Three years ago, Muse delivered a miracle when The 2nd Law turned out ok. Ok, more than Ok, actually decent. Ok, that's underselling it, turned out great.
Sure, it had its problems; it was cheesy, it didn't flow very well, lyrically minus Chris Wolstenholme's penned tracks poor, but considering what was preluded to and what was delivered, The 2nd Law was an enjoyable album, one that I still listen to occasionally and tried not to think hard about.
Following the mostly negative critical and fan reception; the band promised to go back to basics. That the last decade was a chance to experiment but those days were over. They promised guitars, they promised riffs and all sounded too good to be true. Subsequent tours and the occasional live rarity only fuelled the flames and if you've followed my Twitter, you may have noticed I was a wee bit hyped for Drones, far more than The 2nd Law.
Naturally, this can only spell disaster but can Drones do the unthinkable and be a hyped record that turns out to be somewhat good?
...
I mean, it obviously can but a recent string of follow-up albums from artists I thought untouchable had me cautiously optimistic.
Opener Dead Inside leads the charge; a dark, synth heavy pop song which bares more than a passing resemblance to Madness, opens the album and the only thing I can knock is the lyrics which will be a running problem throughout the album. I really like this track and serves as a highlight from the rest of the album.
From here on, the album fluctuates between moments on hard-rock before delving back to the safety of softer pop songs. Somewhat similar to Absolution which saw guitar heavy track followed by slower, often piano led track, Drones constantly takes a moment to collect the listener from their voluntary moments of headbanging and gives them a breather.
Unfortunately, one of Drones' biggest weaknesses are these softer tracks. Current radio single Mercy, much like Dead Inside being a rehash of Madness, is a rehash of the now tiresome Starlight and not-tiresome Bliss with a simple piano chord and a simplistic structure for maximum sing-a-long at the chorus.
Unlike Dead Inside, Mercy is too safe and sadly, the older tracks are more endearing and ultimately better. It's a hiccup in the otherwise rock-solid first half of the album which also sees the now-infamous Psycho and new fan favourite Reapers; the latter a six minute, heavily layered masterpiece with a fantastic chorus and outro.
Infact, with the exception of Mercy, the first half of the album is easily Muse's strongest work in nearly a decade. But then it keeps going and things get murkier.
Following a sample of JFK, we get Defector, a song which can only be described, as Muse's pitch for broadway (think "Jeff Wayne's War on Terror!"). The Queen influence, which had been largely absent throughout the first half makes its full return, wailing in the opening verse which shouts "Free, yeah I'm free, fromyourinserser-SIATEE!", then rhyming that "from SOCIATEEE!".
It has a nice, twice repeated bridge from the halfway mark, but the song is the start of a weaker second half of the album which attempts multiple times to build momentum but never really works.
Whilst Revolt is another stab at Broadway with a much easier hook for the chorus, Aftermath can only be described as Muse attempting to make the best Division Bell era Pink Floyd track and somehow succeeding. Sure, it's slow and again, cheesy, but it's a welcome addition to the album and, much like a lot of the album, sounds like a better rehash of an earlier song (in this case, Invincible).
The centrepiece of the album (which sits as the penultimate track so it's not a centrepiece) is the ten minute long The Globalist. Frontman Matt Bellamy described the track as a sequel to fan favourite Citizen Erased which instantly meant it was never going to live up to expectations. Instead, the track has more in common with Ennio Morricone and my least favourite album track; Explorers.
The middle thankfully introduces a rocky segment which fans had dubbed Helsinki Jam for many years, but here, it's too short and ultimately, The Globalist doesn't feel like a single collective piece but instead; three shorter tracks stitched together.
Whilst Revolt is another stab at Broadway with a much easier hook for the chorus, Aftermath can only be described as Muse attempting to make the best Division Bell era Pink Floyd track and somehow succeeding. Sure, it's slow and again, cheesy, but it's a welcome addition to the album and, much like a lot of the album, sounds like a better rehash of an earlier song (in this case, Invincible).
The centrepiece of the album (which sits as the penultimate track so it's not a centrepiece) is the ten minute long The Globalist. Frontman Matt Bellamy described the track as a sequel to fan favourite Citizen Erased which instantly meant it was never going to live up to expectations. Instead, the track has more in common with Ennio Morricone and my least favourite album track; Explorers.
The middle thankfully introduces a rocky segment which fans had dubbed Helsinki Jam for many years, but here, it's too short and ultimately, The Globalist doesn't feel like a single collective piece but instead; three shorter tracks stitched together.
In keeping with tradition of ever changing closing tracks, Drones' closer is a two minute acapella piece also called Drones. Here, Bellamy's now standard falsetto is layered into a haunting hymm covering lyrics from other tracks and ends on an amen. It's a truly haunting piece and actually works with The Globalist coming before it.
One of the striking things upon reading people's various thoughts was the lack of listeners actually going through the album from start to finish. As a concept album, on the whole, Drones is an interesting piece and easily one of the better concept albums of this century.
Lyrically, the album is shambolic, an unfortunate trend in Muse releases. You can argue that if the band were going for some sort of stage production with no dialogue other than the two skits, it could work, but Drones' is far too heavy handed and has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the skull.
There's a couple of, I'm guessing unintentional throwbacks to older Muse songs (for example, The Handler and Showbiz) which adds a level of depth, but again, it's probably more a case of Bellamy's tropes coming through, along with the numerous mentions of 'souls'.
Thankfully, it's strong points are easily some of the best tracks the band has ever made. Reapers and The Handler in particular utilise everything that made the band so endearing to begin with and deliver a blitz of guitar goodness with superb bass and percussion from Wolstenholme and Howard respectively.
Whilst I did enjoy the The 2nd Law far more than I expected, Drones is a much more collective piece and flows much better as a record, instead of simply being thirteen tracks put on random order other than the opener and closer.
It is however, not the straight forward, back to basics album that many have clamoured for. Instead, Muse tread old ground in a similar vein to Absolution and continue to press on with the various styles that they have been picked up from Black Holes and Revelations onwards.
Whilst I did enjoy the The 2nd Law far more than I expected, Drones is a much more collective piece and flows much better as a record, instead of simply being thirteen tracks put on random order other than the opener and closer.
It is however, not the straight forward, back to basics album that many have clamoured for. Instead, Muse tread old ground in a similar vein to Absolution and continue to press on with the various styles that they have been picked up from Black Holes and Revelations onwards.
It's not a bad record and bizarrely, in a year which has also seen concept album maestro Steven Wilson produce another good effort, I found myself enjoying Drones far more as it was shorter and more concise than Hand. Cannot. Erase..
For those who have been waiting for a sequel to Origin of Symmetry and harken to the days of when the band had a degree of seriousness albeit on magic mushrooms and using subjects around scientific theory, Drones is more of latter day Muse; political that reeks of cheddar.
But collectively, it's a strong album; not as single heavy as The 2nd Law or Black Holes... nor as tight and concise as Absolution and Origin of Symmetry but a great record that will hook you in and serves as a gentle reminder as to why the Devon trio are one of the biggest acts on the planet.
8/10
H
@Retcon_Nation
For those who have been waiting for a sequel to Origin of Symmetry and harken to the days of when the band had a degree of seriousness albeit on magic mushrooms and using subjects around scientific theory, Drones is more of latter day Muse; political that reeks of cheddar.
But collectively, it's a strong album; not as single heavy as The 2nd Law or Black Holes... nor as tight and concise as Absolution and Origin of Symmetry but a great record that will hook you in and serves as a gentle reminder as to why the Devon trio are one of the biggest acts on the planet.
8/10
H
@Retcon_Nation
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