LP9: WOTP Discussion/Speculation Thread

[svenisms]

Sadly this is the least hyped I've been for a new release. Album rollouts are fun in general so there's a little bleed over from that but I strongly dislike WSD and Compliance could very well grow on me but for now it's just fine. Even the aesthetics of album are a bit of a turn off for me. Smells way too much of Drones 2 to me. I admit that I jumped the gun on worrying about Matt's messaging. It's still lame, but not ideologically reprehensible like I feared.

Anyways I pre-ordered the deluxe bundle...

[Jobby]

I’m more worried about it being T2L 2 so far, with Matt and the press release saying every song is a different genre and “best of” a certain version of Muse

I love Compliance and don’t mind WSD though so even if it flows like oil and water, maybe I can still enjoy the individual tracks.

[svenisms]

3 minutes ago, Jobby said:

I’m more worried about it being T2L 2 so far, with Matt and the press release saying every song is a different genre and “best of” a certain version of Muse

I love Compliance and don’t mind WSD though so even if it flows like oil and water, maybe I can still enjoy the individual tracks.

Ah well I'm a T2L apologist so they might be speaking my language 😏

[Clunge]

What's this about a longer version of Compliance?

[That Little Animal]

2 hours ago, Timbo59 said:

What's the closest thing we have so far to compare a Muse piano ballad to an Adele piano song? 

 

 

 No idea. But when I imagine any Adele song sung by Matt, it’s not a positive experience. 

[Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out]

Wow so much to say!

 

So. 37 minute album, based on a screenshot from how reliable of a source? I’m gonna assume it’s right, but I would like to know if that’s a confirmable source or not. Anyway, 37 minutes. Many of my favorite albums of all time fall under the 40 minute mark. Back when vinyl ruled the world, that was pretty standard, and ten tracks all around 3-4 minutes was also pretty standard. Muse have made a lot of weird, non standard albums in their time. Even ST had that whole disc of alternate versions. For them to sit down and focus on making a tight, catchy, pop rock record in their own way is actually a new twist for them. On the flip side. Having now heard 20% of the final album, I’m not gonna be listening to any new singles. In fact I may stop visiting the board until release day when the next pre-album single drops. Only reason I listened to so many singles off of ST before it came out was because they were sooooo spaced out and I didn’t really love the first two anyway. I’m on board with WSD mostly, and I am full throttle on board with Compliance. If it were a whole album of Compliance and the heavy bits of WSD I’d be absolutely in love, even at the shorter length. Sounds like there’s probably going to be a lot more variety (which is what I do expect from Muse), so I’ll just be on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what styles they bring back and what styles they still write well.  Waiting to august will be hard, but someone made a great point about the vinyl backups and shortages possibly pushing the release date back. I totally get that, and I do prefer it when digital and physical releases aren’t separated by more than a few days. I’ll absolutely be preordering one of those fancy colored vinyl packages with the signed art cards! I’ve not much use for cassettes, but I’ll think about the super deluxe. The only thing that really bugs me is a headline I saw about Compliance being a possible anti masker song, which is going to do them absolutely no favors on social media or with the major YouTube critics (who haven’t generally been positive on them in over a decade anyway). I’m fully expecting to read a bunch of people who’s opinions I respect trash this record while I adore it to bits. T2L round 2? It may be my least favorite Muse album, but I still love just about every track on it. 3rd favorite band and only one that’s still kicking, let’s go!

[NigelTufnel]

3 hours ago, Jobby said:

There’s a difference between waiting for something and time elapsing.

I like that line. I might have to use it myself sometime. 👍

3 hours ago, Jobby said:

These things aren’t mutually exclusive but the last few ~55 minute Muse albums all had songs that people said should either be trimmed down or cut completely. If those records had done that and gone with a shorter length, you’d get complaints like we are now about it being too short.

What happens when the album running time is already short and it still has songs that could've been cut completely? The first two released tracks are mediocre which means we'll be hoping for a half an hour of decent music at most. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by NigelTufnel

[Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out]

Oh holy cow there is a longer version of compliance. I swear it’s mixed better too, even just listening on my phone speaker, lol. Also that extra few bars for Matt to give us goosebumps in a nice falsetto over a classic amuse chord progression before going into the final chorus build…. I needed that. Perfect song.

[Silentgod86]

25 minutes ago, NigelTufnel said:

I l. 👍

What happens when the album running time is already short and it still has songs that could've been cut completely? The first two released tracks are mediocre at best which means we'll be hoping for a half an hour of decent music at most. 

This. You always get the impression that Muse put everything they record onto the album. I wouldn't mind a 37 minute album at all if I thought 5 weak songs were cut and would be released as b-sides (remember those!). It means it's less likely there'll be tracks I really like on album. I just find it disheartening that Muse can only come up with 37 minutes of music after 4 years. I'll live but it just comes across as incredibly unproductive for folk who are professional musicians. It feeds into my theory that the band don't particularly enjoy making music anymore and have been on autopilot for the last 2-3 albums.

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Silentgod86

[EternallyPissed]

24 minutes ago, Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out said:

Wow so much to say!

 

So. 37 minute album, based on a screenshot from how reliable of a source? I’m gonna assume it’s right, but I would like to know if that’s a confirmable source or not. Anyway, 37 minutes. Many of my favorite albums of all time fall under the 40 minute mark. Back when vinyl ruled the world, that was pretty standard, and ten tracks all around 3-4 minutes was also pretty standard. Muse have made a lot of weird, non standard albums in their time. Even ST had that whole disc of alternate versions. For them to sit down and focus on making a tight, catchy, pop rock record in their own way is actually a new twist for them. On the flip side. Having now heard 20% of the final album, I’m not gonna be listening to any new singles. In fact I may stop visiting the board until release day when the next pre-album single drops. Only reason I listened to so many singles off of ST before it came out was because they were sooooo spaced out and I didn’t really love the first two anyway. I’m on board with WSD mostly, and I am full throttle on board with Compliance. If it were a whole album of Compliance and the heavy bits of WSD I’d be absolutely in love, even at the shorter length. Sounds like there’s probably going to be a lot more variety (which is what I do expect from Muse), so I’ll just be on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what styles they bring back and what styles they still write well.  Waiting to august will be hard, but someone made a great point about the vinyl backups and shortages possibly pushing the release date back. I totally get that, and I do prefer it when digital and physical releases aren’t separated by more than a few days. I’ll absolutely be preordering one of those fancy colored vinyl packages with the signed art cards! I’ve not much use for cassettes, but I’ll think about the super deluxe. The only thing that really bugs me is a headline I saw about Compliance being a possible anti masker song, which is going to do them absolutely no favors on social media or with the major YouTube critics (who haven’t generally been positive on them in over a decade anyway). I’m fully expecting to read a bunch of people who’s opinions I respect trash this record while I adore it to bits. T2L round 2? It may be my least favorite Muse album, but I still love just about every track on it. 3rd favorite band and only one that’s still kicking, let’s go!

Do you have a link to that headline/article? Just curious. I haven't seen it yet.

[Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out]

59 minutes ago, EternallyPissed said:

Do you have a link to that headline/article? Just curious. I haven't seen it yet.

https://www.vulture.com/2022/03/muse-anti-mask-song-compliance.html

[That Little Animal]

10 minutes ago, Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out said:

https://www.vulture.com/2022/03/muse-anti-mask-song-compliance.html

I mean… that’s what we were discussing a few pages back. If they didn’t want to be associated with the right-wing culture war crowd, they shouldn’t be adopting their buzzwords. So either they’re deliberately associating with right-wing populist shit stirrers or they’re incredibly ignorant about the words and images they use. Neither scenario is a good one. 

As I said in a previous post, I’ll accept that they’re confused in these confusing times. But I don’t think Vulture is missing the point in their analysis. They see what I see.  

It’s just so confusing that Matt copies these buzzwords, catchphrases and symbolisms and then also posts levelheaded CoVid content, BLM support (albeit clunky), pics with Hillary Clinton, etc. 

[EternallyPissed]

25 minutes ago, Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out said:

https://www.vulture.com/2022/03/muse-anti-mask-song-compliance.html

Ah, thanks. I just found and read it prior to your posting, and then posted a comment on the author's Twitterfeed. His article just reads like lazy clickbait to me. Hopefully most reviewers don't go down that path, but who knows? 🤷‍♂️

[Citizen_Eraser]

1 hour ago, That Little Animal said:

pics with Hillary Clinton, etc. 

Lmao. I remember that. That was honestly a big yikes.

[Hat]

7 hours ago, Silentgod86 said:

This. You always get the impression that Muse put everything they record onto the album. I wouldn't mind a 37 minute album at all if I thought 5 weak songs were cut and would be released as b-sides (remember those!). It means it's less likely there'll be tracks I really like on album. I just find it disheartening that Muse can only come up with 37 minutes of music after 4 years. I'll live but it just comes across as incredibly unproductive for folk who are professional musicians. It feeds into my theory that the band don't particularly enjoy making music anymore and have been on autopilot for the last 2-3 albums.

 

Matt literally just had an interview where he talked about how much they enjoyed making music together, almost to the point where they thought about JUST making music instead of touring

[Timbo59]

9 hours ago, Clunge said:

What's this about a longer version of Compliance?

The video (I assume the single version) on YT is 3:42 but the version on spotify (and I assume other streaming platforms) is 4:10.

8 hours ago, Silentgod86 said:

This. You always get the impression that Muse put everything they record onto the album. I wouldn't mind a 37 minute album at all if I thought 5 weak songs were cut and would be released as b-sides (remember those!). It means it's less likely there'll be tracks I really like on album. I just find it disheartening that Muse can only come up with 37 minutes of music after 4 years. I'll live but it just comes across as incredibly unproductive for folk who are professional musicians. It feeds into my theory that the band don't particularly enjoy making music anymore and have been on autopilot for the last 2-3 albums.

 

To be fair, two of them are raising kids, and I'm no parent but I can imagine that was not easy in 2020 and 2021. I assume they were touring most of 2019? I don't really blame them for not being productive during the last couple years.

Matt also mentioned in that interview how the Get Back documentary inspired them to potentially record more and craft albums, as Hat said.

I do wonder what they plan to do between now and August though.

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Timbo59

[Claudia O]

19 minutes ago, Timbo59 said:

The video (I assume the single version) on YT is 3:42 but the version on spotify (and I assume other streaming platforms) is 4:10.

It‘s the oh oh oho oh -part after the bridge… but I don‘t like it…

[Anticitizen1]

Does anyone know where the downloads for Won't Stand Down and Compliance are if you have pre-ordered through the Muse store? Cannot see anything in the members/download section.

[Silentgod86]

1 hour ago, Hat said:

Matt literally just had an interview where he talked about how much they enjoyed making music together, almost to the point where they thought about JUST making music instead of touring

They've been saying crap like that since before Absolution. I'll take it seriously when we start seeing more than 10-11 songs per album cycle, not by interviews meant to hype the next album.

[Hat]

5 minutes ago, Silentgod86 said:

They've been saying crap like that since before Absolution. I'll take it seriously when we start seeing more than 10-11 songs per album cycle, not by interviews meant to hype the next album.

No they haven't? What they have said, multiple times, is that when you're in the studio you long for the road, and when you're on the road you're longing to get back into the studio.

not sure why saying that they want to record more music would be a way of hyping this current one. What they always say is that they wanna get out and play the songs to people. This time there was none of that

Edited March 18, 2022 by Hat

[Clunge]

Muse say loads of shit and have done for 20 years but still then churn out an album every two to three years and tour it hard. Rinse and repeat.

[Silentgod86]

They've also gone on about spending more time in the studio or stop releasing albums and release EPs instead or becoming a house band in some dive bar while they record a new album. But we always end up with the same cycle with decreasing returns. There's nothing stopping them spending more time in the studio, no tours on the horizon and they are not exactly struggling indie band needing to get back on the road to pay the bills. I don't care really how long they spend in the studio, some bands end up producing both more and better with less time, but I'm not going to take Matt seriously when he says they could record multiple albums back to back. If they really wanted to, they could and would.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Silentgod86

[Claudia O]

Warner Germany tells us a bit what to except on the album .. sorry I couldn‘t find it in English 

https://www.warnermusic.de/news/2022-03-17/ein-album-fuer-unsere-zeit-muse-kuendigen-will-of-the-people-fuer-den-26-august-an

[That Little Animal]

26 minutes ago, Claudia O said:

Warner Germany tells us a bit what to except on the album .. sorry I couldn‘t find it in English 

https://www.warnermusic.de/news/2022-03-17/ein-album-fuer-unsere-zeit-muse-kuendigen-will-of-the-people-fuer-den-26-august-an

Warner also released those same album details in English. Someone posted it on Reddit: 

“With Muse being Muse, there is NO bowing to any singular genre.  The album’s title track “Will Of The People” brings playful provocation to a dystopian glam-rocker while there is an innocence and a purity to the nostalgic electronic textures of “Verona.” From the visceral thrill of “Won’t Stand Down,” to the industrial-tinged, granite heavy riffs of “Kill Or Be Killed,” or the lightning-bolt rush of “Euphoria,” the album concludes with the frenetic finale of the brutally honest “We Are Fucking Fucked.” “

Edited March 18, 2022 by That Little Animal

[Hat]

54 minutes ago, Silentgod86 said:

They've also gone on about spending more time in the studio or stop releasing albums and release EPs instead or becoming a house band in some dive bar while they record a new album. But we always end up with the same cycle with decreasing returns. There's nothing stopping them spending more time in the studio, no tours on the horizon and they are not exactly struggling indie band needing to get back on the road to pay the bills. I don't care really how long they spend in the studio, some bands end up producing both more and better with less time, but I'm not going to take Matt seriously when he says they could record multiple albums back to back. If they really wanted to, they could and would.

They did spend more time in the studio this time around though?

Anyway it doesn't really matter if they don't end up doing all the things they say they wanna do. They wanted to do just singles for Simulation Theory, but then went back on it and started doing an album. That doesn't mean they lied when they said they wanted to do just singles. The reason we take their statements with a grain of salt is because, as you say, they end up going the normal route every single time. And I very much doubt they're actually gonna stop touring and start recording album after album. That wasn't my point. My point is simply that they're clearly enjoying their time in the studio. And I see no reason why Matt wouldn't just say "Honestly we just wanna get out there and tour" if that's how he felt.