Muse
Origin of Symmetry

THE REVIEW

2001: Two years have passed since "Showbiz," the debut album by Muse, which met with good public and critical success but was deemed too similar to Radiohead's "Ok Computer." It's time for a new chapter, and in June, "Origin Of Symmetry" is released, an album where the band "grows" and tries to counter the criticisms that they are nothing more than a RH clone.

The opening is entrusted to "New Born", which at times reminds me of "Sunburn" from the previous album: a lullaby-style piano opening, then (new) the hyper-distorted guitar kicks off a rowdy second part. After six minutes of fury, here's "Bliss", a rather electronic track with synth aplenty, revealing new influences for the group: Bellamy has stated it is inspired by the sounds of Depeche Mode. Next, we listen to "Hyper Music," super angry, where Bellamy over guitar riffs talks about solitude.

Here's "Plug In Baby," one of the band's most famous songs, a distorted rock with traces of electronics, very unique.  Then "Space Dementia", one of the tracks that best summarizes Muse: it is indeed a symphonic rock, with a piano that sounds very classical in the introduction, then evolves into furious rock and closes with a hyper-psychedelic and endless tail. It is quite complex, but never as much as "Citizen Erased," which is the most Radiohead-like track on the album: it's clearly inspired by Paranoid Android. It indeed includes three parts, for a total duration of 7'19": the opening is heavy, with violent guitar riffs, then it gradually calms down, until the third part, which is a calmer ballad, almost soft rock.

Electronic effects link this track to "Micro Cuts," perhaps the angriest on the album. Here Bellamy shows off an incredible falsetto, reaching the highest notes ever recorded by him (G5), all with guitar riffs and a complicated rhythm (alternating 4/4, 2/4, and 3/4 bars). Then the last four tracks of the album start, perhaps a little less catchy: from the flamenco of "Screenager," which reminds me of Pulp, to the schizophrenic "Darkshines," then the super cover of "Feeling Good," excellent (the group transformed a swing track - listen to the Michael Bublé version - into a dark-heavy-blues-rock). It all closes with "Megalomania," a track where the dominant instrument is a church organ (which despite being very distant in sound inspired "Fix You" by Coldplay - so said Chris Martin).   

And now... two final notes: the album was only released in America in 2005 due to the band's divorce with the American label Maverick, which considered the album's abundant falsetto to be not very commercial and demanded a re-recording of the album eliminating it completely. It was a great commercial success: in the UK, it reached the #3 position in albums and sold over 100,000 copies... a good result considering the album is not too commercial.

Yet another excursus: many of the b-sides of this period (available on the Hullabaloo compilation from 2002) were supposed to appear on the tracklist but were discarded. They are wonderful, though: listen to "Futurism," the Yorkian "Nature_1," and "Shrinking Universe" to believe it!

The album, in conclusion, is an excellent work and has confirmed Muse as one of the best new bands. The subsequent albums have set an excellent path... who knows if "The Resistance," coming out in September, will have the same fate? Let's hope so...