I got Drones a few days ago. I became a MASSIVE Muse fan back in around 2001-2002, I don't listen to them as much as I used to due to new artists coming into my life etc. but I'll always love and respect them. Unfortunately I felt that they went off the boil a bit with Resistance and 2nd Law, there are some amazing tracks on those records (2nd Law moreso than Resistance, although MK Ultra and the symphony at the end of Resistance are sublime) but I kinda lost interest by the time Drones appeared. Just got round to buying it finally though!
Regarding the record, I'm actually pretty impressed with it, there are a few tracks I'm totally besotted with already, namely Dead Inside, Psycho, Reapers and most of all, The Handler. I love the way they seem to have gotten back to their raw dirty guitar-drive roots on those tracks, The Globalist seems pretty awesome so far too from the bits that have sunk in, I initially thought hey cool, I like the way they've taken a bit of inspiration from Elgar for that track until they actually launched pretty much into a rendition haha. One of the things I dig most about Muse has always been the way they've fused classical music with rock, Bellamy is underrated as a pianist in my opinion. But yeah, The Handler is the absolute standout for me so far, I can't explain how hard that track is hitting me right now. I've had it basically on repeat.
As usually happens, once I listen to Muse I get sucked back into a huge Muse binge that can last days to weeks... been listening through their back catalogue over the past few days amongst Drones and whenever that happens it really sinks in how much this band has and will always mean to me. Pretty much ever major even in my life from the ages of about 12-22 has a Muse track attached to it, they were the soundtrack to my voyage into discovering my own music. They have an insanely high percentage of quality songs in their body of work, I'm really excited to see how Drones ages and settles in amongst classics like Origin, Absolution and Black Holes. I think this album may be what kinda rejuvenates my love for this band from a past nostalgia to a current adoration.
Album ranking cos why not:
Origin of Symmetry
Absolution
Black Holes and Revelations
2nd Law
Showbiz (the songs on it I love I REALLY love, there just aren't enough of them)
Resistance (feels weird for a record containing the Exogensis Symphony to not be automatically at the top but yeah...)
Too early to say how Drones fits into there.
Special mention goes to the Hullabaloo b-sides disc which contains my all-time favourite Muse song and probably top three songs of all time by anyone, Hyper Chondriac Music. That song is so painful to listen to but got me through one of the hardest times of my life, it's my third most played track on last.fm with 950 plays, and the majority of its time spent with me was before I even got that account lol. Whenever I play that track it feels like coming home. It's the weirdest feeling. It makes me feel all snuggled up and shut off from the world. I have a beautiful memory of listening to it on headphones on a coach driving through the mountains in Switzerland at 5am as the sun rose, all of my friends asleep around me, just me and the song. The people I love already know that I want this song on at my funeral.