Muse
Absolution

THE REVIEW

"Tiptoe in your room, a starlight in the gloom, I only dream of you, and you never knew"

They could have ridden the wave of an epochal album like "Origin Of Symmetry", they could have rested on their laurels and lived on royalties, but no, like the true great Artists that they are, Muse did not do that, and in the year 2003 they produced a strange album, an album that sparked mixed reactions, that divided audiences and critics. This album is called "Absolution", and it is truly something special and unique in the production of the band from Teignmouth: if in the band's other works each song stands alone, a fresco that can easily be examined separately from the context, here no, all twelve songs that make up this album, which I see as a true rock opera, a concept album in which a sense of existential angst and unease, expressed in various forms and declinations, pervades all the compositions, from the first to the last, compositions that flow smoothly, united by a subtle but very perceptible red thread.

Stylistically the album is divided into two categories of songs: the performance of what I define as new millennium hard rock, or electronic hard rock, or more simply Muse-hard rock alternates with more melodic and tormented pieces, all in a symmetric and perfect alternation like a Tibetan mandala.

In the first category, we can list the enigmatic opener "Apocalypse Please", in which a reference to the Iraq war is very evident, characterized by a very percussive piano and a hypnotic and powerful vocal, with keyboards acting as a real piston for a song that soars high on the wings of unease. The extraordinary single "Time Is Running Out", which manages to reconcile strong pop catchiness with an epic guitar crescendo, with the wise use of synthesizers, piano, and hand claps in the verses (a classic touch of Muse-like genius). The electronic hard rock manifests in its most explicit forms in the impetuous "Stockholm Syndrome" and "Hysteria", in which guitars, keyboards, and a bass used as always masterfully create an explosive mix to enjoy, which also inspired the greats Dream Theater for their "Never Enough". Also really lovely is "The Small Print", incredibly catchy and driving with an exquisitely over-the-top chorus and a textbook riff, even if the undisputed peak of the more rock side of "Absolution" is surely "Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist", an absolute masterpiece, moving in its contrast between the lyrics and the melody, so catchy and seemingly naive. I think it will be the song I'll have played at my funeral...

And then, as I already said, "Absolution" also has an even more introspective and sweetly tormented soul, which manifests in the remaining six songs: "Sing For Absolution", so nocturnal and fascinating, especially accompanied by the wonderful video (one of a very long series), crowned by a stellar piano, absolutely poetic lyrics, and a cathartic chorus that flows into the epic finale. Sweet, or rather, stunningly bittersweet "Falling Away With You", dreamy and ecstatic in the verses, alternating with a tense and dramatic chorus; even if the conclusion reprises the initial theme, it is overshadowed in the lyrics by a veil of disillusionment, disillusionment that also returns in "Blackout", strongly characterized by orchestral arrangements and truly gentle background choirs, with a wavering rhythm, in which it's sweet to drift away, with lighters held high under the stage. The more prog side of Muse instead appears in "Butterflies & Hurricanes", which begins gently, reverberating, to then gain great pathos and strength and flow into symphonic and pianistic virtuosity of absolute value, worthy of a Beethoven symphony. If in "Butterflies & Hurricanes" our band shows us their sumptuous side, with "Endlessly" they rediscover their more minimal side, in a passionately subdued song, characterized by sparse arrangements that enhance Matt Bellamy's outstanding vocal performance. If we really want to nitpick, the only weak point of the album is the concluding "Ruled By Secrecy", a bit too slow and soporific in its attempt to recover the atmosphere of "Megalomania" without having its charm, but this absolutely changes nothing, it doesn't alter my judgment of this masterpiece that really must be listened to with the heart, an inexhaustible mine of emotions.

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