Elite: Muse, “Hysteria”: I should love Muse. I should be the biggest Muse fan on the planet, and for some reason, I am not. I recognize the talent, I recognize the innovation, but it just doesn’t always resonate. The instrumental break at about 2:45 is just… I love it. It’s the part of Muse that I do like, and that keeps me interested, even though I seem to get let down more often than not. When that breakdown comes back into the chorus, it’s by far the best part of the song for me. But the verses… that “Muse vocal” (you know what I mean) is often attributed to the “Queen influence”, but in my opinion, it just doesn’t capture the real essence of Freddie Mercury, and all his foibles. It either has a pretention that Freddie didn’t, or doesn’t have the heart and soul that Freddie did (not for me to say). But either way, it diminishes what, for me, could be an evocative band. It gets the score it does for the instrumentation and the subject matter. 7.5
v_clortho: Mozart – “The Dancing Shoe”: Just one? Where’s the other? I liked this. At least they acknowledged this in the lyrics (and told us they only had the left!). This is a band I had never heard of, but I found out it was a precursor to the The Flys, and I LOVED that song “Got You Where I Want You”. I can’t really tell if they are joking or not, and I suspect they are somewhere in between (the musicianship is top notch, in my opinion) and the singer is awesome in a Sunset Strip circa 1987 kind of way. Nothing deep here, no art in that sense of the word, but good clean fun, nonetheless. 7.5
Lethean: Leprous “From The Flame”: Another song where I can recognize the artistry, I recognize the high level of ability, but that was emotionally lacking. I’m not sure what this was shooting for, and it didn’t help that I got a little too much “Radiohead” from it. It’s clinically good, but can’t see myself going back to this. I try very hard not to have expectations in a song, and I studiously avoid saying “they should have done this”, but there were too many moments in this 3:55 song that tested my resolve (case in point: 1:23 through 1:27 or so). 6.5
Home: Biffy Clyro, “9 15ths”: “We’re on a house line, help us, help us!” I work using a house line and I love it; cell reception sucks in my basement… oh what? Wait… No seriously, I really liked this. I have heard of them, but not heard them, so I had the kind of preconceived notions you get with a “Scottish band named ‘Biffy Clyro’”, but it had good substance. It built nicely, I loved the vocals, and the music fit nicely with the vibe that was being portrayed (I understand the album is about death, but I don’t know to what this song specifically refers). 8.5