On Friday 9th November 2018, Muse, the rock trio from Devon, released their eighth studio album Simulation Theory.
The record has a strong opening with the track Algorithm; Headbanging percussion, dramatic strings, magical piano keys, heavy guitar riffs, supersonic synthesising and powerful vocals courtesy of lead singer, Matt Bellemy. It signifyes the sounds of 80’s computers games and film soundtracks. It gives a great sense of what is to come in this album and gives the impression of it being a sequel to their electrifying sixth album The 2nd Law.
The next track, The Dark Side, has a very similar style to Algorithm. I can imagine it appearing in a sci-fi film or a Doctor Who episode. The same can be said for the final track The Void, with it’s techno, synthesising melody.
Four tracks on this album were already released as singles prior to the album release. These include Pressure, with it’s catchy, distingtive guitar bass line, the audacious sounds of Something Human, the haunting rhythm of Thought Contagion and my favourite, Dig Down, with it’s hypnotic similarities to their older single, Madness.
I can admit I wasn’t impressed with a couple of tracks. Both Propoganda & Break It To Me were too dubstep-like and sounded heavily reliant on computerisation rather than instruments. I think they were trying to modernise the album too much with these two tracks and slipping away their talents of playing instruments.
The album track Blockades illustrated the best rock elements of Muse throughout the record; with it’s heavy guitars and fast-paced drum beats.
The best sing along track from this album would be Get Up and Fight. It has a clear, bold chorus that the crowd can sing along to at live shows. However the female-like voice made it sound a bit pop-like at the beginning.
Overall this album is at high quality Muse standard with the solid, substantual features of guitars, drums, syntheesisers and vocals we all know and love. I would say I like 80% of the track list but slightly disappointed with a couple of the album tracks. I look forward to finding out how the new songs sound live on their 2019 tour.
Simulation Theory is available to buy, download and stream NOW!
