Your reviews of Drones

[heyjackk]

Drones Review

 

Dead Inside - It's grown on me, Matt's vocals in the second half definitely save the song and I'm glad the guitar is far more audible than it as in Madness. 7.5/10

Drill Sergeant + Psycho - It's fun, but it's a little long and repetitive at times, could've done with being a minute or so shorter. 7/10

Mercy - I know a lot of people don't like it but I actually see it as being a better version of Starlight, great tune. 8/10

Reapers - One of my absolute favourites, sounds fucking awesome. The guitar work is some of the best Matt's ever done. 10/10

The Handler - Also brilliant, first time since Black Holes and Revelations I've been able to listen to 2 songs in a row on a Muse album very happily due to top knotch quality. My favourite kind of Muse song, dark, brooding and sinister. 10/10

 

These are based on first listenings, my opinion may change at some point.

 

JFK + Defector - I think JFK could've been a good start to the album or something, sort of feels a little weird after The Handler, love the strings melody though. Defector is pretty cool, a little repetitive given that it's essentially just two riffs but sounds pretty cool and like it's gonna be fun live. The guitar solo though is one of my favourite guitar parts since the solo in Invincible, god Matt's guitar work has been ace this album. 8/10

 

Revolt - Well... There goes the cohesiveness... After reading some of the rest of the board's reviews, it's not as bad as I expected, however it is still incredibly cheesy. 6/10

Aftermath - I know a lot of people probably didn't like this one and while the lyrics at times are a little eh but my first impression is that this song is honestly beautiful musically. Sort of like the Invincible of this album (without an epic solo admittedly) but that's honestly all fine by me. 7/10

 

The Globalist - The Western part is cool to be honest, I like the chilled out, relaxed atmosphere of the first section. The second section... Wow. That's got to be the heaviest thing Muse have ever done and one of the most apocalyptic sounding as well. Definitely my favourite part of the album, it's honestly just a little bit too short, could've used some really cool falsetto wailing vocals. Would've much preferred them to just have the second part go on for another 2 minutes or so than the last part happen to be honest. Wouldn't call the song a total train wreck but the last section definitely doesn't work for me, which is a shame because the first two are awesome. 8/10

 

Drones - What is this... Did Matt just get bored, rework a weird Disney song with some Christmas carols and put some depressing lyrics in? Sounds like it. 3/10

 

All up I'd probably give it an 8/10. The first half is the best first half of an album since Black Holes and Defector, Aftermath and the first two thirds of the Globalist are also awesome. Shame once again, Muse let me down with another cringeworthy closing track (c'mon on past albums we've had Megalomania, Ruled By Secrecy, Knights, Redemption ffs Muse).

 

Still better as a whole album than Showbiz, T2L and TR for me though. So it hits 4th place.

[rainer219]

Dead Inside - eh, mad bass and guitar solo.

Psycho - sick, just a tad long - lyrics funny.

Mercy - Yay! Each chorus was the same high dynamic though.

Reapers - This is it! ACDC, Dream Theater, RATM.

The Handler - The 3-piece Supremacy of Drones. Right up there with Reapers.

Defector - A bit below Reapers and the Handler - sick song with mad harmonies.

Revolt - I can take this. I love the melodic hooks and the tempo change into choruses.

Aftermath - Very delicate beautiful guitar, expressive vocals and music. Really nice.

The Globalist - YES. The middle section is somewhat disconnected from other parts though. Guitar solo and piano sections were highlights.

 

Overall, I'd rate the album, excluding JFK and Drones, a solid 8/10, perhaps 8.5.

Definitely a distinct step in the right direction!

 

Now, for ranking!

Top songs in no particular order:

Reapers

The Handler

Defector

 

Good songs:

Revolt

Aftermath

The Globalist

DI

 

'You could have worked a bit more on it' songs:

Psycho

Mercy

 

Tracks I HAVEN'T heard yet in studio versions:

[JFK]

Drones

 

Side comments about songs and Musers: I somehow see Aftermath being compared to and ranked almost as low as NSC, particularly the ending. I personally really enjoyed it, but that's where I think this board will head.

[alibros]

Dead Inside: One of the best songs on the album. The vocal melodies, particular in the last chorus, are amazing. While the lyrics are pretty bad, the lyrical content still speaks to me. I pleasantly surprised that Matt could still write a song that is actually relateable on a personal level after the banker and Illuminati bullshit on TR and T2L.

 

Psycho: While the riff is good and all, the song is dragged down by too many repetitions. It’s about two minutes too long and suffers greatly because of it. I’m sure it’s cool live, but even then I’ll probably get bored with it after the 128137th repetition of the riff.

 

Mercy: Completely forgettable Starlight knock-off. Not a bad song at all, but not really good either.

 

Reapers: Overrated by most boardies. That said, it’s a good song and as it turns out, one of the strongest on the album.

 

The Handler: This one took me by surprise. I was excited to find out that Matt/Muse can still write a dark and broody song without making it lame. This is also the only song on the album that actually sounds like a mix between Absolution and BHAR. Sinister, melodic, heavy and epic. While the solo is too long, it doesn’t really bother me in the context of the rest of the song. By far the best song on the album.

 

Defector: I don’t even know. I don’t think I really have an opinion on this song. Standard Queen nonsense. It definitely sounds like it could have come straight from Showbiz, but even then it would be one of the most forgettable songs on that album.

 

Revolt: This cancerous piece of vomit-inducing shit is just baffling to me. Why Muse? Just…why? I never thought they could write a song worse than Big Freeze, but here comes Revolt to prove me wrong. This is without a doubt my closest experience to an aural holocaust. Literally everything about this song is shit. There is not a single redeeming factor to be found here. I would be ashamed to introduce this to my fans.

 

Aftermath: One of the weirder tracks on the album. It starts off alright, but drags on too long and eventually becomes too much of a ”Heal the World”-singalong. Hell, if it wasn’t for Matt singing I’d never even guess this was a Muse song.

 

The Globalist: While I was very reserved about this song and kept my expectations as low as possible, this song actually pisses me off to no end. What we have is a stylish western opening into some beautiful vocal melodies, which leads into the heaviest thing Muse have ever recorded. The heavy part of this song is goddamn gigantic. Unfortunately, the best part of the song is abruptly cut off after a short two minutes to make way for a boring tag-team repeat of Explorers and United States of Eurasia. Honestly Muse, what is wrong with you? This song would have been fucking legendary if you had developed the heavy part into another two minutes, finished on something big and skipped the piano ballad. The 10-minute ”prog nightmare” just turned into a three and a half minute normal nightmare instead. Even aside from that, the transitions make no goddamn sense whatsoever and all it sounds like is a disjointed piece of shit. I cannot wrap my head around how you fucked up something so brilliant.

 

Drones: The worst closer of any Muse album. You have to be a truly pretentious fuck (or JJTheMuse) to think that this a) makes sense and b) is a good idea for a rock album. This is just Matt being really bored in the studio.

 

 

TL;DR:

The first half of the album (including The Handler) is without a doubt the strongest. The second half falls short in almost way, introducing us to the new worst Muse song of all time (Revolt), while also destroying what could have potentially been one of the best Muse songs (The Globalist). The second half is where the album loses every bit of focus and just sounds like another ”hey let’s do everything we can think of”-experiment like TR and T2L. The second half ruins what could have been the best album since BHAR.

 

I very much agree with everything you said. correct in every way. Including it in this post so others read it again.

[TrebleRose689]

Overall, I love this album. I'll have to listen to it a few more times to decide whether it takes BH&R's spot as my third favorite, or drops behind it to fourth. But either way, this blows TR and T2L out of the water!

 

I do agree that there's an imbalance, in that the first half is so much stronger than the second half. That being said, I think the only song I really don't like is Revolt.

 

The two biggest mistakes Muse made that have affected my view of the album were: 1) Letting the hype for The Globalist get THAT out of hand (I let myself get caught up in it, so I found myself underwhelmed, though it's still a solid and enjoyable track) and 2) releasing the best track of the whole album (The Handler) ahead of the release. Definitely overshadows the rest!

[Wraffah]

Dead Inside - 9/10 - Definitely one of my favourite Muse songs ever. It's like Madness but it's actually enjoyable to listen to, great to sing along with, and has a great vibe.

 

Drill Sergeant / Psycho - 8/10 - Much better live. Great song, shade repetitive with that riff, but definitely one of the albums highlights.

 

Mercy - 6/10 - We already have Starlight, we don't need another one.

 

Reapers - 7/10 - Don't like it on record, it sounds much tamer than I remember it being live. Still an "alright" song, but quite middle of the road really.

 

The Handler - 10/10 - Probably the best thing Muse have done since 2006. Though I'm not really sure that's saying very much.

 

JFK / Defector - 5/10 - Sounds like he was reading the sort of youtube comments you'd find on videos about the Illuminati and chemtrails. Utter nonsense, and totally stains the song. Don't really like the soar of SOCIETY and other words. Kind of disappointing because I really like the instrumentation on it, solo excluded.

 

Revolt - 1/10 - Convinced that this must be a pisstake. It's like they were trying to write something worse than Big Freeze for a bet.

 

Aftermath - 3/10 - Boring as fuck.

 

The Globalist - 6/10 - Too slow to build up, totally wasted middle section which just happens with no meaningful transition and is effectly over before it really gets to do anything, and what the hell was that outro? That this is one of the better moments of the second half of the album really speaks to the drop in quality between the first and second halves of it.

 

Drones - 2/10 - Well, it is what it is. It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album, it doesn't really recall a motif from the album as a whole, and really its just sort of... there. Ho hum. Forgettable at best.

 

Album - 7/10. Has some of the best recent Muse songs on it, and has some utterly bewildering moments showing their very worst judgement. Not their best, but still better than Resistance and Second Law, so... yay?

[SpetsnazBeaver]

Album Review

 

In my opinion anything before and including BH&R is far superior as an album to Drones (aka in the 9-10 range). Drones fits better in between T2L (7) and Resistance (8). T2L had very a very distinctive good first half and second bad half (though Animals breaks the rule as the best thing on T2L). Resistance as I remember it was a lot more consistent, making it stand out less, which in my opinion actually makes it a superior album since it lacks dramatic highs AND lows. Drones approaches the consistency of Resistance and even destroys it in some aspects (Reapers, JFK/The Handler and to a lesser extent Defector, Drill Sergeant/Psycho and The Globalist/Drones) but also presents the absolute worst music has to offer (Revolt, it's standing next to me right now with painful sex toys and a dead-eyed stare so I won't go on a rant for my own well being). To conclude this portion of the review, Drones gets a 7.5.

 

Top 5

 

Reapers

JFK/The Handler (cut JFK if you want, doesn't bother me)

Drill Sergeant/Psycho (ABSOLUTELY cut the drill sergeant)

Aftermath

Revolt (just kidding)

The Globalist/Drones (I'll cheat here since I feel these flow together too well)

 

Track Review

 

I'll get the good and great out of the way now. Reapers is the absolute best thing on the album and is up there with the Muse greats. It never relents or sinks into repetition and is the perfect length, a 10 from me.

 

Coming in just below it and still with the greats is JFK/The Handler. I have few nitpicks with this but the repetitive bridge knocks this down just below Reapers at 9.5.

 

Next up is Drill Sergeant/Psycho. This is probably not making any best of Muse lists but it's one of the best on the album. I hated this song starting out but got past the annoying drill sergeant, the mediocre lyrics (it's the chorus that's truly cringe-worthy) and the overlong repetitiveness (just shave off a minute or mix the riff up a bit and you're golden). Once I got used to it, this song is very addictive and heavy and not as bad as I thought, so not bad in fact that I award it a 9.

 

Defector comes next. Sure, it's the usual Muse Queenism but it's catchy if somewhat more repetitive than Psycho. This song is damaged by being followed up by Revolt, remove that feeling and you have an above solid song with good instrumentals and the usual Bellamy vocal greatness. An 8.5.

 

The next one may be a bit of a curveball... Aftermath. This one is very different for Muse but that's why we like them right? A very delicate ballad if slightly suffering from the Drones syndrome of repetitiveness (seriously repetition and length are a problem to some degree throughout the majority of this album). A solid 8.

 

Closing out the good is The Globalist and Drones. I sort of see these as one song, they are the only songs that flow into each other flawlessly a la Exogenesis Symphony. The Globalist has a very strong start with the Morricone/spaghetti western section, the vocal segment is great as well, things start going bad at the heavy guitar solo: either shorten it down if you insist on not playing around with that great riff or mix it up and make repetition into progression. The ending was serviceable albeit sterile. A cookie cutter Muse piano outro which doesn't do much for the song. Up until that point I would give the song a disappointment (for the hype) 7.5. Drones comes in seamlessly with an interesting outo to the album. No Exogenesis Symphony but certainly better than T2L's outro. I'm not the best guy to review this sort of song since to me most choral churchy music sounds the same so alone this doesn't do much for me but is not bad, a 7. However I would argue that these two should be played together as they elevate each other to an 8 or 8.5. Definitely the most experimental part of the album. Doesn't quite stick the landing but is good nevertheless

 

Now for the bad... Revolt appears to have left the building so I can take a dump o this turd without risking my well-being.

 

Revolt, the shiny turd of not only this album but quite possibly Muse's entire discography. The bias in this has been brought down to a minimum since I haven't read too much reviews and have replayed the album many times now. This is sterile garage boy band tosh with next to no redeeming qualities (the guitar solo was alright). Hard to even give this a number, has to be above 4 since imho anything below that is not even music. This has notes, instruments and vocals so I'll go for the next best rating at 4.5. As someone has mentioned here before, "This is without a doubt my closest experience to an aural holocaust".

 

The remainder of these are nowhere near as terrible. Just, mediocre. Mercy is a poor man's Starlight or Guiding Light but much more repetitive, not much to say there, 6.

 

Dead Inside did nothing for me. A very weak starter to the album (Should have been Psycho but I get why they put Dead Inside ahead for "story" purposes). This does not compare to such bombastic starters as Uprising and Supremacy. On it's own, it remains unimpressive. I don't really know how to put it. The vocals are serviceable but the instrumental leaves me unimpressed and is rather repetitive dropping this to a 6.5.

[Blype]

A copy/paste from fb of the leaked tracks.

 

After one listen each, this is what crossed my mind...

Aftermath - This years new wedding song

Revolt - QUEEN

Defector - HILARIOUSLY QUEEN (yel-low)

Globalist - Explorers and USoEs bastard child + brief heavy riffage

[Radicrane]

Choosing Defector while listening to Aftermath made we wanna cry. There are many good tracks.

[aleluman]

The poll results show the extreme difference in quality from Reapers and The Handler compared to the rest of the album, It's actually pretty amusing how just 2 songs after The Handler lies the biggest piece of shit ever created by this band (I know Matt writes songs in a wide variety of genres and all that, just comenting about the quality of the music here).

[clydebank]

The poll results show the extreme difference in quality from Reapers and The Handler compared to the rest of the album, It's actually pretty amusing how just 2 songs after The Handler lies the biggest piece of shit ever created by this band (I know Matt writes songs in a wide variety of genres and all that, just comenting about the quality of the music here).

 

Yep.

[Wickerman]

Dead Inside : Meh. A nice electropop track,it's certainly not musically bad,but doesn't quite do it for me. 6/10.

Drill Sergeant + Psycho : Nice riff,but all in all a repetitive,boring,standard alt rock track. Oh,and leave my ass alone,Matt you fkin perv! 7/10

Mercy : A nice piano song,much like Starlight,but not what I'd except from a serious rock band. 6/10

Reapers : One of two gems. Absolute musical gold. The solo is the best Matt has ever done by far. 10/10

The Handler : The other gem of this album,a simply "Muse" track. That's the type of track that made me like them in the first place. 10/10

JFK + Defector : Musically solid,but loads of unnecessary Queen inspiration and the lyrics are the worst in the album. 8/10

Revolt : This doesn't exist. *repeats constantly 0/10

Aftermath : Closest to an actual rock ballad Muse have ever got. Guitar work at the start is great,but lyrics are bad and the vocal melody is rather cheesy. 7/10

The Globalist : While musically it's great,lyrically it's not,while the heavy section should have definitely been longer (or the USoE section shorter). 7.5/10

Drones : Erm,sorry,what? 2/10

 

Overall it's level with TR and Showbiz. 6.5/10.

[Matt's Jawbone]

Alright my review!

 

Pre-release tracks

 

1. Dead Inside- 4/5. I was not so hot on this the first time I heard it, but it works so much better in the context of the album.

 

2. Drill Sergeant/3. Psycho- 3.5/5. Catchy but ultimately weighed down by the repetition.

 

4. Mercy- 4/5. Again, works much better in the album.

 

5. Reapers- 5/5. We already know how I feel. Headbang worthy and some of the best riffs in Muse's career.

 

6. The Handler- 5/5. I kid you not, this has the potential to be Absolution-level classic. It's heavy and catchy but melancholy and just sad too.

 

Now that we're past that...

 

7. JFK/8. Defector- 4/5. This song just fucking rocks. It is slightly ruined by its repetition, but I love the darker Led Zep feel. The chorus is so dark in contrast to the verses. And JFK provides a nice lead-in.

 

9. Revolt- 1/5. What... the... fuck? Did Mutt Lange sneak in a rejected Hootie and the Blowfish sheet music into their pile and force them to sing it at gunpoint??? This is bad. Just bad. The one thing preventing this from being a 0 is the tempo change in the chorus.

 

10. Aftermath- 5/5. What... the... fuck??? This time in a good way. This is so not Muse. Seriously I was not expecting this. Slow, dark, haunting, melancholy. The vocal harmonies are so beautiful they send shivers down my spine. I have a feeling this song is going to be in my head all night.

 

11. The Globalist- 4.5/5. The one gripe I have about this song is that the piano bit near the end goes on for longer than it needs to. Otherwise I love it. It's a rollercoaster. Beginning with a western-style introduction, an OoS style poppy verse then... THAT... the heavy part just comes out of nowhere and smacks you in the face. I totally may have headbanged just a little. The final part is like a darker USoE. Love it.

 

12. Drones- 2/5. I can't come down on this too hard because it's definitely very ambitious. I like the idea of a song created entirely out of vocal harmonies. At times it sounds pretty. But... as a whole, it's flat. It's not a satisfying closer at all and the lyrics are atrocious. I admire the effort, but it just comes off as pretentious.

 

Overall: 4/5. Get rid of those two tracks and you have a 5/5.

[Hat]

Dead Inside: I really like this song. It's like the big brother of Madness, but with less cheese and better melodies. 7.5/10

 

Psycho: Good but drags on for too damn long. Should have been 4 minutes long. 7/10

 

Mercy: Meh, just meh. 5/10

 

Reapers: Paled a bit in comparison to The Handler. Honestly whenever I'm listening to it now I just feel "I'd much rather be listening to The Handler". Already a bit bored of the solo, and the song doesn't really keep me interested past the first Chorus. 7/10

 

The Handler: Now this is a fucking track. Only problem is once again the solo. Wondering which songs Mutt was pushing for Matt to put longer solos on. It definitely isn't needed on any of them other than The Globalist. 8/10

 

Defector: It's Amplifier+Queen. Aside from the dreadful lyrics, I really enjoy this one. 7.5/10

 

Revolt: This one is actually growing on me pretty quickly. But then now and again I listen to it and go "wtf can anyone see in this?". Definitely needs more time. 6/10

 

Aftermath: Meh. Needs more time but atm, meh. 5/10

 

The Globalist: I didn't even expect very much, but was still disappointed. I quite like the first part, the second part needed to be longer and also have vocals. The third part is so goddamn uninspired, even for Muse. It's listenable, but that'äs about it. 7/10

 

Drones: Still haven't listened to the album from start to finish, so I definitely haven't heard this song in its proper context. So far it's okay. 6/10

 

Overall, 7/10. Once again a step in the right direction from their previous album, which was a step in the right direction from the one before that.

[Jimmyneutron]

alright who's voted Revolt, show yourself.

 

Should have ticked the show voters box when I set up the poll....

[Michi2801]

KK, gonna rate it, too

 

Dead Inside: Kind of the "Madness" of "Drones". I really like it, especially the ending. It's so passionate 4,5/5

 

Psycho: Love the heavy tone, but it's too long and repetitive. Still gonna rock live. 4/5

 

Mercy: Nice so scream along in the car, but too average. 3,5/5

 

Reapers: Awesome. Just awesome. The ending, the chorus. Loving it 5/5

 

The Handler: Best song I've heard in years. So goooooooood. Dark, heavy, passionate. <3 5/5 (fav. track)

 

Defector: Nice Queen track Still like it a lot 4/5

 

Revolt: Yes, it's extremely mainstream and poppy. But who cares. I like it at it's gonna be fun live 4/5

 

Aftermath: really not sure. At the moment I would rate it a 3/5, could become more or less.

 

The Globalist: Really good but could be better. I honestly don't know what I don't like about it, but it's lacking something. Still a 4/5

 

Drones: Dunno, just don't like it at all. Finishing the album with "Amen" ... srsly? 1/5.

 

I think Drones is way better than T2L and a little bit better than Black Holes but "worse" than the rest. Still pretty awesome. I'm happy

[heyjackk]

have to admit Revolt is growing on me... It's never gonna be one of their classics, ever, but it's definitely better than the lowest of the lower tier of Muse songs i'll give it that

[Pwoper-Cydonian]

Dead Inside: Alright at the start, love it at the end, 8/10

Psycho: Loved it at first, now it's average 7/10

Mercy: Alright song, really like the choruses 7/10

Reapers: Best song on the album, and best song since Knights 10/10

The Handler: Love it, The ending is one of the best parts i've ever seen in a muse song 9/10

Defector: I don't know why but i love this so much, catchy and i can't stop listening 10/10

Revolt: Still not really sure, its good but different 6/10

Aftermath: I quite like it, one of the best ballads muse have done since blackout 8/10

The Globalist: Love it especially the first half of the song even though the rest is great 9/10

Drones: Very different but i like it 7/10

Overall Score: 8/10

[Absolutioner]

Alright, here we go. I'll be quick about the previously released ones.

 

Dead Inside: Embarrassing lyrics that fit awkwardly into the song, but the instruments sound good. 6/10

Psycho: Solid riff, catchy melody, lyrics are silly but they fit nicely into the song. If only it had one less chorus (the third one). 7.5/10

Mercy: Catchy melody, serviceable lyrics with no words awkwardly sticking out anywhere, and a tight structure! No time wasted. So grateful for that. 8.5/10

Reapers: Best song on the album. Could compare this to Assassin, SS, Animals... It's that good. 9.5/10

The Handler: Great choruses, reminds me of Darkshines at times, which is one of my all time favorites. Still, couple of weirdly fitting lines, and of course, the solo/breakdown. If Matt sang over it or something, it'd be perfect. As it is, it's just a glaring missed opportunity. 8.5/10

 

And now for the real walls of text:

 

Defector: There's about two thirds of an awesome song in here... It's just the verse where things fall apart. The melody sounds made up on the spot, even worse than the worst part of Dead Inside, and there's not much instrumentally to support it. Love that solo though. Hard song to grade because of how wide the gap is between the high points and the low points... 7/10

 

Revolt: The One Direction and Taylor Swift comparisons are spot on, except T-Swift might have actually made something out of this shit. Guiding Light and Big Freeze are Space Dementia to this thing. It's right out of the damn Disney channel. 2/10

 

Aftermath: Wait, no. This is worse. Or is it? I don't even know anymore. Whose album is this? It's a cheesy wedding song. They could play this at a country music festival/cookout. So generic I don't know what else to say. 1/10

 

The Globalist: Has the best instagram clip! ...Hidden somewhere after the 3-minute-long intro and the repetitive riffage without any lyrics to properly sell the heaviness. Then comes another of the many stunning examples of boneheaded lyrics: "There's no countries left... I think I destroyed them all???" Oops! Seriously though, there's a good song in here (or maybe what should have been two separate good songs), but they're buried under so much padding. Maybe the problem was that if you took out all the unnecessary repetitions in this album, you'd be a good 10 minutes under their next shortest album. Maybe a super long track time just looked on a playlist like a better ending to the whole thing (well, the part of it with instruments anyway...). Whatever it is, like a lot of other parts of this album, the problem is that it leaves you thinking of what could have been, which is even worse than if it had just been entirely forgettable. 4/10

 

Drones: Um. I don't know. I don't really have a problem with trying this after you get all your proper album tracks out of the way. When you only have 10 though, and several have already been half-baked, drawn out, generic crap... It feels like you're stretching here to justify calling this a full LP. I mean it's nice, but it represents a general laziness throughout the album. Hope they actually try it live and do something crazy with it, or that view will only be reinforced even further... 5/10

 

Overall, I'm not disappointed with what I got, but with what I almost could have gotten if they had spent more time fine tuning it. But Psycho, Mercy, Reapers, The Handler, Defector... That's not a bad haul. Especially Reapers. Hope we can just keep that and one or two others for the next tour. We'll do better next time.

[Dark_Phoenix]

The number of listens indicates the real quality.

 

My listens (only concerning the second half of the album)

 

1) The Globalist (19 times)

2) The Handler (19 times)

3) JFK + Defector (14 times)

4) Drones (11 times)

5) Aftermath (6 times)

6) Revolt (4 times)

 

Will come back for a real review but as of now, it may very well become my favorite Muse album.

 

The Globalist is fucking Ace. Best song they've written since Exogenesis. Maybe best Muse song overall. Those lyrics... so depressing.

[Bigliaa]

I only had the possibility to listen to the 4 releases they gave us, but I think that they are very good, it is like they come back to their very basics and it feels so good. So much energy and power in these new songs, you can feel immediately that the band is not finished and that they won't be until many years.

Was supposed to see them on stage in Belgium in June but it won't be possible, too bad.

[Coops]

It's hard to believe that the same band who produced Reapers & the Handler also produced Revolt & Aftermath.

 

Dead Inside - 6/10. It's a decent pop song, but it's not one I imagine I'll go back and listen to on a regular basis.

 

Psycho - 7/10. I like it, but it doesn't really go anywhere and the lyrics are awful, even within the context of the album.

 

Mercy - 6/10. Decent pop song, as with Dead Inside, but it's not one I'll go back and revisit in the future. Comparing it to Starlight is pretty generous.

 

Reapers & the Handler - 9/10. The absolute best of Muse. At heart they're an exceptional rock band, and these two are as good as anything since Black Holes. The undoubted highlights of the album.

 

Defector - 6/10. Wasted potential here. Love the guitar on this track, but the unnecessary over the top, Queen-esque vocals spoil it. Hopefully it'll sound better live.

 

Revolt & Aftermath - 3/10. Feels appropriate to review them together as they're possibly the worst Muse tracks to date. Hard to comprehend that a band capable of songs as good as Reapers & the Handler could also produce these two. Offensively bad.

 

The Globalist - 7/10. As a sequel to Citizen Erased, it's a massive let down. As a song on its own merits, it's a bit all over the place. Middle part is good, but it feels like it should be a different song altogether. Wasted potential.

 

Drones - 7/10. Interesting attempt, feels a bit out of place, but the whole church vibe is something Muse haven't touched since Megalomania.

 

Overall, 6/10. Not as bad as the Resistance or the 2nd Law, but it's comfortably behind Showbiz as their 5th best.

[Mozza]

How did we get in so much trouble?

 

That alone kills the album

 

Dead Inside - decent pop song, strange album opener though - 6/10

Drill Sergeant - meh ok transition I guess

Psycho - fun live, bit familiar and repetitive though 7/10

Mercy - Muse by numbers but it's alright. An improvement on Resistance/Starlight 7/10

Reapers - Best song on the album and the intro riff reminds me what drew me to Muse in the first place 9/10

The Handler - A beast, sounds kinda Showbiz/Absolution style 9/10

JFK - serves a purpose

Defector - it's ok, the riff sounds like Bumblebee by Kasabian, the vocal delivery is a bit off-putting but I can live with it 6/10

Revolt - Sounds like when a record company tries to make a boyband sound 'mature' musically. Then the chorus seems like something from the post-Sams Town The Killers book of songwriting - 3/10

Aftermath - Still not sure, the start is nice but it drags a bit. The transition to the end feels out of place 5/10

The Globalist - the first 6 minutes are awesome. Sounds kind of Radiohead 2003-07 vibe then greats riffs. The transition to the end jarrs a lot to me and the outro part drags 6/10

Drones - haha nicely done. 7/10

 

Overall i'd give it 6. The highs are higher than the last two albums and the lows aren't as low but still leaves me underwhelmed

[jeffrey0603]

Definitely reapers. It is one of the few songs on the album that doesn't sound lazy and repetitive.

[Nature2]

How did we get in so much trouble?

 

Then the chorus seems like something from the post-Sams Town The Killers book of songwriting - 3/10

 

Overall i'd give it 6. The highs are higher than the last two albums and the lows aren't as low but still leaves me underwhelmed

 

About the Killers.. in terms of lyrics maybe but in terms of music... yeah post Sam's Town Killers had some cheesy songs (Here with me, Spaceman) but nothing THAT horrific. Their cheesy songs don't remind of boybands while, and I can't fookin believe it, Muse actually achieved that. Besides Day & Age is amazing And Battleborn was decent.

 

But I agree with the overall rating. It's 6 for me too. Comaprable to T2L.

[Spin26]

Dead Inside - 8.5/10. Disliked it at first but it grew on me and now I really enjoy it. I catch myself humming it all the time.

 

Drill Sergeant + Psycho - 7/10. It's a fun rocker and I'm really glad they used the 0305030 riff, but it's a minute and a half too long. Really good live though.

 

Mercy - 6.5/10. Same vein as Dead Inside but not to the same extent. It's slowly growing on me but it's nothing special at all IMO.

 

Reapers - 9.5/10. This one is a brilliant ride, and the studio version actually did justice to the immense live version. It's catchy and memorable, and that outro is just... unf.

 

The Handler - 9/10. Only had this song a day but I love it already! Did from the word go. Dark, heavy, wouldn't be out of place on Abso. Superb vocals on this one. The only SLIGHT problem I have with this one is that the solo should probably be 30 seconds shorter.

 

JFK + Defector - 7/10. I love JFK. The guitar scratches and strings are such a perfect intro. As for Defector, it's a fun headbanger and the solo is great but I'm thrown off by the Queen harmonies. The whole song is pretty blatant Queen really, but it's not bad. Could see this growing on me.

 

Revolt - 3/10. Um, wow. Okay. It's... bland. It's upbeat, which isn't a problem in of itself, but it's so OTT. The chorus is just hilarious, in a bad way. Verses aren't much better. Will give another listen or two but I can't see this one sticking in my collection.

 

Aftermath - 8/10. This one took me by surprise. Absolutely beautiful song, the guitar and vocals in the first 4 minutes are really really good. Don't like the last two minutes as much because the backing harmonies are a bit distracting, but it doesn't take away from my score too much.

 

The Globalist - 8/10. I really enjoy the first six minutes. Love love love that slide guitar. And then the heavy middle bit which I wasn't expecting! Didn't last long enough though. The transition to piano is a bit jarring and the piano part starts nearly exactly like USoE... it picks up and improves though towards the end. Can see why people don't like the piano section though, as it does last a while. Wasn't blown away by this track overall but it's still solid IMO.

 

Drones - 6/10. Hmm. Well. It's definitely the most unique song on the album. The start was so jarring after The Globalist. It's a very different way to end an album, and I can respect that, but it's just so... weird. Bizarre. It's not bad, it's just... well, I'm not sure what it is.

 

Overall - 7.5/10