Muse - Origin of Symmetry

 

"Origin of Symmetry" is the 2nd album by UK 3-piece rock outfit Muse.  Muse didn't waste any time following on from their debut album, Showbiz, which was released in 1999. Meaning a sharp 2-year turnaround between albums.  But would the album build on the success of Showbiz or did that come further down the line.  Well, it's obvious now.  This album for me is the best thing Muse have ever done.  The band clearly think so too. Although it is clear the songs have always been mainstays in their setlists. However, they did release a remixed and remastered version of this album in 2021. Which shows that maybe they weren't happy with the production on the original.  

It's one of those ones that people with a keen ear will notice the differences between the original and the latest remasters.  But for me I prefer to appreciate the songs as they are and would never go into such a depth to analyse the differences in production. Unless it was so bad that it made the album unlistenable.  This album definitely did not fall in that category by any stretch. Not in 2001 or 2022.  This album to me is a classic album.  The reason for this is that Muse pushed themselves even further in every way and created something which was so good and really set themselves apart from anything out there at the time.

My favourite track off the album is "Citizen erased".  This track has been my favourite Muse track for the duration and although I haven't done a top 10 songs of all-time list recently.  This song has been on that list or up there constantly.  It's a song of ups and downs where the riff actually feels like the chorus.  It is absolutely huge.  It lasts 7 minutes and 21 seconds with a wonderfully spacey outro.  It was tracks like this that nudged Muse more into prog land. Although they always managed to keep in the rock category itself.  I was lucky to see this song performed live on the "Drones" tour and it is just as good live if not better.

But this isn't the only 5+ minute track on the album. Opening track "New born" and third track "Space Dementia" are both 6 minutes each.  "New born" is such a great opening to an album.  Like on "Showbiz" where the piano driven "Sunburn" opens the album.  "New born" Similarly opens with a quirky piano part.  But then the magic starts to happen and if you see this part live it's great.  Bellamy will get up from the piano, swing round his guitar from behind his back. And launch into a mighty fine riff.  The song takes off from there and is another classic Muse track.  "Space Dementia" is another one which sees Bellamy dance his magical fingers on the piano.  A great track but I feel it's gone into the background over time due to Muse's now extensive back catalogue.

Another single which was released at the time was "Plugin Baby".  And what can you say, but another absolute banger.  More big riffs and probably the best chorus delivery on the album.  But when you start looking through this album with "Bliss", "Hypermusic", "Microcuts", "Screenager", "Darkshines" and "Meglomania".  There is not a bad track on here.  Special mention must go out to penultimate track "Feeling good" which is a cover.  I love this track as it's so upbeat and positive.  It's a real mood lifter.

I should point out that a year after this release Muse released a double A side single "Dead Star/In your World".  2 fantastic songs which clearly didn't make the album but I'm so glad the released this as they are great singles which I would recommend checking out.

Overall, this is an absolute corker of an album.  I thought that at the time with the album cover poster up in my room during my uni days and CD which I still have.  And I still think that now. Maybe as I listen to Muse albums going forward, I'll change my mind. But for now, I think this should be an entry point for people wanting to get into Muse.  This album probably turned them into an arena band at the time and set the way for stadiums later.  An iconic album.

Muse - Showbiz

 

UK rock trio Muse released their debut album "Showbiz" back in 1999 when I was just 15 years old.  Many would say the rest is history now and they would be right.  Muse have gone on to be one of the biggest rock bands on the planet and if they do headliners, only top of the bill will do.  But was it obvious back in 1999 that they would be as big as they have become? Well, I bought the CD, I think around the time the album came out and on the casing, there is a sticker with taglines from various magazines which are listed below:

"Muse will be huge" - The Guardian
"Massive angst-ridden anthems" - Kerrang
"Impressive" - Daily Mail
"The Future of Intelligent guitar music" - Melody Maker

So, there you have it, even in the very beginning of their career, Muse were hotly tipped by the music world to go the distance and my, my did they do that.  I remember at the time reading articles about Muse and many mentioned comparisons to Radiohead who at that point in their career had released Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK computer.  They definitely forged a path for offering a different type of guitar music and I have no doubt Muse had been influenced by them.  But it felt like Muse were creating their own path too.  The riffs were heavier, they had more piano and generally felt like it was more upbeat than Radiohead. Although some would say that's not really hard!

Matt Bellamy's vocal range is also something which set them apart and through this allows him to both have the all-out rock songs as well as the slower acoustic songs.  When the album came out and during that period generally, I had two favourite songs off "Showbiz" and they were "Unintended" and "Uno".  Two, totally different tracks. "Unintended" a slow acoustic number with such a nice rhythm to it.  As I make my way going back through Muse albums, I may unearth more tracks like this from Muse. But it feels like they haven't really done anything as good as this in terms of an acoustic song since, as their rockier and more experimental side has come more to the forefront. But I do hope some of Muse's later albums have deep cuts like this as it's clear to see they are capable of slowing things right down and taking it easy with fantastic results.

"Falling down" and "Escape" are other slower tracks on the album which works well.  While "Unintended" stays slower these do pick more as the songs go on.  But my other favourite track "Uno" was a highlight for me because this is Muse rocking out with big riffs. Wonderful.  "Muscle Museum" would probably have been my second favourite in terms of rockier tracks. But I think one of the key differences for Muse was combining piano with guitars within tracks.  When listening to this album recently the track which stands out for me is track 5 "Cave" which does this perfectly.  The early parts of the song are rockier with the big riff and chorus.  But the true majestic part of this song is the piano bridge before picking back up on the riff.  It is so well done and when you think of artists and songs generally there aren't many songs that have a guitar then followed by a piano bridge.  And as I say this really set them apart at the time.  They combined the two again in opening track "Sunburn" but this time led with the piano.  First tracks are so important for engaging the listener and really capturing their attention and the piano hook on "Sunburn" really does this.

The album generally goes on quite a run of great tracks and it’s not until you get to the last few tracks you feel it slightly loses steam.  But the likes of "Overdue" and "Hate this and I'll love you" still deserve and have their place on the album.  Although the latter is a decent track it doesn't really feel like a closer is my only criticism.  I.e., it doesn't really have that climax or gentle outro.  It just feels like it could have been placed anywhere in the middle of the album.

But overall, this is a very good album and even though I didn't realise at the time just what would be next for Muse and what the future would hold. It's clear many did, and they got it absolutely right.  "Showbiz" is an album which shows that Matt, Dominic and Chris are hugely talented and between the 3 of them make some mighty fine music.

The Wombats - Fix yourself, not the world

  

After a four-year gap between albums, Liverpudlians The Wombat's are back with their 5th studio album "Fix yourself, not the world".  Since their formation in 2003, I got into this band at an early stage when their debut came out "A guide to love, loss and desperation" in 2007.  They have always been such a refreshing band; their witty lyrics, feel good vibes and in general spot-on song writing. Really set them apart from other bands on the indie scene throughout their career.  They are a band I have never seen live in person, but they have been a regular fixture at festivals such as Reading and Leeds. Then having sets broadcasted on TV I can safely say they always seem to be one of the standout performances of the weekend each time.

I bought the digipack version of "Fix yourself, not the world" and unusually for me I was a bit disappointed.  Not with the music but the artwork.  If you look on streaming services and Amazon you will see the artwork is so colourful and detailed and is like a scene out the computer game, Sim City.  The blues and greens really do standout.  However, when I got the digipack through it is still like a Sims like design, but the colours are quite dull and dark with browns and not as appealing colours.  In fact, the track listing is quite hard to read because there is not enough contrast in the colours, and this is also the same with the spine. Fair enough the booklet inside does have the "good" artwork but you kind of want that with the front and back cover.  I think if it’s a jewel case you would get the good artwork.

But enough of that, while artwork does contribute to an album, at the end of the day is the music up to standard.  And our survey says: Yes, it does!  The Wombats have always delivered consistently good albums, and this is no different.  I feel the singles they chose in the run up in the release of the album displayed their versatility well.   "Ready for a High" is an absolute stormer of a track. Such a great groove to it and when the brass section come in for a part of this track it's just a complete joy.  "Method in the madness" is a nice building track which has a wonderful climax.

But it's not just the singles are great on this album. This album goes deep and really it could be argued there are no skippable tracks on this.  Opening track "Flip Me Upside down" has a bit of a different feel to it than what they would usually do.  It's almost like a samba beat but at this time the chorus still absolutely soars.  They do mix things between the uplifting upbeat tracks and the softer laid-back tracks.  Another highlight is "Wildfire”, the vocal performance on this is spot on and shows Mathew Murphy's versatility in his vocal range.  

Overall, this is a fantastic album and The Wombats have once again kept quality control high.  As I write this, they are in the mix for a UK no 1 album.  It's a good time to release an album (January) as not many albums are released at this time of year so it would be good if The Wombats were to get more recognition because of this.  Also the name of the album in itself is quite apt for this day and age where the mental heal epidemic is riff through the country.  And sums things up nicely – “Fix yourself, not the world” 

Boston Manor - Desperate times, Desperate Pleasures EP

 I have been in two minds whether to review the latest EP by Boston Manor - Desperate Times, Desperate Pleasures.  I got into the band in 2020 through finding an EP on Spotify called "Plasticine Dreams" which had 5 tracks on it.  It was unbelievably good, and I only had to wait a month for their next album "Glue" to come out.  This contained all of the tracks released on the EP.  It was on that day I learned that when artists release songs on Spotify in the build up to an album it ends up calling itself an EP even when it’s really getting people exposure to the next album.  

For "Desperate times, Desperate Pleasures" though it is looking more and more like this is a standalone EP. One of the reasons for this is because it did get released on tape and also it has been out a fair while now with no proper announcement for an album yet.  So hopefully next thing we'll here from Boston Manor is a new album announcement with unreleased music. Fingers crossed!  So what do we have with this EP.  Well, I think the songs on here are a lot more straight up and simpler than songs on their last album "Glue". "Glue" went in all sorts of directions and the structures of the songs felt so ambitious and imaginative.  Overall, it was my top album of 2020 because of this.

"Carbon Mono" was the first single released off this EP and it rocks hard.  It's definitely one of those songs which has grown on me over time.  "Algorithm" was next and this has probably been one of my most played songs of last year.  Again, it feels really simple but it’s so effective.  Even when you look at the vocal performance. He doesn't really seem to fully stretch his vocals through most of the song.  But after the bridge he takes it up a gear and it just makes the song so wonderful. The bridge on here and the climb out of it is my favourite part of the whole EP.  It just strips back to the vocals and single guitar. Then everything else gradually comes back in for a thundering finish.

You can tell the EP was recorded during the pandemic as the overall feel of the EP is quite gloomy and downbeat.  You don't really need a private investigator to work it out. Songs like "I don't like people (&They don't like me)" kind of give the game away instantly.  That song also starts with "I haven't left my bedroom, for 16 days, and i don't see why I would do, when everything is so grey". I think in this EP they capture the mood of the nation through these troubled times and a lot can relate.

The title track "Desperate times, Desperate Pleasures" is another rocker.  I have noticed that Boston Manor are good at finding well known sayings and integrating them into their lyrics seamlessly.  "Bad Machine" being a good example of this from their second album.  "Let the right one in" is the last song on the EP and it’s a slower moving one but has just as much oomph and grandeur as the other songs.  

Overall, this is a fantastic EP which is looking like a stop gap as they make a new album which I am looking forward to tremendously.

Slothrust - Parallel Timeline

 

"Parallel Timeline" is the 5th studio album by American alternative rock band Slothrust.  The Boston based band seem pretty underground and have only gone on my radar in the last month due to them appearing on You tuber Spectrum Pulse's end of year lists both song and albums. Out of all the songs and albums on those lists this was the one that stood out for me the most and I checked out the album immediatley.  And I have been listening to it ever since.

The album was released in September 2021 and a month before hand they had to part way with their bassist due to allegations against him.  Which may have tared the album release build up, but this is an album that, regardless deserves some attention.  The first two tracks really pull you in and are such a fantastic one, two punch but do so in their own totally unique ways. First track "Cranium" creeps in with a slow beat and feels like a pretty standard indie track. Well would be if it wasn't for Leah Wellbaum's exquisite vocals.  But then at three minutes the song takes a direction which is both refreshing and the first time you hear it pleasantly surprising.   From this point it goes into a 1 minute, 40 second guitar solo which is so mesmorisingly amazing.  It's not trying to be technically amazing.  Its raw and moves along at a relaxing pace before winding up the track. An excellent start to any album.

Next up "Once more for the ocean" turns things up a notch and is wonderfully upbeat singalong.  "The next curse" features none other than Lzzy Hale from rock heavyweights Halestorm.  The two complement each other well and will hopefully turn more attention on to Slothrust having someone on this track like Lzzy Hale.  The song builds nicely and has another fine guitar solo.  This one is more purposeful than the one on "Cranium" and also more pure sounding.  But just as good.  I would say that after the first 4 tracks the rock element of the album is really done, and the rest of the album is more downbeat and at some points epic.  Both styles really seem to suit Wellbaum's voice.  "Strange Astrology" in particular is such a dreamy, spacy track which is so beautiful.

While guitars are present early on, piano and synths shine through on tracks like "Waiting" and "King Arthur's seat".  "A Giant Swallow" turns to the acoustic guitar in another low key, exquisite track. I think this album could have finished on either of the last two tracks.  "White rabbits" and "Parallel Timeline have that ending, climatical feeling about them. And both great in their own way.

Overall, this is an absolutely cracking album which I hope will get the attention it deserves.  It's so refreshing and is one which keeps you on your toes as it goes in all sorts of directions.  They are very talented band with a unique view on song writing which separates them from the crowd.