frozenbanana
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Posts posted by frozenbanana
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Even with the muddiness and mixing of some of its tracks, the best album is Absolution. It's the most sonically and thematically cohesive album the band has made except for Drones, its worst songs are still wonderfully bizarre and successful, it does aggressively catchy rock just as well as Origin but explores quieter and more vulnerable moments far more expansively too.
The only thing stopping me from giving Origin top spot is my personal preference for the second half of Absolution over the 2nd half of Origin, which is a fantastic album but imo definitely sees a quality/pace drop in the 2nd half (Absolution has one too - TSP and ToaDA are basic as hell - but for some reason it bothers me less, and I think that might be to do with the fact they still smash along at 100mph)
BH&R is my favourite Muse album but with its track ordering, lack of Glorious and presence of Exo-Politics, I know I can't say it's their best.
Simulation Theory sadly can't be anywhere near the top 3 for me as it contains Get Up and Fight and Thought Contagion. An album without those 2 (and Dig Down) and with TDS Alternate acting as a reprise before The Void would be doing v well though
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Honestly, listening back after RAH, I’m not sure it even is guitar anymore tbh.
Yeah it was Chris' bass at RAH right? Which makes it more likely that he was just using some guitar-y tones to produce what I'd always assumed was Matt. I'd just prefer if he played it even if it wasn't his part because I love watching Matt switch between them quickly (e.g. below) and know from personal experience how fun it is to try to sing and play that chorus at the same time
[YT]
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Top 5 (in a vague order starting from best):
Redemption
Algorithm
Reapers
The Dark Side (AR version)
United States of Eurasia
(Honourable mentions: The Handler, The Void, Overture, Unnatural Selection, Break It To Me, Animals, Isolated System, all of which could be 5th tbh)
Bottom 5 (from least bad to worst):
Explorers
Get Up and Fight
Thought Contagion
Aftermath
I'm Collapsing In Stellar Clouds of Gas
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Arena setlist even though they're not playing any in the UK
Algorithm (with Matt playing the fucking guitar)
New Born
Assassin
Psycho
Dead Star
Plug in Baby
Starlight
Supermassive Black Hole
Map of the Problematique
Muscle Museum
Space Dementia (guitar outro)
Hysteria
Citizen Erased
Ruled by Secrecy
The Dark Side (alternate)
Bliss
Glorious
Take a Bow
Knights of Cydonia
Stockholm Syndrome + riffs
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About the same: I Belong To You
Mildly worse: Get Up and Fight, Explorers, Revolt
A fair bit worse: Thought Contagion, Overdue, New Kind of Kick, assorted B-Sides such as Prague, Pink Ego Box, etc
Far, far worse (and incidentally really really fucking dreadful): Aftermath
The worst thing Muse has ever put out: Big Freeze
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TC is one of the most fun and catchy songs they’ve released over the last 4 albums.
I said it
Lol I feel like you're at that same stage rn as when a person has just developed a serious crush on someone and finds every boring story they tell really interesting
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I do feel even at 42 minutes, it could do with a harder, harsher cut. Thought Contagion really only needed to be two minutes, Pressure three mins max.
Thought Contagion needed to be cut from the album entirely
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Someone should've told Matt TC was in dire need of a guitar solo
What?? Can't you hear that guitar solo right before the final chorus? Y'know, the incredibly simplistic one that just repeats the same riff that we've already heard for what feels like 1000 times already in the song by that point, but with added whammy pedal??
(All jokes aside, I totally agree, and would rather have had no solo at all than that pathetic throwaway excuse we ended up getting)
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Also gave The Resistance a spin today to work out whether I prefer it to Simulation Theory or not. 4 takeaways:
1) MK Ultra is far less annoying than I remember it
2) I'm actually fond of Guiding Light now after all these years, it's the OG appallingly cheesy Muse song and did it more ridiculously, incongruously and successfully than anything since
3) Exogenesis has no place being on the album,
4) I Belong To You is shit and deserves more hate for how it tonally wrecks the album
, it's a fucking comedy song about nonsense in the middle of this weird sci-fi 1984 love story conspiracy thingIt's close... the highs of Simulation Theory are higher (except for Exo) but there are some great rock sections in The Resistance and I can't just say "except for Exo" and leave it at that, because it is on the album after all...
Eeesh. Simulation Theory for the cohesion atm I reckon
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Am loving The Dark Side AR more and more with each listen, it's great. Also have been tentatively trying out an alternate album that runs as follows:
1. Algorithm
2. The Dark Side
3. Pressure
4. Propaganda
5. Break It To Me
6. Something Human
7. Dig Down
8. Blockades
9. The Dark Side (AR)
10. The Void
Getting rid of the 2 dross tracks in a row and not having Dig Down --> The Void makes a big difference. Potentially Blockades --> The Void is a better transition than TDS AR --> The Void, but I like the idea of it returning as a haunting reprise of the original
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SMASH.
TEST.
BEEEEEEEEAT THE BEST
Also, I'm really growing to like this song a lot, despite how basic it is
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I also reckon in a year or so's time I will have dropped SH, DD, GUAF and TC from any attempts to listen to this album, and retreated into a synthy/space playlist containing Algorithm, TDS, TaB, MoTP, T2L: IS, Glorious, Knights, Exo Pts 1-3 and The Void (I'd mayyybe find room for Blockades and something like DI or UD in there too). I also think The Handler wouldn't sound too out of place if added in the right spot, who knows.
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Ratings:
Algorithm: 10/10. I've said all I need to about this one already. It's possibly too epic and well-executed to occupy the same album as the more funky/weird stuff...
The Dark Side: 8.5/10.Great song. They could have done more with the final chorus to give it a little bit more heft but it's all good.
Pressure: 7.5/10. This is catchy af and I love the unashamed "let's get to the next headbanging bit ASAP" vibe it seems to have. However, it has one too many choruses, the final chorus again is too restrained and just like the others, and it needed a bridge or a solo just to provide some variety imo.
Propaganda: 8.5/10. So around here is where I was starting to regret how tonally different Algorithm and TDS were in comparison to what followed them. Anyway, this song in and of itself is great fun, I LOVE the blues solo and the fact the whole thing doesn't hang around.
Break It To Me: 8/10. Seriously, what the fuck is this song?
Something Human: 6.5/10. This has actually gone up in the context of the album as it's kinda.. needed? It makes a good change from the madness of the previous 2 tracks.
Thought Contagion: 2/10. No. It's awfully repetitive, uninteresting and sonically incongruous in the context of this album and I am never going to forgive the lyrics as well, so it can fuck off.
Get Up and Fight: 5.5/10. Phwoar!! I have very little to say about this. The album is well into its weakest section at this point (the Revolt --> Drones section of Drones, if you will)
Blockades: 8/10. The extraneous palm-muting of the chorus chords and those goddamn backing vocals aren't doing it any favours. But I had it in my head this morning and the bit at the end of the chorus saves it from getting too cheesy imo.
Dig Down: 7/10. Improves in terms of how it fits in with the sound of the album, but still feels a bit insipid (and I hate the Garage Band strings). The final bit of the song is actually quite good though?
The Void: 9/10. I wish it were longer, and built up a bit more before sort of abruptly ending after the drums properly got going. It's still brilliant. Again, this feels like it belongs on a separate album with Algorithm and The Dark Side.
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Overall rating: 7.5ish/10. Denied status as a proper classic by the massive tonal inconsistency between the middle of the album and its front and back, and that run from Something Human to Dig Down. Given that my average rating for the songs we'd already heard was 6/10, though, am happy with how the new stuff surpassed expectations. Also, we got...
Alternate and acoustic versions: Algorithm: 10/10 (again), The Dark Side: 9/10, Pressure: 8.5/10, Propaganda: 8.5/10, Break It to Me: 7/10, Something Human: 6.5/10, Dig Down: 7.75/10, The Void 9.5/10. My biggest problem with these were that the best alternate versions (Algorithm, The Dark Side and The Void) were already great in their original versions. If they'd found some way to make Propaganda or Something Human sound like synthwave fever dreams then it would have been properly great.
Overall rating for the whole thing (original + alternates): 8/10
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The section of The Void from "it takes a leap of faith..." onwards is so gorgeous, bloody hell.
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Anyone else already skipping Get Up and Fight lol
Also, double posting this from the Algorithm thread, but if Muse had built on the atmosphere and sound of Algorithm, TDS and The Void and made a whole album of dark, grand synth stuff with a prog/classical tinge and electro rockers like MoTP, it would have been fucking amazing
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My only complaint is that it isn't longer. Other than that, well, fucking fuck.
Part of me wishes the rest of the album had taken on the atmosphere and scope of this song and The Void, with The Dark Side in there as well as the outer limit of the album's 'pop' element instead of something like Get Up and Fight. A properly doomy, grand fucking statement, with passages like the second half of Bowie's Low and more tracks that sound like Take a Bow, Map of the Problematique and Isolated System fused with the synthwave elements.
Having said that, if we'd got that we wouldn't have got Break it to Me or Propaganda, and I'm weirdly pretty fond of both already.
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This is miles ahead of T2L; its highs are far higher, its lows are no lower than T2L's ("Fight? FIGHT??? Or will you show me mercy? MEUURSEEE" etc.) and it's more sonically cohesive. Not sure where it ranks in comparison to TR yet. I think it's going to end up way ahead of Drones, though part of that is thanks to the presence of alternative versions of the weaker songs and the fact this has a fucking great opener and proper closer.
So probs 4th? It's not gonna touch the big 3 (anyone who thinks this is better than Absolution, just.. ugh...) but still, considering all we had to go on for a while was Dig Down, Thought Contagion and Something Human, the new stuff has done a fucking great job dragging this album up the rankings.
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Listened to the google drive one at work. Thoughts after 1 listen:
This album is completely insane.
Algorithm is absolutely incredible and in a different league to everything else here.
I like all of the new tracks except.. surprise surprise.. Get Up and Fight, which is hilariously atrocious. I don't mind at this point though.
Propaganda reminds me of Odelay-era Beck in a really good way.
Break It to Me might be the most ridiculous thing the band has ever done, which is quite an achievement.
Blockades is almost torpedoed by those backing vocals, which may become annoying over time. Loved the guitar brutality.
Waited for a Big Bang in both The Void and TDS alternate... nothing came. They both sounded really good though! (Not as good as Hyper Chondriac Music, however, but again that's not a problem at all).
Dig Down alternate is better than the original; I weirdly prefer the original version of SH except for the shitty intro drums.
The 2nd worst track on the album is in fact not Dig Down but Thought Contagion, which sounds completely out of place and drags like hell.
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Having to cancel my trip to the pub with work people tonight because "something came up"
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If this is legit a pm with the link would be wonderfully appreciated (although am at work and so a bit concerned it will be invalid by the time I get home)
Want to listen to it on proper speakers before my flatmate gets back from the South Coast tomorrow lol
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49 guests? One of you must have the album surely, get that damn thing on mega.nz and give yourself a chance for the most popular first post* on here ever
*it'll probs be your last because you'll be banned but what a way to go right
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Last 2 leaked late at night/early hours of the morning iirc
THERES STILL TIME
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Really expected there would be a leak today
kinda awkwardly sitting around pondering another day of hyping for this. I'm mainly excited for Algorithm and The Void and not holding out much hope for everything else but will be looking out for Propaganda too and am faintly gruesomely, masochistically interested in what Get Up and Fight is going to sound like -
From what I've seen of it, the sub seems full of a lot more new fans who are happy to rank T2L or Drones above the big 3 and unironically make threads called stuff like "Big Freeze Appreciation Post". I think their conception of the band - what they want it to represent, what they expect from it in terms of genre/mood/lyrics/purpose etc - is different to that of people who have been through tonnes of album release cycles, like a lot of people here.
Also, they can't deal with the kind of shit that gets thrown at some songs on here, which is frustrating. Just because someone else calls a song shit shouldn't affect your enjoyment of it... and you also shouldn't be censored/downvoted for saying you don't like a song if you don't (which was what stopped me from bothering to go on there)
Finally, that pun thread just looks like a bunch of 12 year olds having gr8 laffs on the internet for the first time (... I really hope they're 12 and not adults)
, it's a fucking comedy song about nonsense in the middle of this weird sci-fi 1984 love story conspiracy thing
kinda awkwardly sitting around pondering another day of hyping for this. I'm mainly excited for Algorithm and The Void and not holding out much hope for everything else but will be looking out for Propaganda too and am faintly gruesomely, masochistically interested in what Get Up and Fight is going to sound like
LP9: WOTP Discussion/Speculation Thread
in Songs & Releases
Posted · Edited by frozenbanana
My first post in 4 years, blimey. Here goes:
Having gone through the entire discography over the weekend, I think that right now that as an album, WoTP is comfortably better than anything else since BH&R.
Firstly, it’s coherent. It avoids the big issue TR and T2L have of whacking a big multipart suite at the end of the album which seems to have nothing to do with the songs that just came before. Sure, it’s like T2L in that it’s a genre mishmash, but so is BH&R, and probably because Matt’s lyrics are vague enough, it doesn’t matter to me.
Secondly, it’s paced nicely. T2L, Drones and ST all have mid/late sections which are clearly less strong than the start of the album (and the end), such as Explorers > Liquid State and SH > Dig Down… but WoTP mixes up its fast, heavy and “commercial” tracks so there’s never really a clear point after which I’m going “ugh, strap in for these songs”.
Third, it’s “lows” are nowhere near as annoying, skippable or straight up out-of-place as the bad stuff elsewhere. I think the worst song is Compliance, and that is still miles better than IBTY (not a terrible song, but sooo jarring on TR), Big Freeze, Save Me, Mercy (the lyrics…), Revolt, Aftermath, Get Up and Fight, Dig Down (OG version) and Something Human.
Finally, not only is there Heavy Stuff, but it’s mixed so that it actually sounds heavy. TR and T2L killed their heavy songs with their production and ST didn’t really have any nasty songs. This has 3 excluding the title track, they’re spread out, and they kick hard.
I have this album as an 8 out of 10. Faves are KoBK, Verona, and WaFF, but Liberation and WsD are guilty pleasures as a 2-parter. The band sound happy and comfortable in their skin. I’m comfortable with New Muse now too I guess - accepting we’re never ever getting another Origin-tier release, but that I can enjoy this stuff anyway.