Muse
Showbiz

THE REVIEW

1998, the beginning of an era. A group of three young guys, just emerging from their teenage years, produces one of the most interesting albums of the 90s: a mix of post-grunge anger, sweetness, and energy that only people in their twenties could present. The Muse was born, an English trio that achieved what many producers would dream of putting on the market: an almost perfect debut album.

The release date is 1999, when the guys are 21 years old, but they've been working for a while on some songs that are now dear to the earliest fans.

Right from the start, you notice the character of the album. No shyness, it's the piano that greets our ears when the first notes of "Sunburn" strike, with the "rock" use of an entirely classical instrument, mixed with the scratchy sound of Bellamy's guitar that stands out especially during the solo, and a repetitive and defiant bass, almost highlighting a psychotic delirium that will be clearly noticeable in the video of this first track. It is followed by "Muscle Museum" (that is, the two words respectively before and after "Muse" in the English dictionary), which many fans consider the most important track in the band's career, paired with a finely crafted video and presumably autobiographical references from the band's leader.

"Fillip" then slightly lowers the tension: it is, in my opinion, one of the less musically significant tracks of the album, along with "Overdue" and "Sober", two tracks that ended up in the band's trash bin. The fourth track on the album is one worth spending a few words on. Undoubtedly, "Falling Down" is a song that is not easy to listen to, and personally, it's not among my favorites: it's a peculiar track, full of chords, with vague influences of a certain Buckley, and it presents one of the features that will characterize the career of the three young lads, that is, the voice-guitar phrases of their leader. Next, we find the excellent "Cave" and then "Showbiz", probably among the best songs of the band's entire career, made up of a few phrases repeated obsessively, as well as the guitar movements, leading to an explosive chorus that concludes with an utterly powerful solo.

Following, two important and diverse tracks: the sweet and sentimental "Unintended", and the harder "Uno", for which Bellamy often used powerful distortions during live performances. Then "Escape", another significantly meaningful track, both sweet and "reactive" with a distortion that quickly stands out despite an introduction that might have suggested a repeat of "Unintended." The album is then closed with "Hate This & I'll Love You", which I would say was unjustly left in the band's forgotten repertoire, but instead is a clear example of a significant clarity when it comes to "locking oneself in the studio and recording."

In conclusion, as only a few other greats have managed, for Muse, the first time was a charm. A sweet, scratchy album, with vague melancholic hints and a foundational structure of many songs that hints at the subsequent Origin of Symmetry, the band's most mature work and an undoubted masterpiece.