Ultimately, even seemingly odd choices/mistakes aside, Origin was always the album that needed a new, updated shiny modern mix the least anyway. If any record benefits from sounding raw and harsh at times, it’s that. Releasing the stems would’ve been nice as part of the package, to make it stand out a bit more. The main thing I’m taking away from this project is that it’s hopefully the start of a few updates to other records that could actually do with the treatment this decade. Cough cough we all know which I mean cough. …or maybe they’ll just continue to exclusively obsess over different Origin-related anniversaries :’)

Yeah, seeing a lot of questions about that Micro Cuts cut at the start now. Was literally just about to order the vinyl any day now but I think I’ll hold off until we know more about what’s going on with that. I’m hoping they’ve just botched the digital version when transferring and uploading that. Would be crazy if that’s actually somehow flown under the radar of the final product. Hopefully they actually address it (not holding my breath with Muse like) ‘cos it is a reasonable concern that more and more people are asking about now.

The YT upload also does it Imagine if they’ve actually guffed the most iconic transition in their discography this badly, I wouldn’t even be mad :’)

“Yooou maaake meee SICK” fucking kicks so hard now, gotta say Forgot to mention that I think I hate that weird stutter/delay effect on the piano at the start though.

Triple post but sue me, first listen thoughts: New B: nothing really new here, just weaker imo, especially the final falsetto Bliss: minor improvement maybe? idk very close, this one, letting things breathe a bit more is nice for the chorus Space D : so I like the idea behind the strings but fuck me what a mess lmao, other than that v nice actually, can’t tell if I like the 3rd verse vocals coming in straight away or not Space D Outro : because this deserves its own spot - Y E S. No notes, just very good thanks. Hyper: hahahhahahaha fucking hell, ok the ‘spit it’ line comes through nicely now an I appreciate those last couple of teeny screams at the end but FUCK did they just blow this baby up PIB: meh, guitar sounds thinner and oddly buried at points Citizen: you know, no bueno Micro Cuts: harpsichord is comical imo, the choir/synth effect in the chorus is weaker which is BAD, what the FUCK is that noise during the outro and WHO got rid of the panning riff (appreciate the eerier vocals though) Screeny G: least changed I feel which is nice, very subtle overall, slightly more prevalent synths and that’s about it - chef kiss Darkshines: double tracked solos being clearer is a big yum, final feedback/fuzz build-up kicks in harder, overall a net gain but I miss the alien-y synth coming through clearer in all the choruses Feely G: up there for most improved, strings are very rudimentary and make it fit the record even less but maximum Bond achieved I guess, the reverb on the keyboard comes through really nice, the distortion really kicks but fuck me did Matt-y boy bury that Bb4 lmao Futurism: yes this is a big gain, massive WOOF on every front, drums couldn’t be more like this why?? yeah the vocal delay does get a bit annoying in general and the panning/trem effects are a bit much at the end for me Meg: yeah pretty decent, like I say Overall, I’ll be sticking to the OOM remaster for sure. Futurism will become my standard maybe but that’s it, maybe Space Dementia? Outro’s just too good and I could maybe learn to love the chaotic strings. Bliss and Screenager are untouched enough too I guess. Some tracks have nice elements or moments but have too many other aspects I don’t like, or just some too prominent. More than anything, this whole project has given me that extra appreciation for Matt’s vocals though. No one will ever convince me this wasn’t by a mile his best vocal performance on an album. A big reason why it hooked me so much 12 years ago and you ain’t gonna find intensity like it.

this good or bad?

Spring/Summer 2022 is most likely, since it seems like they’re just starting to really kick things off recently. Since Abso, they’ve averaged around 10-12 months from entering the studio to release.

Ah I miss new Muse release reactions Even for a record that’s 20 years old Interested to hear when I get home. Really didn’t like CE but Megalomania and the Micro Cuts preview have been a steady improvement since imo. Mainly interested to hear Hyper Music, the rest of Micro, Space Dementia, Bliss and PIB. Hate the implication at times that this is how Origin ‘should have’ been, but purely from a perspective of hearing some alt. takes and mixes of my favourite album of all time, it’s obviously still interesting to me. Wouldn’t call any of what I’ve heard so far ‘better’ by any means, like the old live falsetto whimpers during the MC intro, but still cool to hear.

Yeeeeah I’ll skip. Love Matt but even I have a limit on what I’ll throw my money at just ‘cos he’s connected to it :’)

You make it sound like this year was even remotely on the cards 😂 I think early - mid 2022 has been the general expectation for ages now

I know it was a lifetime ago now (early 2020 A.D) but Matt’s initial plan going into LP9 was for it to be quite stripped back and influenced by their approach as youths. He specifically mentioned trying to make it as close to Teignmouth as possible too actually. They’ve worked with Costey on every album since Abso bar TR tbf so it’s safe to assume he’ll be involved to some extent.

It’s just that I hate taking pictures of myself, so any photo-based social media thing is utterly pointless for me 😂 not that I really use my others either but at least pics aren’t *required* I feel like this is proper album time now. Dom and Matt have maybe been working on some demos during remixing Origin, but it’s probably a smidge further along than the other records would be at demo stage. March 2022, mark your calendars.

why does literally everything have to have transferred over to Insta these days, the one social media I refuse to buy into 😑 don’t make me break that muse pls Studio pics > loading..... 👀

Aye, Meg actually sounds pretty great for the most part. Outro in particular really lets those vocals shine in a brill way. Strings are a bit heavy at the start for me and I feel like the organ could be just a hair more prominent. Mainly just the drums again though, is that gonna be a recurring thing? It’s not as bad as CE at times but they just sound flat in comparison to everything.

If it’s any consolation, I live in a big-ish city in England but there’s only a couple of pretty small record shops and even mine said they’d have “a lot” of copies. So even if you can’t get one first-hand, I imagine there’ll either be plenty left that they might sell on here or second-hand ones you can get hold of easily. It’s just so strange and hard to judge because they’ve veered off their usual structure for the first time and everything’s so quiet 😩 Hopefully, now that they’re seemingly back in London and once they’re done promoting this Origin thing, their normal hype building will start to pick up again. Wonder if it’d be worth a trip down to Air soon..... 👀

I’m feeling early-mid ‘22 given where it seems like they’re at with LP9 and the dates Potential for some smaller gigs by the end of this year? 👀 I’m defo feeling some around the start of this next cycle Edit: also side note, my local record store is gonna have copies of the Matt album eyyyy

I’m honestly not really sure what you’re saying. If you’re implying that I have a problem with other opinions, it’s exactly the opposite. I’ve said more than once in here that, if other people like the new mix, more power to them. Here, I’m highlighting how other fans are dismissing the opinions of those who don’t like it. People should be allowed to not like it without being called “cringe” and being told to just go listen to something else. If you’re also implying that I’m pretending to know everything that went into their decision-making for OOS, I’m not and that’d obviously be ridiculous. I base what I know on what they themselves said at the time the album was released, and the information that’s available from the making of the record. As I pointed out, I’m pretty sure (it’s been a while since I went through all their interviews so would have to refresh my memory) they specifically talked about leaving the strings off because it was too much. Now, it’s apparently what they always “meant”, in favour of something else that was obviously consciously included on the song at release. That’s nothing to do with Matt “lying”, I haven’t said or implied that. But it’s completely possible to forget or colour your memory of something after decades of personal change.

It’s not the feeling that Origin is being replaced, I’m seeing that often from people online. So many newer/younger gen fans telling “cringe” fans who daren’t kiss Muse’s arse with everything and post Matt fancams all day to just “go listen to the original lol, it’s still there”. I think it’s a combination of knowing things like that just aren’t true in the first place (I’m pretty sure there’s interviews you can find where they talked about consciously choosing to leave off the strings, and is Matt trying to imply that transition was like an accident or something? lmao) and it just feels kinda shitty/rude to imply that this version of the album and these details that people treasured all these years wasn’t actually the intended ‘proper’ version, which they’re now restoring. It feels...idk, maybe delegitimising is the word. I know they’re not intentionally meaning to do that but just bill it as an alternative “what if?” and leave it at that. We all know that modern Muse would absolutely do something like take that harsh siren out in favour of strings but that’s been an iconic transition on the record for us lot since it released, why demean it by implying it never should’ve been there just because you’re different artists 20 years later? Just a small (but big) example really. Maybe this is my Han Shot First lmao

Matt saying in the BTS video that they basically deleted the phasing siren transition between CE and Micro Cuts so you could hear the strings better, and that it’s what they originally “meant” exactly sums up the bug bear I have about this project 🤢 I’m less opposed to the mix at this point (my first listen was a weirdly bad rip I think but I still *vastly* prefer the normal version) but the vibe/implication that this is actually the ‘real’ Origin that they meant to make all along is still all the yuck

My toys are well and truly out of the pram and they’ll keep on flyin’ In all seriousness, there are a couple of reasons. For a start, Origin is my favourite album of all time and one of my favourite things in life full stop, has been for 12 years now. I’m naturally hesitant to say the least about the idea of it being significantly retouched in any way, rather than a simple remaster (which we already had and was unnecessary but harmless and fine). Especially when, after listening, I already reeeeally don’t like the result after one song. And, like I said before, personally I don’t really like the way it’s being billed so far. I do get the vibe that it’s being marketed as an “updated” version of the album that’s how it ‘should’ve’ sounded. Yes, the original will always be there, but is that now gonna get left in the dust with this album’s changes becoming the ‘canon’ Origin, especially for the band and younger fans? Is it gonna change live performances of the songs? When I talk about loving something from the record with another fan, are they actually gonna be thinking/talking about the newer version? Basically, this is something I’m incredibly attached to and I’m getting a bad vibe atm that it’s being somewhat invalidated, or at least at risk of it, by a very different band who wanna retroactively mould it to fit something closer to what they would make now.

Yeah, I can’t quite tell if they’re intentionally going for a retro ‘nu-millenium cool’ vibe or if it is just a mess 😂 merch has been pretty dry since even T2L now I feel but it has felt particularly naff lately Edit: also I pointed this out on Twitter but I do think it’s worth noting at this point that, since Muse started celebrating anniversaries with the R+L shows in 2011 - Origin has been at the heart of 2.5/3 within 10 years 😂 lads I know we went on about it a lot back in the day but there are also other *pretty* good albums that could actually do with at least a flippin’ remaster

Literally knew this would be exactly the case before I even heard the strings were back in. No shock that they’re apparently added back in for other songs too :’) See, some of the wording of this is what I don’t like. They’re not talking about it like an alternative/optional version imo, it’s like a revised update. Big “this is what it *should’ve* been like” vibes to me. “Rescuing parts”, “making great strides” and featuring “all facets of its intricate original production”. Go awaaaaaayyyyy. This stuff wasn’t ‘hidden’ or ‘lost’, it was fecking intentionally cut for artistic reasons that made it beloved by everyone else as well. Ugggggh honestly more power to the people who do enjoy it but this feels so icky to me. Origin is a product of its time and these decisions were made intentionally, and they’re all part of why it’s your most acclaimed album. Don’t try to imply that you’re now ‘restoring’ some kind of secret real version just because this is how you’d do it 20 years later, as completely different people.

It’s mostly a heavy remixing job with the odd part sounding like it’s re-recorded. Judging from CE at least.

Got the email this morning ❤️❤️❤️❤️ weeeee Muse at Eurockeennes 😍 I was hoping for a special song or two before but xxtra special now pls, waiting long enough ya shits

I’m not and will probs never be an audiophile so I won’t claim to be a wealth of knowledge on mixing and master but that sounded like just a big nope to me Completely blown out, the harmonics and snare in the intro sounded horrible. So many things felt like they just got lost in the “TURN IT UP” sesh. This felt like CE if it gorged itself on an all-you-can-eat buffet for a month straight. The outro felt so much...heavier and ploddier, rather than tender and vulnerable. The chorus/flange effect on the clean solo honestly made me chuckle in a kinda morbid way. Literally the only thing that I heard and found in anyway cool were the tweaked falsettos in the chorus, but even then I wouldn’t say I preferred them to the original’s. I legit saw some people hyping this up as a better mix than the original CE and this is officially my new #1 most confusing Muse opinion after the people who claimed Mercy sounded like Dead Star. Just...bloated. Like, I have to listen to the rest of the record out of morbid curiosity at the very least but my christ am I kinda dreading it. Why would you do this to my favourite child moose? edit: I’m at least 80% sure they ran this through audacity, clicked “amplify” by x% and just laughed when the “this will cause some clipping” warning popped up