they will release a more "rock" version of it, because what I saw of their live performance of this blew me away!7) Animals - A more mellow guitar piece. Similar to some of their older stuff. Low energy, but refined and solid. The Wall Street sound byte at the end doesn't add much to it, or at least could have been a bit shorter.8) Explorers - I like this piece. It has sort of a lullaby sound to it. Good for soothing my frayed nerves, but not really made for rocking out.9) Big Freeze - I love this song. I know that is a controversial statement. My husband upon first listen funnily and aptly described it as the background music for some kind of 80's montage scene where they're building something. So again it's a little heavy on the cheese, but not in an unappealing sort of way. Still, even though I would call this "good" it doesn't hold a candle to some of Muse's better tracks.10) Save Me - The first song sung by Chris Wolstenholme, the bassist. I was very surprised by his light and airy voice, I expected him to sound a lot heavier, like maybe Chris Cornell. Anyway, this is a very good track, but runs a little bit long. It's hard for me to make it to the end sometimes, but I can't outright skip it because it sucks me in every time.11) Liquid State - Chris' other song. Very good, catchy, fast-paced rock tune. This one could have benefited from a good solo, though, and whereas Save Me should have been shorter, this could have been a bit longer.12) The 2nd Law: Unsustainable - It's growing on me, but it just makes me think of the trailer it came with, and I wind up skipping it a lot. The dubstep is okay, but does not amaze me.13) The 2nd Law: Isolated System - A groovy minimalist piece. I wish it would have grown into something beyond the sound bytes that were incorporated into it. Also seems like a weird closing track. The three-part Exogenesis was much stronger and flowed much better than this so-labelled two parter.So like I said, when you look at each song individually most of them are quite good, but with some deficit as to prevent it all from being amazing. I would still recommend The 2nd Law as a solid addition to any Muse fan's collection (obviously, since I gave it 4 stars), and even to Muse newbies since the newbies I've shared it with were far less critical than me and really enjoyed it.

"The 2nd Law" is the 6th album by UK rock group Muse. This album was released in 2012 and a follow up to 2009's "The Resistance". When the album dropped, I was aware of this album when it came out and was more than familiar with the main single off this album; "Madness". But I never owned the album and never gave it a fair go at the time. I think at the time I thought it wasn't worth listening to and I don't think it really got much praise from critics.Having listened to this album quite a lot for the past few weeks I can see why this album may have not done as well as what came before. While it still feels like a Muse album. They did go off in all sorts of directions in this album and although there are electric guitars present throughout the album, I would go as far as saying it doesn't really feel like a rock album they have made previously. In "The Resistance" they went in a slightly more prog direction. This album doesn't do that but does have experimental elements. Even when you take the single "Madness”, it is a class track has a nice beat to it and good wee guitar solo. Slightly slower feel to it than normal. Certainly not a heavy rock track. The thing I remember the most about this track is the bass Chris uses as it is unique. It has this digital display above the strings on the main part of the bass where you pluck. He then taps the digital display to create the sound. And it is a dominant feature of the track which makes it stand out.Next track "Panic Station" is totally opposite, it has a thumping bass line and is like a dance rock track. It's upbeat and has a great groove to it. That's the thing about this album, it never stays in the one place and there are so many twists and turns throughout the album. It's clear that at this stage in their career, Muse still wanted to progress their sound and not sit on what had come before. "Prelude" sees Matt back on the piano accompanied by a string section. Another bow to Muse's string which enables them to make such eclectic albums."Explorors" is track which is worth a mention. I remember my dad used to go on about this track at the time as he thought it was absolutely brilliant. And it really is. It's got a different song structure to normal. Kind of a build-up track to an extent without fully exploding to make a nice listening experience. Another major twist on this album is "Save Me" and "Liquid State" which sit side by side where bassist Chris sings on both for as main vocalist. As far as I'm aware this was the first time up until this point in time, he has done this. And it's great, he doesn't have the theatrical range in vocals like Matt, but he has this certain calmness and control which adds so much to the album. I'm surprised the band never utilised him as a vocalist earlier.In their 5th album "The Resistance" I labelled the finally to the album one of the best they have ever done to finish an album bar Knights of Cydonia. It was a 3-part prog classic. On this album they went for more of the same but this time in two parts. The first part "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" starts quite dramatically and again utilises a string section. Then it takes a turn and has all these cool effects and a women's voice as a voiceover. The second part "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" has strong post rock vibes about it is a piano driven track. It's funny that a ton of bands do music purely like this second part and in some places do it better than Muse. But because Muse have those punchy rock, mainstream friendly tracks. Muse are the ones that get the recognition. If you like this sort of track, you should really check out bands like Nordic Giants, it's what they do and they do it very well.Overall, I think this is a really underrated album and I am so glad I went back to it and gave it the proper attention it deserves. This is Muse really experimenting with their sound and pushing their boundaries further than ever imaginable.

I'm really torn about this one. Muse are one of my favourite bands of all time and their outlandish and overblown creativity has resulted in some of the greatest albums ever made. Their willingness to evolve and embrace new directions have kept them relevant, consistently attracting new fans and has given their back catalogue a character and depth that some bands simply don't have. However, The 2nd Law, a bit like Black Holes & Revelations, has a pop sensibility running through the album which makes a fan like me slightly unsure about whether I truly like where they're headed. Although the "dubstep" moments have been the most contentious and widely debated elements of the album, their full embrace of 1980s Queen (my least favourite Queen era), as can be heard on "Madness" and "Panic Station" where guitar sounds, bass-lines and hooks are lifted, wholesale, from Freddie, Brian, Roger and John's catalogue. Even "Panic Station"'s guitar solo is reminiscent of Billy Idol's "White Wedding". I have to admit, it's terrific pop music, but it's not what I like about Muse, that's for sure. Still, it's never anything less than enjoyable and they provide decent distractions before the truly great songs of the album "Prelude"/"Survival", "Explorers" and "Big Freeze". The album opener, "Supremacy" is almost frighteningly good too. Unfortunately the album really tails off with the 2nd Law duo of songs which start off brilliantly but then it ends with a whimper rather than a bang. To surmise. this album is a bit of a disappointment to me, if I'm completely honest, but it's still extremely good. Just goes to show that it's all relative - my least favourite Muse album ever with a higher than average tally of average songs still manages to be one of my favourites of the year. If you could just stop channelling that inner Freddie you're embracing at the moment, Matt, that'd be great - oh, and stop letting Chris sing too. He's just not as good as you.

he big question for Muse's sixth studio album was were they going to release an album full of dubstep tracks, given that they had been hinting about going in this direction as well as declaring a love for dubstep maestro Skrillex. Well yes the album does have elements of dubstep but it has got a whole load of other styles too. Any fears that long time Muse fans had that about the band going completely dubstep were well and truly buried when the first single "Survival" was released as one of the official tracks for the 2012 Olympics; it was a track that saw the band draw heavily on their Queen influences.In fact "The 2nd law" features Muse's most funkiest song that they have ever recorded in the excellent "Panic Station" which is a funk filled slab of funk rock at its finest and sounds like 80's style Red Hot Chili peppers when they hung out with George Clinton as well as a Chuck Mosley fronted Faith No more and a hint of Prince from his 80's best. The second single to be released from the album "Madness" which features some big electronic beats and a flourish of a guitar solo towards the end is reminiscent of the style of "Undisclosed Desires" from previous album "The Resistance".Anybody who thought that Muse had abandoned their guitar roots completely will be happy with opening track "Supremacy" which opens with a chugging grinding guitar, if there ever was a song suitable for a James Bond movie this one ticks all the boxes. Interestingly bassist Chris Wolstenholme not only writes two tracks for the album but he also takes on lead vocals on both "Save Me" and "Liquid Sate". They both deal with his battle with alcoholism. It's a bold move but one that works as Wolestenholme is spot on with his vocal delivery. There's no doubting that the final two tracks are the ones that will split Muse fans as they are the dubstep tracks that were promised "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" and "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" are two over the top tracks that are dubstep but done in Muse's way, yes there's all the shrieking and bleeping sounds that are familiar with dubstep but with the epicenes of Muse. ""The 2nd Law: Isolated System" starts of sounding quite similar to Clint Mansells "Welcome to Lunar Industries" from his score of the movie "Moon".With the special edition of the album you get a making of "The 2nd Law" which is interesting as you get to see the songs take shape and all the work that goes in to making them, Drummer Dominic Howard gets impatient as he does his drum parts for "Animals" as he sits there he just wants to get on with it. It's great to see all the work that went in to "Survival" and then to hear the finished song on the album itself.So "The 2nd Law" isn't the dubstep album that maybe some thought it would be, only the final two tracks are dubstep and if that's not your thing there is plenty on here that's got all the Muse hallmarks to keep long-time fans happy as well as a few new elements. After all it is Muse and whenever have they not experimented in different styles? They should be applauded for once again trying new things.

Having booked to see the band in Paris in a couple of weeks, I decided I needed to do some homework. Up until now I've only bought Muse on CD, and always felt that the either medium didn't do justice to the music or they were just pretty ordinary in a studio compared to their live performances, but given that I've invested in a decent system so I am now heavily back into vinyl I decided to give this a whirl.Wow. Like all Muse albums there are tracks that you wonder why they bothered, but these are soon forgotten as you at last get the full richness of the Muse sound. Plagiarists? Well if you think you detect early King Crimson, Radiohead and, of course, Queen with a handful of Jean Michel Jarre (and no doubt more) I'd go with that. But it is well wrapped in Muse sound. A nice by product of this "influences" thing in any case is that this album got me spinning stuff I'd not listened to for a while. The 2nd Law tracks got me playing King Crimson's "Lark's Tongues in Aspic" for example.The quality of the recording is excellent, the production of the sleeve a little disappointing. Minimalism is all very well, but this is a vinyl double album and could have taken a bit more. But if you liked "Black Holes" and were then a little disappointed in the last album then be assured, Muse are back with chorals and strings to boot.

A great album by a great British group. This is a good album not the best you would have heard from Muse but worth the investment. This edition is preferable to the deluxe edition, which may come with a DVD but it has no proper case only a little foldable carboard case. .one disc in either side