A personal summary.
Dead Inside - absolutely electric, it's like Undisclosed Desires got into bed with Madness. Definitely my favourite on the album. The guitar chords before the bridge, the bridge itself, and how it descends into a dramatic and emotional final chorus just tears at my heart. Fucking 11/10.
Psycho - lyrics are a bit "vulgar", for want of a better word, compared to Muse's previous works. Like, if a few years ago you told me I'd hear a Muse song with "your ass belongs to me now" in the chorus, I wouldn't have believed you. Still, it's great seeing that old classic jam riff made into a full song, and I honestly can't think of how it could have been done better.
Mercy - a bit "light" and "bright", but I like it. I dig the deep guitar tone. Neat bassline, and I also like the Bliss-style arpeggios. Sounds very BHaR-inspired.
Reapers - fucking monstrous on all fronts from start to finish. That's all I really need to say. Tapping is usually looked upon as ostentatious and belonging to the 80's, but it genuinely fits well as an intro here. Great verses, leading into heavy breakdown sections tighter than a nun's devotion to God. First time I heard that solo my penis left my body and ascended to another plane of existence, and I went straight to eBay to scrounge up a Digitech Whammy. I'm not lying. The outro is mental, they pretty much just forgot they were recording in the studio and launched into riffery as if ending the song live.
The Handler - another favourite. Dark, desolate, and stripped back. The solo echoes of Stockholm Syndrome mixed with In Your World, and feels like Absolution revisited.
Defector - Q U E E N A S F U C K. Not a bad thing, it's fuckin' great. I think this one's the Queeniest they've ever been.
Revolt - this one's made for the stadiums. Bright, positive and energetic, I was a bit taken aback at first. The change in tempo is a bit jarring. Bit of an oddball, this one, but it's grown on me a little bit.
Aftermath - sounds extremely Dire Straits-inspired to begin with, echoes of Brothers In Arms. Overall a very nice and mellow tune
The Globalist - that intro dragged on like a motherfucker; we're talking three minutes of Western-type whistling and slide guitar here. It was a little bit much for me, but after that I do see a slight reminiscence to the latter part of Citizen Erased. Then BAM, riffage. Helsinki Jam all up in this bitch. Eyes wide open, nipples erect. Dat tremolo picking. Good lord. Then that's over pretty soon and it becomes United States of Eurasia. Oh well. That middle section could've been something biblical though.
Drones - loved it, beautiful. Will be great live. Can't wait for instrumental version.
Overall, seven Pringles™ out of ten. It all took a bit of an odd dive at Revolt, but the first six tracks are, in my mind, some of the very best songs they've put out in recent times. Very satisfied even if the final third isn't quite up to snuff.
