Drones Album Discussion Thread

[frozenbanana]

This might sound weird, but I wonder whether I'd like this album more if it had a better album cover

[TheHappySpaceman]

This might sound weird, but I wonder whether I'd like this album more if it had a better album cover

 

Understandable. The album cover for Drones isn't very good. I can see what they were going for, like how Absolution has the floating silhouettes and the guy looking up at them, but I don't know. This one seems too obvious.

 

Actually, a lot of the fanmade album covers are better than the original ones. Like these ones for The 2nd Law or these for Drones.

[LewisF]

I really like the Drones album cover tbh.

[serpentsatellite]

I've gotten used to the cover. Might be because it reminds me of Abso and I give it a pass.

 

I've also admitted to myself that "obvious" might not be as obvious to everyone...

 

The individual song art is still mostly though.

[TheHappySpaceman]

The individual song art is still mostly though.

 

Yeah, here's what we were given for Dead Inside:

 

And here's a fanmade cover:

 

Which would you rather have?

[serpentsatellite]

There was a guy in the Creativity thread who made some really awesome pieces for the songs. Much better than what we got.

DI wasn't even the worst one.

I still feel awkward looking at the Reapers one. And considering how on the nose all the rest of them are, wtf is going on in the Mercy one...?

 

I guess, tbf, I find Reapers somewhat out of place on the album, so the art fits?

[Jobby]

I guess, tbf, I find Reapers somewhat out of place on the album, so the art fits?

 

I quite like it, cartoony art for a cartoony song imo

 

And I think we can all agree Revolt's is a bloody masterpiece.

[serpentsatellite]

I quite like it, cartoony art for a cartoony song imo

 

And I think we can all agree Revolt's is a bloody masterpiece.

 

Actually, maybe the picture is perfect for a song that tries to come across as hardcore, but is also super campy. Reminds me of the 80s. Or cheesy video games.

 

I think I'd blocked Revolt's out of my mind until you brought it up, thank you very much.

Could the guy have actually heard the song before making that?!?

 

I'll admit to being sad I didn't get the Aftermath one with my box set.

[jonisdead]

I really like the Drones album cover tbh.

 

Me too, brother

[topo_musero]

Honestly, the cover fits the lyrics as it's very "in your face". I'm OK with it, actually.

[Dominic.]

Yeah, here's what we were given for Dead Inside:

http://www.musewiki.org/images/thumb/DEADINSIDEARTWORK.jpg/400px-DEADINSIDEARTWORK.jpg

 

And here's a fanmade cover:

http://i.imgur.com/il8VEBv.png

 

Which would you rather have?

 

Probably the first one. Fanmade is all a bit Starlight enit

[rakivumu]

Great Album !

[Nicklord]

Found same JFK speech in this song:

from around 6:25

[Dominic.]

It's also in a Stray From the Path song, as well as probably hundreds of others. Fucking Muse copiers

[Peter.]

update: I listened to this again to see if it got any better.

 

 

it didn't

[kueller]

Nice.

[serpentsatellite]

I still listen to the album consistently all the way through, and thoroughly enjoy every minute of it, despite deep feelings of shame and not standing up for my values.

 

It's a pretty fucking good album.

[TheHappySpaceman]

I've been thinking about it and I realized that the song "Drones" is actually a really good final track for Drones. I know a lot of us were expecting an epic finale for the album, much like the previous albums ("Hate This and I'll Love You," "Megalomania," "Ruled by Secrecy," "Knights of Cydonia," and the three-part "Exogenesis: Symphony"), but hear me out here. The album is supposed to be a chronicle of a story that ends with the destruction of Earth, and Drones is a somber, mournful hymn for the world that once was. As much as it may seem weird to end the album on such a strange number, it actually makes sense to me. The song Drones reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Outside the Wall," the closing track from The Wall. Muse said that they were influenced by The Wall for this album, and as far as I'm concerned, Drones works for this album in the same way that Outside the Wall works for The Wall.

 

Similarly, for those of you wondering why the hard rock portion of "The Globalist" was so short, I assumed that it represented said destruction of the world via nuclear war, and was so short to represent how quickly complete annihilation can happen. You just press a button, BOOM, you're now in a war, and every country is gone. If you look at these tracks in the context of the album, they make a lot more sense.

 

Or maybe I'm just looking too deeply into it.

[Hat]

All of that has been suggested already, but for a lot of people, concept doesn't go before music. I'm not gonna enjoy a song or part of a song I find bad more just because it was supposed to be that way.

[Clunge]

I tend to just consider Drones 'over' when it gets to the first 'for this moment' in Aftermath.

[LewisF]

I tend to just consider Drones 'over' when it gets to the first 'forthis moment' in Aftermath.

 

from

[odier]

I tend to just consider Drones 'over' when it gets to the first 'for this moment' in Aftermath.

 

The third you mean? I think it's okay when the first and second come in

[Spectrum IV]

There's a number of musical oddities on the album that might be meant to represent real-world concepts, but that doesn't excuse their poor execution.

 

Example: Psycho drags on too long and repeats its main riff too many times. The idea might be to represent brainwashing, which explains the phasing and other textural changes to the riff throughout, and the "I will break you" chants drowned out by the guitar solo. None of this makes the song any more musically interesting.

 

The Handler and The Globalist are better examples, both otherwise classic Muse songs hampered by their repetitive and overlong breakdown sections. If the goal here was to imply extramusical developments, then they are trying way too hard, and essentially forcing the album's concept where it doesn't belong.

[Hat]

Pretty much.

[serpentsatellite]

Unfortunately, I think we have been told, indirectly maybe, that these have nothing to do with the "concept" and simply exist because Mutt told them to extend sections/songs, add solos, etc.

I'm not convinced Matt put that deep of thought into how things impacted the "concept."

 

I agree that every one of those is an issue, and if it really was true that Matt added them upon request, I can't wish enough that he'd have had the fortitude to stand up for himself during the recording process, or at least was able to realize that the repetition was detrimental to the songs instead of being overwhelmed by someone telling him it was great.

People really stand up for The Handler solo, because it's otherwise a pretty great song, and the solo "evolves into something cool" - but, it really doesn't. At all. After over a minute of the exact same thing, the song changes direction suddenly, not gradually, and it could have been executed exactly the same way, with better impact, if that solo was trimmed down a great deal.

It makes a fantastic song often tiring to listen to, and actually detracts from the important impact of the ending because of the loss of focus.

 

It was an unfortunate time for Matt to start taking someone's suggestions, imo.