A bit disappointed. I wanna go throught it several times before making a final jugdement, but for me points low tier in the Muse discography, in the same boat of Simulation and 2nd Law.
Really really short album with really simple song structures. You can feel TONS of work when creating new sounds, taking risks, tunning the instruments, even the band having fun, etcetera, which is good, but neither the songs looks to take profit of this work with their 2 repetitions + guitar solo + last repetition structure. With this brief duration and being so architecture-repetitive song by song (hello Compliance!!) the album may fall for me in the same boredom as ST.
Matt said this album is like a compilation of their career. Makes no sense there is no song with the complex Opera Prog-Rock feel, as this was Muse for more than a decade...
The TOP:
Verona, Kill or be killed, WOTP, Wont Stand Dawn
The LOWS:
Compliance, Euphoria, Liberation
Rest +- Okayish.
really surprised I disliked the two piano songs, because I LOVE Piano Muse. But both are really forgettable, simple and they have the same structure problem explained above. Liberation is a straightforward ballad you could expect to be part of Cyosleep better than a Muse album. A plain piano ballad. Ghosts is miles away from UsOE even if it tries to be like it with its Queenish vibes.
Really hated Euphoria, is a clone of Mercy (which I always hated) with no inspiration. Unfortunately you can expect this to be on each gig.
Halloween is like a side b of Simulation Theory, close to Thought Contagion. Its okay the most.
We are fucking fucked has the potential to be something really big, a great gig and disc finisher as Knights of Cydonia was. But unfortunately the same than in the rest of tracks happens and it does not "explode" significantly. With a real progression and 2 more minutes by chaining chords and riffs it would have been mesmerizing. Missed oportunity.
Verona is a guilty pleasure, likely the most original song of the album, natural and well finished.
----
Disc is OK, dont get me wrong. But that is also the problem. Ok, but nothing great. Not to be remembered as a whole after fifteen days.