The 2nd Law - Muse (does it again).

I've listened a few times, and I think I can safely say that Muse's newest album, The 2nd Law, which dropped in the US on October 2 on Warner, is, well, okay, BOSS. Lots of info here.

A long-time Muse fan, I remember discovering their third album, Absolution, while searching for music on LiveJournal (anyone?) and subsequently played. it. to. death. The lead vocalist/guitarist/maverick, Matthew Bellamy's almost operatic voice just reels me in every single time. I can't ever just cut a song off halfway through. There's always a climax to get to. The songs, much like the albums, require, and in fact, compel you to listen through to the end. Absolution was probably the album that skyrocketed them to their current status as rock heroes here in the U.S. And their followups, Black Holes and Revelations (2006), The Resistance (2009), and now The 2nd Law, have never, ever, even remotely disappointed. Each one seems to pick up where the last one left off, each one seemingly grander than the last.

"Take a Bow," the first track off their 2006 release, was featured in the movie and trailer for Watchmen (2009), and I don't think a featured song in a film trailer has ever made me as excited for something I would otherwise probably have been very non-excited about. 

I love the intense symphonic sound that Muse unfailingly brings to the table. The themes are epic, melodic even when they can be heavy. It's glam, theatrical, but most of all, fun! And great, of course, for wailing along to in the car on high volume (guilty). 

The 2nd Law opens with an exhilarating track, "Supremacy," the intro to which harkens back to Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." And the second track, and incidentally the second single off the album, "Madness" is extreeeeeemely hard to listen to only once or twice. Or ten or twenty times. (The first single release was "Survival," which was the 2012 Summer Olympics official song.) Another lovely example of a great build is "Follow Me," which throws down some pretty danceable beats that are still thick enough with guitar and arching vocals that at least I'm spared feeling like I've just landed in an alt rock night club, but still kind of want to get out of my seat and move. Track 9, "The Big Freeze," sounds like U2 (I'm not big on U2) as much as they have been compared to Radiohead. I still hear that influence, but the beauty of Muse is that they continually experiment and expand their sound, so they never sound like one thing for long. It keeps me seriously hooked.

arctic monkeys' HUMBUG

i finally took a listen to the new arctic monkeys album, humbug. i heard about it in rolling stone a couple of months ago and was really intrigued to hear that they recorded it in the states, and that alex turner (the lovely, the talented) is still sneering away. i loved rob sheffield's comment, "their ace third album is full of turner's snide observations on human behavior — when he looks you in the eye and sneers, "what came first, the chicken or the dickhead?" it's not a compliment."

i've been revamping an apartment above my sister's coffee shop for a few days now and have had everything in the cd player from cat power to just jack to the garden state official soundtrack. this was a change of pace -- and a welcome one!

i first got into arctic monkeys when i gave a listen to 2007's favourite worst nightmare. their debut album, 2005's whatever people say i am, that's what i'm not was making huuuge waves in the u.k. when i was there studying abroad in the spring of '06. i didn't really care for them then, though, and i'm not sure why. it wasn't until i heard fwn that i was like, WTF what have i been missing!??? -- so i snatched up their first one immediately and have loved them both, though they are both very different records, and the first is still better -- in my mind -- than their sophomore album.

i like alex turner so much that his side project, the last shadow puppets, are a favorite in my car stereo also. the only negative thing i have to say is that when i went to see them in chicago a while ago, they put on the most impersonal, rushed show i've seen. the music was fine, though faster than the albums, and they gave off a general don't-give-a-fuck-about-chicago sort of vibe. it's too bad, it left a bad taste in my mouth, but i'd be willing to give them another shot, i think.

humbug sounds like turner and the monkeys finding their footing. the lyrics are intense and the sound is appropriately eerie and ravaging and beautiful.. i'm a big fan of this album after only a couple of listens.