Lyrically, this is Muse's worst. It's hard to believe that it's the same Matt who wrote these, and those in Ruled by Secrecy and OOS. However, I'm not too fussed by this because Matt is still my favourite vocalist ever, and his delivery makes up for the poor lyrics for me. Also, for the people who were keen on Muse to go for a concept album, well, yeah. If this is what Matt comes up with then I'd rather they didn't. Even the half-arsed concept of TR was nice enough and didn't seem forced. But enough about lyrics and the concept. On to the music:
Dead Inside: As an individual track, I love it. As Tjet mentioned (iirc), it feels like the big brother of Madness. And Madness was great. Muse's pop songs are among my favourite, and DI is definitely the best poppier song on Drones. As an album opener though, it definitely does not stand up against the likes of TaB and NB. Yeah it defines the lyrical tone of the album and sets the scene before Psycho, but still. For this reason, 8/10
Drill Sergeant and Psycho: The riff has always been great, and the development of it in the pre-verse is very Muse-y. The guitar in the verse is also fun. The Drill Sergeant bits are annoying though and the song draaaags. Could've been better if cut shorter. But meh, fun live I suppose. 6/10
Mercy: Piano riff sounds too familiar and border-line cheesy, and the chorus feels lazy. It all seems very safe, and not something new for Muse like their best pop songs- SMBH, UD, Madness. It feels like Starlight's and Follow Me's unsuccessful brother. Still, it's not horrible. 5/10
Reapers: Probably my favourite track on the album. It feels like something Muse would have done in their earlier days, but with all the good things from the newer Muse. The distorted vocals are wonderful and the guitar tone is great. Solo is catchy as hell too, and the transitions work well. 10/10
The Handler: Hell yeah. It's all about the chorus. 9/10
JFK and Defector: There's something about this song that just resonates with me. Whether it's the eerie solo (which is really catchy too), the beefy riff, the cool harmonies that hark back to USoE (and Queen yeah) or the good placements of JFK, or all of them together, I love it. It feels like a natural progression for Muse, but also feels like something that could have been done in the Absolution or Black Holes era. Shame about the lyrics though. 10/10
Revolt: First impressions were horrible. But it seems to be a grower, as lots of others also seem to be saying. The verses are not bad at all, and the pulsating synth is quite cool. It's just that awful pre-chorus. And the "you can revolt" feels lazy, like Mercy's chorus. The sirens are nasty too. But the guitar is alright and there's some good vocals. Meh. It's still hard to rate this so soon. 6 or 7/10
Aftermath: Nice Gilmour-esque guitar work and chill atmosphere. The guitar develops nicely as the song goes on, and I dig the fuzz that gets added by the last chorus. The vocal interplay in said chorus is also quite nice and something a little different for them. And it comes down nicely right at the end. 8/10
The Globalist: It's no CE2 but it's pretty great man. The heavy part feels the right length, but the tremolo solo could have been longer for sure. The final section maybe could have been a tad shorter. I like the piano work though. Very reminiscent of I Belong to You, NSC and possibly B&H. The strings also blend very effectively with the band throughout the song. 9/10
Drones: Hmm. I respect it more than I enjoy it. It's nice that they've done something they've never done before- like, in hindsight the next logical step after the bombast of Survival and Unsustainable would be to go back to the Middle Ages- and that Matt is doing something other than Queen harmonies (as someone else mentioned). As a closing track though, it is in very tough company with RBS, Megalomania, IS, pretty much all of them in fact. So it was a little disappointing. 5 or 6/10
As a whole, the concept is forced and at times feels like a child could have written the narrative. But musically, it's a step in the right direction, especially with tracks like Reapers, Handler, Defector and Globalist. But there are disappointments and it doesn't even reach the same level as The Resistance for me, despite having some very strong songs. Meh. It has only been like 2 days. Much better than T2L though. A pretty solid 7/10.
