Drones Album Discussion Thread

[Jobby]

Yeah, I like the album more than a lot of people on the board but I don't think I've ever really seen the 'hype' behind DI. I use quote marks 'cause it's not like it gets ludicrously hyped up but, idk, I feel like I've seen it be touted as one of their best pop songs a fair amount when it's just okay imo.

 

Let's be honest, it's no Revolt ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

(inb4 "lel ur right its actually good")

[Clunge]

I'd put DI in my top 10 Muse songs these days, for sure. It's one of only a handful of Muse songs where I genuinely love the lyrics.

[Nicklord]

I'd put DI in my top 10 Muse songs these days, for sure. It's one of only a handful of Muse songs where I genuinely love the lyrics.

 

Then the greatest guy line comes and it ruins the whole thing

[frozenbanana]

Then the greatest guy line comes and it ruins the whole thing

 

I still can't hear it as anything other than "the grainiest guy".

 

I dunno, I think the best bits of Drones are better than anything else post-BH&R, but the lows are really down there with the worst stuff they've done, and there's a lot of fluff.

 

I remember that bit before the second half of the album had leaked when The Globalist and Revolt had these promising preview descriptions and we'd got the snippet of the great Defector solo as well. So full of hope

[Hat]

Then the greatest guy line comes and it ruins the whole thing

Clunge actually likes that line.

 

I totally get the point of the line, but that doesn't make it sound any better.

[Bumpypotato]

Matt could do with being a bit less didactic and blatant. A lot of his lyrics are fairly meaningful, they just sound a bit daft.

[01FromFinland]

Matt could do with being a bit less didactic and blatant. A lot of his lyrics are fairly meaningful, they just sound a bit daft.

 

The idea and thought behind the lyrics is usually nice, but the way they usually turn out in the final product... oh boy. Matt really has not matured as a lyrics writer, has he?

[FabriPav]

unleash a million drones

 

and confine me then erase me babe

[01FromFinland]

unleash a million drones

 

and confine me then erase me babe

 

''Old albums had better lyrics''

 

 

I have played in every toilet

But you still want to spoil it

 

[Hat]

It's almost as if people don't mean every single song when they say that.

[FabriPav]

''Old albums had better lyrics''

 

 

I have played in every toilet

But you still want to spoil it

 

Not sure why you felt the need to point that out? I never claimed that

[Clunge]

The 'greatest guy / dead inside' lines are the song in microcosm. It makes it make sense.

 

This is my fortress .

[haarpabaloo]

I don't think Drones is nearly as bad as some of you are making it out to be. The production is great and I think the first half is really solid (besides the lyrics) but the second half does fall off a cliff.

 

It's much better than the mess that was T2L and at least the production is miles better than Resistance, even though the songs aren't. In that vein, I wish Resistance could be remastered with the production of Drones – it would be worlds better. Songs like MK and US would be so much more epic.

[Hat]

I don't think Drones is nearly as bad as some of you are making it out to be. The production is great and I think the first half is really solid (besides the lyrics) but the second half does fall off a cliff.

 

It's much better than the mess that was T2L and at least the production is miles better than Resistance, even though the songs aren't. In that vein, I wish Resistance could be remastered with the production of Drones – it would be worlds better. Songs like MK and US would be so much more epic.

So Drones is better than T2L.

[lurkinglurkerlurksagain]

I see all of the album's flaws, but I still like it. Objectively, I should think it's crap, but I unironically like it.

[haarpabaloo]

So Drones is better than T2L.

 

Yes – I've just seen some people say or insinuate that T2L is better which I don't get. There are some good songs but overall T2L is an utter mess. And while I think Resistance is better, I listen to Drones more because the production of TR is just awful. Someone said "lifeless" recently which sums it up perfectly.

[Hat]

Yes – I've just seen some people say or insinuate that T2L is better which I don't get. There are some good songs but overall T2L is an utter mess. And while I think Resistance is better, I listen to Drones more because the production of TR is just awful. Someone said "lifeless" recently which sums it up perfectly.

Just seems like a strong reaction just to say that "it's not even their worst album, just their second worst"

[Jobby]

Just seems like a strong reaction just to say that "it's not even their worst album, just their second worst"

 

Depends how far apart they are I s'pose

 

Like, for me, TR is their second worst album but T2L is still miiiiiles worse and their only genuinely shite record.

[Bumpypotato]

I see all of the album's flaws, but I still like it. Objectively, I should think it's crap, but I unironically like it.

 

Well music is subjective anyway, so it doesn't really matter. If I only liked music that was objectively good that would be about half of my music library gone.

Edited March 9, 2017 by bumpypotato

[Hat]

There is no such thing as objectively good music.

[Bumpypotato]

There is no such thing as objectively good music.

 

Sort of my point. You can say that something is objectively good or bad in a technical sense, but that's pretty much it. Bands like Nirvana and The Sex Pistols were technical messes but they wrote music that resonated with whole generations and helped inspire entire artistic movements. You can commend Guns N' Roses for Axl Rose's vocal range, but it doesn't stop them from boring me stupid. That's what I meant when I said that half my music library was objectively bad. I don't think it's bad at all, but I do recognise that Mount Eerie is a bad singer even if his voice is perfect for his music.

[Hat]

Well your point seemed to be that it didn't matter if it was objectively good or not, since you still acknowledge that objectively good music exists.

[s3ker]

Sort of my point. You can say that something is objectively good or bad in a technical sense, but that's pretty much it. Bands like Nirvana and The Sex Pistols were technical messes but they wrote music that resonated with whole generations and helped inspire entire artistic movements. You can commend Guns N' Roses for Axl Rose's vocal range, but it doesn't stop them from boring me stupid. That's what I meant when I said that half my music library was objectively bad. I don't think it's bad at all, but I do recognise that Mount Eerie is a bad singer even if his voice is perfect for his music.

 

I don't mean to be very picky because I kinda know what you mean, but Nirvana really do get a lot of flack in that sense. At least studio-wise (and maybe starting with Nevermind), Nirvana tracks were very well crafted, arranged, produced, recorded and executed. Definitely not technical messes, even if the overall use of gritty textures and dissonance were deliberately there to clash with the pop sensibilities of the band, and give people that feeling. And I believe that underestimation of the technicality of Nirvana's reportoire is why it's so easy to go out and see some band absolutely butcher one of their songs, and it usually just comes down to how difficult it is to capture the balance they had to their music (especially as a power trio). Heck, if you check out live videos I think even Nirvana struggled with that same issue in their own gigs

 

But even though their dissonance and aggressiveness might give a lot of people the sense that it is not correct, it's still not a technical mess at all.

 

As for Drones, I think I was a much bigger fan when it came out, yet it still remains my favorite of the last three albums.

 

All I would say is that Dead Inside and The Handler are some of the best stuff they've ever done, and frankly a glimpse of what could've been an outstanding return for the band. Both songs tackle the themes of the album in ways that I find a lot more easy to digest than the rest of the tracks, and they just feel so alive to me. I actually enjoyed TR and T2L, but something that bothers me a lot is how those tracks almost feel like caricatures of a certain genre/feeling (bar a few rare exceptions). With Dead Inside and The Handler it's like the band came back alive, and you feel that especially in Matt's vocals. In these two moments Muse are the band worthy of the global appraise they have, hands down, and if this record had stemmed from these two moments into daring areas, Drones would've been much more.

 

I still like the rest of the record, for sure, and even it's weakest links are enjoyable to me (except Psycho which is tooo looong and too repetitive, how did not get a cut?). I feel like old school muse fans are not much into it, but I still think it's a solid album. But it surely could've been a LOT more, and I imagine that could've started with picking a decent piece of artwork for the cover

[Zepp]

Drones isn't bad, it's just irrelevant in their discography.

 

Edit 1: like T2L

 

Edit 2: unlike TR

[FabriPav]

With Dead Inside and The Handler it's like the band came back alive, and you feel that especially in Matt's vocals. In these two moments Muse are the band worthy of the global appraise they have, hands down, and if this record had stemmed from these two moments into daring areas, Drones would've been much more.

 

There's nothing in Dead Inside that makes me feel like it's a "moment into daring areas"... What makes you say that? To me it's yet again a generic 80s Prince/Depeche Mode almost-rip off, with maybe boring (but decent) music and a great vocal performance by Matt. Obviously fair enough if you really like it, I just struggle to see what is daring about it.