Muse - v. Will of the People (rel Aug 26, 2022)

[Orthogonal]

The Resistance >> The 2nd Law

That is all.

[ResultsMayVary]

The 2nd Law >> The Resistance

That is all.

[Cedar redaC]

Having listened to The 2nd Law in full for the first time as of just now, I can say that, first off, Chris is a great vocalist! He definitely adds a more mellow, almost jazzy feel to the songs he sings on. As far as it goes comparing The Resistance to The 2nd Law, I would say that The Resistance just feels like a more solid, complete album. I'll have to listen to The 2nd Law a few more times to really form my opinion, but that is what it is now.

[Ben_Jamin]

Just heard Follow Me. I enjoyed it good.

[ZKX-2099]

It's continuing to grow on me. Animals and Big Freeze is great.

[Mladen]

Saw these guys yesterday and they blew my mind. 

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/muse/2012/papp-laszlo-sportarena-budapest-hungary-73dae601.html

This was the set list. I gotta say, I loved the new songs, The 2nd Law ended up to be one of my favorite Muse albums and an extremely pleasant surprise, so it was great to hear the new stuff, it worked incredibly well. Sunburn was quite a surprise as well.

The only remotely disappointing moment was the bit when roulette showed up on the screens, it started spinning, and it was either Stockholm Syndrome or New born to be played. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear my favorite Muse song live, but better luck next time. 

[robwebster]

The consensus on The 2nd Law is turning out to be... enormously positive. Certainly wherever I've looked. I'm sure there are people on the official Muse sites who hate it, but hey - they're not satisfied unless an album sounds like Origin of Symmetry.

Because, truth be told, I was a little worried about this one. I love it to bits, I think it's an absolutely cracking album - I'm listening to it right now, in fact - but that doesn't always transfer into popularity. Survival and Unsustainable were tricky sells, and Madness didn't sound much like anything Muse had yet done, either. I spent weeks baffled by Survival. It's my favourite song on the album, now, and one of the Muse songs that benefits the most from the volume being cranked all the way up, but it'd be easy to dismiss as nonsense, off the bat, and I think that's true of a lot of the 2nd Law. It's a fascinating album, though. I can't not listen to it - and it got under my skin so quickly. Songs where I was going "Alright, what have they done here?" sometimes became "Oh, wow!" before they'd so much as finished. Madness is a good example.

So glad the gig was brilliant, Mladen. I think Muse are way out of my price range, nowadays, so I've been watching them through YouTube. It looks utterly stellar. Particular love for the little creatures in the Panic Station visuals. I was never entirely convinced by the Resistance pillars, but this setup looks golden. Did they do the roulette thing before New Born?

[Mladen]

Yep, right before New born. It's funny how they watched the screens and waited to actually find out what they were going to play. I love both tracks, but dang, I was praying for Stockholm syndrome. 

And yeah, the tickets were extremely pricey, but thankfully I could afford them. Not to mention that I was particularly motivated by the fact that Muse is my best discovery of the year. It was my first time seeing them, and hopefully not the last time.

[Tyrias]

I saw them on monday and it was definetely the best show I've ever seen. (Not quite the best concert, but still really awesome. And the visuals where stunning!!! ). However, I thought they were pretty cheap for an arena act. Tickets for big concerts in the venue they were playing here are usually at least 60€, and the most expensive tickets for Muse were "only" 50 €. (which is still a lot, of course)

[nightmare_cinema]

So I'm finally giving this album a try and it's way better than I expected, other than the terrible Olympics theme song. I was listening to a few of the songs on google hangouts with a friend and he said he isn't too keen on Muse when they do dubstep, now I'm crap with genres but I wondered if anyone has any recommendations for songs/albums that are similar to the kinda stuff Muse are doing on Unsustainable. Animals definitely my favourite song on the album after a day's listening.

[nightmare_cinema]

I used to be a massive Muse fan back in the day when OOS was released btw, saw them live a few times and basically listened to them all the way through my adolescence. But The Resistance was such an epic disappointment I stopped following them for a bit. Though to be fair, MK Ultra and the Exogenesis Symphony are fantastic. I still think I'll always prefer OOS/Absolution era Muse though. Either way they're an incredible band and one of those bands that'll have a really special place in my heart forever.

[ResultsMayVary]

I love The 2nd Law a lot more after a few months of listening now than what I did after it was first released. It really clicked for me. Explorers, Big Freeze, Panic Station, and Madness are definitely my favorites. I'll hopefully be catching them either in Cleveland or Detroit next month.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Animals is the best song in the record, and also much better than anything found in The Resistance.

[nightmare_cinema]

Animals is incredible, but I think MK Ultra wins for me. That song just strikes such a deep chord with me for some reason, everything about it is beautiful. I can listen to it on repeat for a few hours and still find myself feeling like I need to hear more of it. Animals probably has more of a deeply emotional connection for me, but I just dig the guitar tone in the intro, the verses, the chorus, everything... The Resistance on a whole was proper disappointing, though. I'm glad to find some stuff on 2nd Law I adore as I've had a few years off from Muse but listening to them brings back everything I loved about them as a teenager.

[nightmare_cinema]

Hyper Chondriac Music is always gonna be in my top 3 songs of all time (so far). Been listening to that song on a regular basis for about ten years now, and my closest friends all know it needs to go down at my funeral.

[robwebster]

So I'm finally giving this album a try and it's way better than I expected, other than the terrible Olympics theme song.

It grows. I swear, it grows. I wasn't sure, either, at first, but the whole album's brilliant.

Unsustainable is... kind of a one-off. It was their attempt at doing dubstep (or something called "brostep," I'm told?) with real instruments, specifically because they hadn't heard it done before. There might be other bands doing the same thing, out there, somewhere, but I fear they're doing it very quietly. I think Pendulum might be the closest thing to a similar vibe? Rock with synth instruments, they cross over in a few of the same ways, but Unsustainable's basically new.

[pain of occupation]

trippy. i was also just about to reply to the olympics theme dislike. i thought it was  from the first listen. but really, i thought the whole album was  from the first spin...if the album's a grower, its growing from stellar to superb.

[nightmare_cinema]

So I'm finally giving this album a try and it's way better than I expected, other than the terrible Olympics theme song.

It grows. I swear, it grows. I wasn't sure, either, at first, but the whole album's brilliant.

Unsustainable is... kind of a one-off. It was their attempt at doing dubstep (or something called "brostep," I'm told?) with real instruments, specifically because they hadn't heard it done before. There might be other bands doing the same thing, out there, somewhere, but I fear they're doing it very quietly. I think Pendulum might be the closest thing to a similar vibe? Rock with synth instruments, they cross over in a few of the same ways, but Unsustainable's basically new.

Aye I'm already well into Pendulum! Just wondered if there was anyone else doing similar...

[Nick]

I don't think they've done anything to the level of Unsustainable before, but I think the closest to that sound you'd come is the album Origins of Symmetry.

[Nel]

Yep, album's really grown on me too. It's so nice to like a new Muse album again. Last time was Absolution. 

And I also quite enjoWUBWUBWUBWUB--

[jsem]

Ok, I'm finally listening to this. I'm on Madness, and it sounds a lot like I Want To Be Free by Queen to me.

[nightmare_cinema]

Yeah, and Panic Station is like 'Another one bites the dust', and Supremacy sounds like a James Bond theme tune, Animals and Follow Me sound like proper old Muse to me though.

[KevShmev]

Since I am seeing Muse in 2+ weeks, I figured it was a good time to really engross myself into getting to know The 2nd Law (since it has never hooked me to the point where I listen to it non-stop for weeks, like what often happens with new albums I go crazy over), and I can now say that it is definitely very good.  I probably would have liked it more initially had the first track been much better, but Supremacy is definitely one of the few meh songs on it (along with Liquid State and Unsustainable). But everything else is enjoyable as heck, and I look forward to seeing most of the new songs played live.

[Nel]

Since I am seeing Muse in 2+ weeks, I figured it was a good time to really engross myself into getting to know The 2nd Law (since it has never hooked me to the point where I listen to it non-stop for weeks, like what often happens with new albums I go crazy over), and I can now say that it is definitely very good.  I probably would have liked it more initially had the first track been much better, but Supremacy is definitely one of the few meh songs on it (along with Liquid State and Unsustainable). But everything else is enjoyable as heck, and I look forward to seeing most of the new songs played live.

But... but those are the three best songs on the album. 

Though I do agree that the album has only gotten better in time. Totally makes up for the last two albums.

[SomeoneLikeHim]

I must say that Explorers is one hell of a song

[Mladen]

Yeah, that's a gorgeous ballad. I see people left and right comparing it to Invincible, but I think Explorers is miles ahead of it, what a truly fantastic song!

[cyberdrummer]

It's certainly a better album than I first thought, but I wish the parts that are supposed to be heavy were actually... heavy. It sounds way too polished, with none of the rawness of their first three albums.

[MirzekDT]

Yeah, that's a gorgeous ballad. I see people left and right comparing it to Invincible, but I think Explorers is miles ahead of it, what a truly fantastic song!

This! I see the one little moment where it's similar to Invincible but first of all that moment is good even in Invincible despite how mediocre that songs is and in Explorers the most beautiful parts are those awesome verses... But everything else is great too it's simply amazing song

[KevShmev]

Since I am seeing Muse in 2+ weeks, I figured it was a good time to really engross myself into getting to know The 2nd Law (since it has never hooked me to the point where I listen to it non-stop for weeks, like what often happens with new albums I go crazy over), and I can now say that it is definitely very good.  I probably would have liked it more initially had the first track been much better, but Supremacy is definitely one of the few meh songs on it (along with Liquid State and Unsustainable). But everything else is enjoyable as heck, and I look forward to seeing most of the new songs played live.

But... but those are the three best songs on the album. 

Though I do agree that the album has only gotten better in time. Totally makes up for the last two albums.

The last two albums?  Black Holes and Revelations is their best album!!!

And I can't fathom calling Liquid State one of the best songs on the album.  I just can't.  Of the two songs Chris Wolstenholme sings, Save Me is by far the better of the two.

I must say that Explorers is one hell of a song

It sure is.  Explorers, Panic Station, Animals and Isolated System are my favorites....right now.  And I am digging Survival now a lot, as well as Follow Me, Save Me, Madness, etc.  Gah, good songs everywhere!!!!!!!!

[The King in Crimson]

Isolated Systems was just... such a bad way to close out the album. I'll be honest when I say that it's probably my least favorite on the album, but as a finish/finale, it's just weaksauce.

Love the album though, chock full of some great songs, just wish the track order was fiddled with a bit.

[robwebster]

It feels weird, doesn't it? Like the disc sort of whimpers out. Completely agree that the whole album is a little funky, structurally - thirteen tracks, but Matt stops singing words somewhere around track nine. I think we were talking about rearranging the album somewhere up-thread. Quite like them closing with Survival, like they do live. Might've been an idea.

Since I am seeing Muse in 2+ weeks, I figured it was a good time to really engross myself into getting to know The 2nd Law (since it has never hooked me to the point where I listen to it non-stop for weeks, like what often happens with new albums I go crazy over), and I can now say that it is definitely very good.  I probably would have liked it more initially had the first track been much better, but Supremacy is definitely one of the few meh songs on it (along with Liquid State and Unsustainable). But everything else is enjoyable as heck, and I look forward to seeing most of the new songs played live.

But... but those are the three best songs on the album. 

Though I do agree that the album has only gotten better in time. Totally makes up for the last two albums.

The last two albums?  Black Holes and Revelations is their best album!!!

And I can't fathom calling Liquid State one of the best songs on the album.  I just can't.  Of the two songs Chris Wolstenholme sings, Save Me is by far the better of the two.

I must say that Explorers is one hell of a song

It sure is.  Explorers, Panic Station, Animals and Isolated System are my favorites....right now.  And I am digging Survival now a lot, as well as Follow Me, Save Me, Madness, etc.  Gah, good songs everywhere!!!!!!!!

Almost every single word of this post, including the BHAR stuff - yes!! Big time.

I've been learning Explorers on piano lately. So much fun.

[YtseJamittaja]

Madness sounds a lot like I Want To Be Free by Queen to me.

Yeah, and Panic Station is like 'Another one bites the dust', and Supremacy sounds like a James Bond theme tune, Animals and Follow Me sound like proper old Muse to me though.

Ya! But I love that album. Especially least two mentioned.

[KevShmev]

Isolated Systems was just... such a bad way to close out the album. I'll be honest when I say that it's probably my least favorite on the album, but as a finish/finale, it's just weaksauce.

 

I do agree that it would have been better in a different spot - it sounds like a great middle of an album song - but judging the song on its own, out of the context of the album, it is just a fantastic tune!

I've been learning Explorers on piano lately. So much fun.

Nice.  It still reminds me a bit of Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, but I actually like the frequent nods to Queen on the last few albums.  It's no wonder they are so huge in the UK, as the people over there loved Queen to death, and they love Muse to death as well.

[KevShmev]

Muse absolutely slayed tonight.  As expected.

The 2nd Law: Unsustainable
Supremacy
Supermassive Black Hole
Panic Station
Resistance
Hysteria
Knights of Cydonia (with a Harmonica intro)
Monty Jam
Explorers
Follow Me
Sunburn
Liquid State
Madness
Undisclosed Desires
Time Is Running Out
Stockholm Syndrome
The 2nd Law: Isolated System
Uprising
(Extended outro)
Encore:
Starlight
Survival

[SystematicThought]

I saw them last night in Minneapolis. It was one of the best concerts I've been to.