On Lily's iPod: Absolution by Muse

Last summer I was looking for new music to stockpile into my iPod mini. I was coming off my “Jungle Music” (as Fudgesicle Junkie likes to call Hip Hop) phase and entering into my rock/garage band/ska phase. I really wanted something different and something that I never heard before. Thanks to a recommendation from my Aussie and Brit chat compatriots, I dug up the album “Absolution” by those boys from Devon that make up the band, Muse.

What’s the best way to describe this rock band and its 2003 album release? I’ve said it to many people, and I’ll stick by my claim: Muse is like Coldplay…if Coldplay had testicles.

The entire sound of the album harkens back to the days of the rock opera with a little more force. This is what Styx and Queen could only dream about doing if they were in this modern day. Combining driving guitar chords, thundering drums, and symphonic overtures, the album’s theme about the end of the world is more of an anthem than a death knell.

(And yes, I realize the irony of reviewing an “end of the world” theme a day after posting “A Smile in a Sea of Frowning Faces.” But the album’s that good!)

The album starts out with a short introduction of soldiers stomping in a march to lord knows where. After this…comes the flood. The band swings from one extreme to the other. The clanging grand piano on the foreboding first track, Apocalypse Please gives way to the pleading lyrics of Sing for Absolution (which is as close to a ballad as you’re going to get on this album. Then it immediately takes a sharp turn into rage with the intense Stockholm Syndrome. Lead singer, Matthew Bellamy uses his voice to convey the appropriate amounts of rage, softness, power, and doom on any given track.

This strange dichotomy of power and light doesn’t stop at the track listing. The album’s tenth track, aptly entitled Butterflies and Hurricanes, has a soft symphonic sound and Liberace-esque piano interlude that belie the lyrics being sung:

“Change,Everything you are...And everything you were...Your number has been called...Fights, battles have begun...Revenge will surely come...Your hard times are ahead.

Best...You've got to be the best...You've got to change the world...And you use this chance to be heard..Your time is now…”

While I enjoy the album as a whole, one track caught my attention immediately. Hysteria starts off with an electric bass riff that immediately makes me feel like I’m about to kick some serious ass during my workout. It’s the perfect song for a woman whose mission in life these days is to live independently from everyone’s expectations. I don’t know how many times I’ve been caught singing at the top of my lungs in the car:

“Cause I want it now
I want it now
Give me your heart and your soul
And I'm not breaking down
I'm breaking out
Last chance to lose control…”

Absolution was a great recommendation. I’m so glad that I dove in and picked it up. It’s got a different sound than most of the stuff I hear and it’s been three years since its release! Moody, angry, thoughtful, and provocative, Muse has me eagerly waiting to hear more from them! But don’t take my word for it. Listen for yourself at www.muse.mu and listen to "Absolution" for yourself!