Album Eight: Simulation Theory

[Nicklord]

I read some other forums too and usually the most hated tracks are Propaganda and Break It To Me

[Jobby]

I get the whole ‘sarcasm can be hard to translate online’ but I swear I make these things as obvious as I can

 

Unless that reply was a joke and now I’m the fool

[Clunge]

Dunno if this has already been discussed, but my copy of ST came with a sticker on it that reads 'featuring the hit singles Something Human, Pressure and Get Up And Fight'.

 

Mean, a couple of things:

 

1. On what scale were either SH or Pressure 'hit singles'.

2. GUAF hadn't even been released when that sticker was slapped on the album. I mean, that's more than just presumption, it's manufacturing a narrative that simply does not exist.

[Nigel_Tufnel]

I get the whole ‘sarcasm can be hard to translate online’ but I swear I make these things as obvious as I can

 

Unless that reply was a joke and now I’m the fool

 

Arguing about opinions online is all pretty foolish so we can go with that on both sides. I half figured you were being sarcastic but the response was all too easy and obvious. No offense taken nor intended.

[odier]

Why don't you just post a big sign at the top of the forum that will follow you as you scroll saying 'POSITIVE OPINIONS ONLY'

 

you can not like something and not be a troll or hater

 

What is positive about Dig Down?

[That Little Animal]

Dunno if this has already been discussed, but my copy of ST came with a sticker on it that reads 'featuring the hit singles Something Human, Pressure and Get Up And Fight'.

 

Mean, a couple of things:

 

1. On what scale were either SH or Pressure 'hit singles'.

2. GUAF hadn't even been released when that sticker was slapped on the album. I mean, that's more than just presumption, it's manufacturing a narrative that simply does not exist.

 

I have no idea how a hit is defined in streaming era. I’m also completely out of the loop when it comes to charts these days. But I am sure it’s impossible for something to be a hit before it’s released.

 

I don’t care that much though, marketing talk has never been about honesty.

[Nigel_Tufnel]

I think the sticker is intending to say...Here's our new album featuring a couple songs that you've heard on the radio, Youtube or a playlist somewhere plus another song that you'll probably hear pretty soon.

[Clunge]

...but it doesn't .

[Nigel_Tufnel]

... and that's why it's marketing

[Saint Rockwell]

... and that's why it's marketing

 

Just a bunch of pretty lies that toy with the truth (I still hate this song)

[Nigel_Tufnel]

Haven't you heard? Lies are the new truth.

 

You just have to preface them with the phrase "a lot of people are saying" Of course, the sticker forgot to include that.

[Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out]

Propoganda and Break It To Me floored me from the moment I heard them. My jaw dropped into the biggest smile. I don’t often have reactions to music like that, and when I do I don’t forget them.

[norwichred]

Ok, I know I don’t pop up here very often - life and kids get in the way these days. But as you can seee from my sig I’ve been into Muse since before even Showbiz was released, and am now nearly fifty.

 

I rarely buy new music these days, concentrating on box sets of classic albums I used to love. I always swore I would never become irrelevant, never stop being adventurous when it came to music. But now I’m the kind of bloke who thinks a Timbaland is a wood.

 

But modern music has left me behind. The last band other than Muse that still release music that I loved was Radiohead and they eventually left me behind with their new direction.....

 

So when I started listening to this album, I was dismayed. Muse had changed direction and I HATED it. I actually said to my partner when heading out the door at 7am on Friday morning, that Muse had finally left me behind as I feared they would do.

 

But I persevered. Because I refused to let them sail off into the sunset without attempting at least to join them.

 

And you know what? I get it! I get why people hate this album but actually if you choose to give it a chance the hooks are still there. The melodies still are. And the lyrics are perhaps better than they have been for the last few albums.

 

I think the emotional peaks and troughs are missing. There’s no “explorers” or “unintended” or “uno” or knights of cydonia”. No track that pulls out my inner angst or aggression. There’s no obvious brilliant guitar like on Drones. There is probably Matt's sickest guitar solo ever (on Break it to Me) but it’s well disguised.

 

BUT - I think this is probably their most consistent album ever, and I really really like it.

[That Little Animal]

Ok, I know I don’t pop up here very often - life and kids get in the way these days. But as you can seee from my sig I’ve been into Muse since before even Showbiz was released, and am now nearly fifty.

 

I rarely buy new music these days, concentrating on box sets of classic albums I used to love. I always swore I would never become irrelevant, never stop being adventurous when it came to music. But now I’m the kind of bloke who thinks a Timbaland is a wood.

 

But modern music has left me behind. The last band other than Muse that still release music that I loved was Radiohead and they eventually left me behind with their new direction.....

 

So when I started listening to this album, I was dismayed. Muse had changed direction and I HATED it. I actually said to my partner when heading out the door at 7am on Friday morning, that Muse had finally left me behind as I feared they would do.

 

But I persevered. Because I refused to let them sail off into the sunset without attempting at least to join them.

 

And you know what? I get it! I get why people hate this album but actually if you choose to give it a chance the hooks are still there. The melodies still are. And the lyrics are perhaps better than they have been for the last few albums.

 

I think the emotional peaks and troughs are missing. There’s no “explorers” or “unintended” or “uno” or knights of cydonia”. No track that pulls out my inner angst or aggression. There’s no obvious brilliant guitar like on Drones. There is probably Matt's sickest guitar solo ever (on Break it to Me) but it’s well disguised.

 

BUT - I think this is probably their most consistent album ever, and I really really like it.

 

Sweet!

 

That makes me wonder how you feel about Get Up and Fight.

[Clunge]

Finally got through all the alt versions a few times.

 

I think Dig Down is the only one I prefer to the album version, but they're all nice additions in their own way. Except alt Pressure. I hate the marching band vibe. It makes me nauseous.

[OriginOfAbso]

The transition from Break It to Me to Something Human is really starting to bother me a lot. I'll be so into BITM, a heavy, experimental, awesome track. Then just straight into those radio pop synths and snaps. It's also a bit of a bummer that my top 4 tracks are all in the first 5 songs. Blockades and The Void being my 5 and 6.

[dreamyana]

(Although not exactly about the album itself,) in retrospect (can you say so after two days?) I think I would have preferred a more traditional release strategy. The known tracks lose a little bit of their punch when we've had months to listen to them, listening to the album feels very "the old songs and the new". I think the album would have been even more powerful of an eperience if half the album wasn't already known. Plus I can't keep track of all the music and lyric videos and whatnot...

:

 

I feel the same. It will probably takes some time for me to see it as a whole;)

 

Only Muse fans make graphs to rank songs.

 

Hhahaah

[Jobby]

The transition from Break It to Me to Something Human is really starting to bother me a lot. I'll be so into BITM, a heavy, experimental, awesome track. Then just straight into those radio pop synths and snaps. It's also a bit of a bummer that my top 4 tracks are all in the first 5 songs. Blockades and The Void being my 5 and 6.

 

It’s something they seem to like doing over their discography, splitting the album in 2 halves using contrasting songs:

 

Showbiz > Unintended

Micro Cuts > Screenager

Hysteria > Blackout

Invincible > Assassin

Animals > Explorers

 

I’ve sorta got used to it by now so I don’t mind it too much, I can see why it’d bother others though ‘cos it used to bother me. Just reeeeally wish it was acoustic SH, feel that’d be a marginally more digestable transition too.

[OriginOfAbso]

It’s something they seem to like doing over their discography, splitting the album in 2 halves using contrasting songs:

 

Showbiz > Unintended

Micro Cuts > Screenager

Hysteria > Blackout

Invincible > Assassin

Animals > Explorers

 

I’ve sorta got used to it by now so I don’t mind it too much, I can see why it’d bother others though ‘cos it used to bother me. Just reeeeally wish it was acoustic SH, feel that’d be a marginally more digestable transition too.

Yeah, I usually don't mind that too much. Especially with something like Micro Cuts > Screenager, I think that works pretty well.

 

It's just those bouncy pop synths (plus "My circuits have blowwwwn.") specifically, they're such a sudden buzzkill after the high of BITM.

[frutiger75]

Finally got through all the alt versions a few times.

 

I think Dig Down is the only one I prefer to the album version, but they're all nice additions in their own way. Except alt Pressure. I hate the marching band vibe. It makes me nauseous.

 

agree on all fronts, except on the void (acoustic), where matt should've ripped into a 'piano thing'-esque moment in the middle of it.

 

have we determined, in fact, which track had that two-minute rachmaninoff-like bit excised from it? if it really was from TC, then i don't give a damn. something like that fits in the void (either version).

 

algorithm (AR), as someone has said somewhere on here, is indeed matt's audition to do an OST for some stupid, grandiose movie (or the next Bond).

[hyena17]

I can't get over how much more listenable the singles are within the context of the album. I thought I'd skip them some, just so they wouldn't be completely run into the ground, but it's not happening.

 

I took a glance at FB and was amazed at the negative comments, especially from folks that I thought have been waiting for some songs like this for a while. I'm really starting to think that some people won't be satisfied until they get personally invited into the studio and consulted by Matt on every song. And even then they will complain about the album artwork or something.

[New Born Lee]

I'm convinced that most of the Facebook fans don't actively listen to music any more and are simply blindly nostalgic for an era of music that is gone and will never return in the same form. This is obvious to Muse and anyone who keeps up with current trends.

[jonisdead]

Yeah, I usually don't mind that too much. Especially with something like Micro Cuts > Screenager, I think that works pretty well.

 

It's just those bouncy pop synths (plus "My circuits have blowwwwn.") specifically, they're such a sudden buzzkill after the high of BITM.

 

I think BITM > SH was done that way to add context to BITM's Kaoss-esque solo, SH referencing it as "blown circuits"

[OriginOfAbso]

1. Break It to Me

2. Propaganda

3. Algorithm

4. The Dark Side

5. Blockades

6. The Void

7. Thought Contagion

8. Something Human

9. Pressure

10. Dig Down

11. Get Up and Fight

[frutiger75]

1. Break It to Me

2. Propaganda

3. Algorithm

4. The Dark Side

5. Blockades

6. The Void

7. Thought Contagion

8. Something Human

9. Pressure

10. Dig Down

11. Get Up and Fight

 

i can’t do this exercise quite yet. but i suspect you’re on the right track.

 

on the fly, i’d move the void to 4 and promote pressure a bit.

 

...and, again, i wish sia did the parts on GUaF (that acronym will always remind of guacamole henceforth for some reason).

 

but i may not listen to that song ever again. so there’s that.