The 2nd Law discussion thread (Part 4)

[-FutureStar-]

Positivety doesn't last long on these boards. xD Personally, I'd rate this album about BH&R... possibly on par with Absolution. I really like it, it's really different for Muse and it's still good... which means they're evolving. Want to hear it in 320kbs though! Not clear enough!

[FabriPav]

Why we can talk about it here though?

 

Loving Supremacy. I knew that the solo was guitar+trumpets

[Khoaki]

Nothing that makes me want to jump or sing along or anything. Meh.

 

Time... it has come... to destrooooy..... YOUR SUUU-PREMACY!

M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-MAD-MAD-MAD

Ooooh 1 2 3 4 fires in your eyes!

Race! Its a race! And Im gonna win! Yes im gonna win!

Foooollow me, you can foooollow me...

Kiiiiiill youuuuurseeeeeelf... c`mon do us allll a faaaaaaaaaavoooooour

Weeee.... are hiiiiiding to nowheeeere

etc. etc...

[Chumbucket]

First 7 tracks are dope and Liquid State. Rest of them haven't quite warmed to me.

 

I'm loving the sound, yes it isn't old Muse but it sure beats what I was listening to in The Resistance.

 

From watching the live vids the songs sound so much better live, so much more powerful.

[-FutureStar-]

The best thing about Big Freeze is the chorus. Really nice! But the rest is meh.

 

Explorers confuses me so much. I don't know what to think.

 

Loving Animals, Liquid State, Supremacy, Panic Station and Follow Me especially. I am really chuffed with this album!

[Guest bellamylookalike]

I checked the Isolated System page this morning and thought "fuck, 100%? Muse people have been busy socialising overnight."

 

:/

[Zolic]

I kind of wished Chris' songs were reversed in length... That Liquid State was 5:08 and something more happened and that Save Me was 3:03.

 

I listened more to the lyrics in Save Me on the studio version and I've got to say, this is the most sincere song. You really understand how Chris felt and it feels so passionate. I almost shed a tear.

[deanob17]

Can only assume people that don't like Explorers are listening on the poor quality rips? Because its a gorgeous song, one of the most delicately moving songs they've ever written.

[Jimmyneutron]

10/10 after 3 tracks!

[Jordasm]

After listening again:

Animal, Supremacy, Panic Station, and Isolated System are easily the best songs. So yeah to me there's like 4 good songs, the rest are just either kinda meh.

 

Ah well, back to Until the Quiet Comes.

[Piranhaconda]

Supremacy, Madness (heresy, I know), Panic Station and Animals all stand out to me as some of the best songs they've made. That's not to say they might necessarily make a top 5 list right now, but they're in the general category of standing out. Compared to The Resistance, I'd probably only put MK Ultra and maybe Overture in there at this point.

 

I'll have to listen to the rest some more. I like most of the songs, but a couple I could do without. I'd pretty much rather have a shorter album than know that they actually wrote Big Freeze. That is just too derivative, even for a generally derivative band, for not much payoff.

[Killer Rabbit]

Can only assume people that don't like Explorers are listening on the poor quality rips? Because its a gorgeous song, one of the most delicately moving songs they've ever written.

 

It might be beautiful, but that doesn't necessarily equal good. The music is pretty, but other than that, meh. I do like that they tried channeling The Beatles in spots of the song though. I can appreciate that. At least the song is semi-enjoyable in spots (unlike GL).

 

Then again, I'm loving Liquid State and people are reacting to that the same way I'm reacting to Explorers, so there you go.

[Riveon]

you guys were a lot more positive in the last few days,i'm worried.

It was inevitable on these boards tbh.

[IamTheUniverse]

After listening to this album on Tumblr, it really does feel like it is written for a Musical. Not quite sure how i feel about that.

 

Supremacy - Awesome

Animals - Pretty Good

 

Really not feeling the elctro Follow Me. Wish they had stuck with the guitars on that one.

 

Liquid State is brilliant too

[Man_In_Showbiz]

So far for me it's better than The Resistance, perhaps on par with Showbiz.

 

Having said that I would probably say MK Ultra and Exogenesis: Overture are probably better than all songs on the album apart from Supremecy.

 

Good thing is the live versions sound much better which will make for greater setlists.

 

I'm sure the majority of the songs will grow on me, not feeling much love for Explorers though, was hoping for so much more.

[Killer Rabbit]

If you notice, the general consensus is that the songs played in Cologne (Supremacy, Panic Station, Animals, Follow Me and Save Me) sound good in studio. Of course, there are some saying the live version is better in some instances, but that's to be expected with Muse.

 

The unheard songd had a weird mixture of hype from magazines and low expectations based on how TR turned out to live up. I actually think Liquid State is the only one meeting any of the hype set for it by the boards, even though people seem unsure about Chris' vox and expected Matt to riff more on it.

[FabriPav]

FIRST LISTEN PERSONAL THOUGHTS

 

Supremacy: 10 (my god this screams EPICNESS in every bit. And the guitar+trumpet solo <3)

Madness: 8.5

Panic Station: 9 (this is awesome. I was a bit afraid that the studio version could have been worse than the live one, and not)

Prelude+Survival: 8.5

Follow Me: 10 (at first I gave 35 to this song but decided to stick with votes from 1 to 10)

Animals: 10 (I wanted to give 80)

Explorers: 8.5 (this is one of their best ballads IF NOT their best ballad. Reminds me of Shine, really lovely. I can understand the Queen comparisons )

Big Freeze: 7.5 (I find this good, reeeeeeaaaally good, I like U2. And tons better than Invincible and GL)

Save Me: 8.5 (the album version is definitely better than the first live one, as I was expecting. Lovely atmosphere)

Liquid State: 10 (oh my fucking god. Chris I love you)

Unsustainable: 9

Isolated System: 10 (Matt you need to score a movie as soon as possible. One of the greatest piece of music you've ever created. It all blends together magnifically)

 

Ok, I think I rate this album as their 2nd () best. It's probably early to judge, of course, but this are my feels right now. Could become my favourite ever, though.

[Man_In_Showbiz]

Maybe because I have heard it more than any other song but Unsustainable is one of the best songs on the album, the string section wins we over everytime.

[Phill]

How are people liking Panic Station????

[FabriPav]

How are people liking Panic Station????

 

Maybe they just...

 

Like it

[JessicaSarahS]

How are people liking Panic Station????

 

I don't know! I planned on hating it but it hooked me out of nowhere!

[Apocalyptic Gerbil]

imo one of the worst albums I've ever heard, pretty much every song plagiarises someone elses work.

 

This review pretty much sums it up for me: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/52047/Muse-The-2nd-Law/

[Phill]

That and Explorers are the bottom of the pile for me. Overall it's a decent album although a little strange and scattered.

[Gwyn]

After a few listens, the first 7 tracks are my favourites by far, I can see myself listening to these over and over again. However, the rest sound mostly like filler.

 

I don't think Chris' songs are strong enough. When Noel Gallagher started to let other band members write songs for Oasis albums, that was the beginning of the end for them - each album got gradually worse, and their compositions weren't half as good as what Noel had to offer. I believe the same is true with Muse. No offence at all to Chris, but I personally hope Matt continues to write most, if not all, future tracks.

 

And as for Unsustainable and Isolated System, I really dislike them. I enjoy a good singalong, so the lack of lyrics really irks me. Isolated System, especially, doesn't seem to go anywhere, with hardly any change in direction, rhythm or sound for the whole 5 minutes, and is a boring and pointless way to close an album. Give me Knights or Exogenesis any day.

[Dee3Dee]

First listen, first impressions:

 

1) Supremacy

 

- Still sounds awesome, but will obviously keep being more badass in a live setting.

 

2) Madness

 

- Still don't like Madness at all, aside from the excellent vocals towards the end. At least it leads somewhere unlike UD and GL.

 

3) Panic Station

 

- Love the funk. Without a doubt the most fun song on the album. Catchy and cool to dance to.

 

4) Prelude

 

- Still an unnecessary pile of wank.

 

5) Survival

 

- I quite like Survival, and the hero voice in the second verse fits the song perfectly.

 

6) Follow Me

 

- I quite like the buildup. Excellent vocals from Bellamy. Surprisingly not a shit song. The "Where The Streets Have No Name" ending is unnecessary though.

 

7) Animals

 

- Fucking fantastic song, and hopefully a keeper live. Cool guitar work, a sense of urgency towards the end, and excellent vocal melodies.

 

8) Explorers

 

- The very first vocal line reminded me of Queen. I have no idea where the Blackout comparison came from, actually, because it sounds nothing like it. At all. I don't really know what to think about it. It leaves me with nothing. I am almost completely indifferent to it.

 

9) Big Freeze

 

- What the actual fuck. Matt is just trying too hard to be Bono. And we all know that Bono is a cunt. You're officially a cunt, Matt. Pretentious, shitty, ego-boosting wankery. Disgusting song.

 

10) Save Me

 

- This song has two problems; 1) it keeps building and building into nothing. 2) It's way too long. Sorry Chris, but it's not interesting. Yeah, lyrics and what it means bla bla bla. Still gonna pass on this one. If it didn't have those two problems I would've liked it, without a doubt. Seems like it sounds bigger on the album as well.

 

11) Liquid State

 

- Starts off pretty badass, and actually maintains the badassery throughout the song. Chris' vocals are much better than in Save Me, without a doubt. This song strikes me as the MK Ultra/Assassin live beast that will rarely ever get played live. Which is a shame, because it will be awesome live. The only problem is that it's short. Shorter than Save Me, which didn't lead anywhere. Shame really. I like Liquid State though.

 

12) The 2nd Law: Unsustainable

 

- I do like Unsustainable, and I always have. It's just a bit underwhelming that they decided to copy paste the second half of the song. Still a great song though, should be good live.

 

13) The 2nd Law: Isolated System

 

- Creepy, haunting, cool beat. I love the melody and the strings. Excellent album closer, I'd say. Haunting and great in the same way that Ruled By Secrecy closed Absolution.

 

---

 

Now that we're done with that, here's what I think based on this first impression:

 

It's not an album. My biggest fear after the Cologne gig was that it wouldn't sound like a coherent album, but rather just a collection of songs that were all over the place. And that seems to be the case. Lyrically they might be coherent, but musically? It's all over the place.

 

That said, it does have quite a few good tracks on it. Supremacy, Panic Station, Animals, Liquid State and Unsustainable are probably my favourites. I do enjoy Survival and Follow Me as well. The rest I don't like, or I'm completely indifferent to them.

 

On the plus side, Matt has never sounded better. Even if he's trying desperately to reach the Bono level of shit.

 

Still a better album than TR though, no question about it.