Muse – Madness – Song Review

 ‘Madness’ will gain fans, as well as lose some… 20/08/2012

You can listen to the song here.

Muse have been one of the world’s largest, most successful rock bands for a long time now, and the hype surrounding their latest effort ‘The 2^nd Law’ isn’t surprising. The band have stated once again, that they will be experimenting new sounds on the album, such as dubstep (on Unsustainable). In the past, the band has claimed to experiment with new sounds, like before the release of their previous album ‘The Resistance’. However, throughout the waves of experimental sound, there has always been that one aspect of a Muse song that sounds like Muse, and when you listen to it, you still know its Matt, Dom and Chris behind that layer of bizarre. This is clear in the song ‘Survival’.

The same cannot be said however, for their newest single, ‘Madness’. It’s some sort of blend of R&B and electro music, with even more hints of Queen.

In my opinion, Matt’s voice doesn’t sound at all comfortable in this sort of song, it just doesn’t seem natural. The song has a voice throughout the song saying ‘Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mad-mad-mad’ which I suppose isn’t a bad touch, but the song acts as if it could be built up into something a lot more than a U2-esque ending that sounds nothing like Muse at all.

Some people may fall in love with ‘Madness’, but sadly I’m not one of those people. In my opinion, ‘Madness’ is one of those songs that will gain fans, as well as lose some. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a fan of Muse, but I honestly hope that ‘The 2^nd Law’ holds more promising material.

By Daniel Tumani

Muse – ‘Survival’ – Song Review

Muse

By Daniel Tumani

A skillful yet bizarre song… 27/06/2012

Muse have just released ‘Survival’, a 5 minute epic for the London Olympics full of classical music, choirs, guitar solos and Matt’s falsetto voice. The first time I heard it I thought it was weird. It just seemed filled with so many types of music. When I listened to it for the second time, I was definitely more drawn to it.

There’s a prelude before the song, which is a typical Muse classical piece. It’s very reminiscent of the Exogenesis Symphony. After the prelude, a lively piano is introduced, which reminded me of I Belong to You at first. It’s very catchy to be honest and I actually quite like it. The verse soon kicks in, with Matt singing in a very hushed tone. I don’t like the lyrics in the song, there is the very cheesy, pointless ‘I’m gonna win’ which I thought was only there for the Olympic feel; it didn’t mean anything else. Halfway through the verse, Chris (I believe) comes in with very Queen-esque backing vocals, which I think is a nice touch. The song starts to build up with Matt’s vocals getting edgier and a choir in the background. The song then really starts to kick in.

A pounding distortion guitar breaks through, Matt plays a great solo with the choir still backing the track. The cheesy lyrics come back again ‘It’s a race, I’m gonna win’ but this time with more power. After more build up, Matt unleashes his classic falsetto voice which breaks into an amazing break filled with heavy guitars, pounding bass, more crazy solo’s before ending with one more falsetto.

I didn’t really like the song at first, and I still think it’s pretty wacky, but it suits the Olympics well and I really like the ending to the song. It’ll be an interesting song when performed live as well; I think the guitar will have more of a place in a live performance. Survival is a good song, but at times it seems like an over generic Olympic track with strong hints of Queen. I still look forward to The 2nd Law and I’m sure Survival will keep growing on me.