Drones Album Discussion Thread

[Alec Ferris]

Blatant homage to RATM? It is?

 

Listen to Reapers, then listen to Freedom by RatM. You'll hear it.

 

Stop articulating what I want to say in a clear manner

 

Say it first, then My brother and I have disagreed a lot over this album, so my arguments are very well-rehearsed.

[GarthMarenghi]

Listen to Reapers, then listen to Freedom by RatM. You'll hear it.

 

are very well-rehearsed.

 

Ah right, thought you meant The Handler. Yeah I agree. Mind you, what about the outro to Micro Cuts, Dead Star, Agitated, etc.?

[Alec Ferris]

Ah right, thought you meant The Handler. Yeah I agree. Mind you, what about the outro to Micro Cuts, Dead Star, Agitated, etc.?

 

Those songs clearly bear Rage's influence, but there it's integrated into a sound which is entirely Muse's. You wouldn't say Micro Cuts or Dead Star are just them "doing an RatM".

[GarthMarenghi]

Those songs clearly bear Rage's influence, but there it's integrated into a sound which is entirely Muse's. You wouldn't say Micro Cuts or Dead Star are just them "doing an RatM".

 

I wouldn't say Reapers is them doing an RatM either though.

[Hopix]

I wouldn't say Reapers is them doing an RatM either though.

 

Same, the riff is different and the vibe of the song is distinctly Muse, sure it's inspired, but it's not a copy.

[Alec Ferris]

I wouldn't say Reapers is them doing an RatM either though.

 

Well, I meant The Handler, and that was simply an example of Muse not incorporating influences as seamlessly as they have in the past. Aside from that, the riffs are mostly bog-standard hard rock.

[GarthMarenghi]

Well, I meant The Handler, and that was simply an example of Muse not incorporating influences as seamlessly as they have in the past. Aside from that, the riffs are mostly bog-standard hard rock.

 

The Handler? Just sounds like early Muse to me.

[Alec Ferris]

The Handler? Just sounds like early Muse to me.

 

To my ears, it doesn't have that vitality. Partly because of the slicker sound, but also the playing.

[LewisF]

Listen to Reapers, then listen to Freedom by RatM. You'll hear it.

 

To be fair, loads of old Muse songs were heavily influenced by RATM. Hyper Music is pretty much the same riff as Snakecharmer, just with some slight variation

[Alec Ferris]

To be fair, loads of old Muse songs were heavily influenced by RATM. Hyper Music is pretty much the same riff as Snakecharmer, just with some slight variation

 

My point is more that you don't listen to it and just think they're doing a homage, any more than you hear Wake Up and think Rage are just doing a lazy Led Zep tribute. Both Wake Up and Hyper Music are potent enough on their own that the idea doesn't even spring to mind. Whereas The Handler doesn't seem to really earn that breakdown, it seems rather tacked-on to me.

[Mattestro]

My point is more that you don't listen to it and just think they're doing a homage, any more than you hear Wake Up and think Rage are just doing a lazy Led Zep tribute. Both Wake Up and Hyper Music are potent enough on their own that the idea doesn't even spring to mind. Whereas The Handler doesn't seem to really earn that breakdown, it seems rather tacked-on to me.

 

 

I feel that way with Reapers, not The Handler though

[serpentsatellite]

Reapers is still the one I, I guess oddly, feel like it sounds like "Muse" the least. Maybe the tapping stuff.

The Handler just sounds like more "classic" Muse, to me, with one seriously unnecessarily long guitar bridge (which is a bit "un-Muse.")

 

I think I liked it better when the guitar "solos" just followed the vocal melodies...

[Citizen Erased 01]

one seriously unnecessarily long guitar bridge

 

Guitar bridges are never too long

[BigGeorge]

The Handler is as Muse as it gets, sounds like it would have shared the same album as Fury. Reapers is a ton of influences compressed into one song, but even then the verses sound distinctly Musey to me.

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

Reapers is like a Space Dementia for guitar. It's to say, a track where Matt goes nuts in playing one of his two main instruments, citing a lot of influences and attaching a mind-blowing outro.

[Alec Ferris]

Reapers is like a Space Dementia for guitar. It's to say, a track where Matt goes nuts in playing one of his two main instruments, citing a lot of influences and attaching a mind-blowing outro.

 

Oh come on, it's nowhere near as weird or potent as Space Dementia, or Fury for that matter (just because two songs sound like they could be from the same album, doesn't mean they're on a par- witness the many, many latter-day Sepultura and Soulfly songs which sound like they could have been from Roots or Chaos AD). SD still sounds weird 14 years later, The Handler sounds like Muse deep in their comfort zone, running on autopilot. I'm not saying it doesn't sound at all like them.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Alec.

[GarthMarenghi]

I'm really confused as to what song we're talking about.

[Alec Ferris]

I'm really confused as to what song we're talking about.

 

My overall argument was about the album itself, but the last couple of pages have veered between The Handler and Reapers after my stumble earlier.

[GarthMarenghi]

My overall argument was about the album itself, but the last couple of pages have veered between The Handler and Reapers after my stumble earlier.

 

Fair enough. Although The Handler may be Muse in their comfort zone, it is pretty much what I love about Muse. It's the sound that got me into them in the first place so I have no problems with that. I certainly don't feel that they are back to their best with the rest of the album but I do enjoy it.

[Alec Ferris]

I just found that, while the sound might be present and correct, the substance isn't.

[Rudderless Hippy]

I'm in love with this album, I listen every day!

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

Oh come on, it's nowhere near as weird or potent as Space Dementia, or Fury for that matter (just because two songs sound like they could be from the same album, doesn't mean they're on a par- witness the many, many latter-day Sepultura and Soulfly songs which sound like they could have been from Roots or Chaos AD). SD still sounds weird 14 years later, The Handler sounds like Muse deep in their comfort zone, running on autopilot. I'm not saying it doesn't sound at all like them.

 

I believe Reapers is weird enough to fit the comparison, though. It may have a different "power voltage" but the similarities are there.

And I've said nothing about The Handler.

[That Little Animal]

Just listened to absolution front to back for the first time in a long time. Drones has nothing on that album. Something happened after Black Holes & Revelations. Something has been missing since then.

 

Yup. Mojo's still gone.

 

That said, recent concerts have looked a lot better than the last two tours, so there's some positivity connected to the release of Drones, in addition to it being the best of the last three albums.

[Citizen Erased 01]

God only knows what the next album will be like

[MAurelia]

The intention of Muse making the album Drones: songs that can be play live.

All songs sound awesome live. So, they reached the goal!