It seems just yesterday when I first covered Muse. In fact it was several months prior to the release of their debut album, SHOWBIZ which would make it late 1999 or early 2000. I was impressed with the songs, the band’s distinctive sound and Matt Bellamy’s quite amazing voice. I quickly arranged an interview, and secured an opportunity see the band perform live (in a support role). I was blown away. The second album followed just over a year later and with it another chance to witness a live performance, this time in a leading role. The album had some great moments (New Born, Plug In Baby and the great cover of Feeling Good) but it was also unfocused and annoyingly hysterical. I loved the performance. I then saw the band perform live for a third time and came away with the distinct feeling that Bellamy was trying to do too much (vocals, keys, guitar) and appeared tired (while his fellow musicians who seemed full of beans and played better than ever) especially in performing the new, very demanding, album songs. So from supremely melodic and moody, Muse went for the throat and, in my view, missed the artery that went straight to the heart (the magic of SHOWBIZ). So, here’s album number three, with the rather gothic title of ABSOLUTION and, arguably, the most important for the band. Will it be the catastrophic bomb that the fuse was furiously winding and fizzing its way towards? Or will it represent a partial regression and compromise? And will it cement the band’s brave new future?

Following a brief intro of what seems to be Flamenco dancers regimentally practising, a piano hammers out the epic opening bars to Apocalypse Please. In what is one of the most exciting album openers I’ve ever heard, Bellamy bemoans the state of world peace and conflict created by the Americans. To emphasise the point, the song climbs and crashes with magical vocal harmonies, orchestral passages, and an emphatic drum rhythm. And just to make sure, this mountainous song comes with a very strong melody and a classic soaringBellamy vocal. It’s a heart-stopping, breathless, neo-classic rock monster of a song, and fabulous. Time Is Running Out (the opening single) is traditional, dark, angsty Muse rock at its very best, with a pleading Bellamy vocal and a backdrop of heavy Howard skin beats. Brilliant! Then a slower, very Radiohead song called Sing For Absolution that incorporates a ballady, cinematic vibe and another superb melody. And just when you think relative calm will be sustained (for a little while anyway), crashing guitars and those dominant drums burst out of the speakers to bring one back to reality. Stockholm Syndrome is the sort of song that a band like Metallica would record if they suddenly sprung new onto the scene in 2003. Diving guitar and bass riffs and multi-layered vocal harmonies bring another great song to a wonderful conclusion.

Then scraping guitar strings and a gentle Bellamy vocal hark in the very beautiful Falling Away With You. But rock instrumentals are never too far away as a raucous chorus makes its presence felt. But everything is in context as the more pensive, glacial musical moments return. This is the sort of song I imagine the Beatles writing and playing in 2003.

By this time I’ve heard enough to know that Muse have well and truly scored. What we have here is an intelligent and inspiring mix of what the band do best, and while I believe audio quality still lacks finite definition (with sleeve notes that are totally confusing), ABSOLUTION is the rock album our Yank friends will have to beat. And you know what? I don’t think they can do it. The final nails in the coffin are represented by the astoundingly beautiful, string-laden The Small Print, and heavenly Endlessly. Both move me like an earthquake as they meander their way along helped by stunning and very focused, expressive Bellamy vocals, and mesmerising keyboard interludes. I knew they could do it and by fuck they have. ABSOLUTION is a truly remarkable album, and by far the band’s best. The new rock standard has just been set…

5/5