September 15, 2003 - Absolution

A day after my last release and a little over two years since "Origin Of Symmetry", Muse released their third album "Absolution" on September 15, 2003. This album went to #1 on the charts in both the U.S. and U.K. and spawned six singles. Muse worked with new producer Rich Costey (who worked with Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave) and he helped to give Muse a much grander and epic sound. Let's see what the latest from Muse has to offer!

The album begins with a 22 second "Intro" that sets up the first of the album's six singles (and four in a row), titled "Apocalypse Please". Matthew Bellamy plays some intense and pretty cool piano to drive this song and he holds plenty of great long notes in his spectacular-as-always voice. Dominic Howard's drums are solid as well and it's a very epic main riff indeed! Bellamy hits all kinds of super high notes with seemingly relative ease and he even adds a bit of guitar to the mix midway through, but it's still a piano-driven song, and there's lots of cool piano! Bellamy is just slamming away on the piano at the end and this was a pretty cool way to kick things off! Track 3 is "Time Is Running Out" and Chris Wolstenholme plays a super low and interesting bass riff to keep the pace while Bellamy sings another catchy and great verse overtop. They build nicely into the loud chorus with some nice loud guitars and Bellamy holding some more phenomenal long notes. The next verse is much louder with some great contributions from everyone: really cool bass, great drums, nice guitar and of course some amazing vocals. After this awesome round they nicely quiet things down, Bellamy plays some catchy and cool piano, then they build it back up for a final round that is loud and pretty sweet! Yet another pretty great single! The next track is "Sing For Absolution" and Bellamy leads the way with a slow but solid piano riff that is pretty smooth and he sings in a very high voice overtop, and he sounds so great, hitting those uber-high notes perfectly! Bellamy adds some slow but cool guitar in the chorus as he continues to sing tremendously and while this is definitely a slower, snappier vibe, they are absolutely nailing that vibe. Bellamy plays a slow guitar solo that fits the mood pretty perfectly and sounds nice and epic and then he pours some extra emotion into his nice final chorus before they wrap things up quite nicely. Track 5 is "Stockholm Syndrome" and they Bellamy jumps right into a fast-paced and fairly heavy main riff and when the other guys complete this main riff it hits hard! This is Muse at their hardest of rock and it's a pretty awesome main guitar riff and Howard's drums are pretty awesome as well! Bellamy's verse overtop is solid as well and the heavy shift into the chorus sounds fantastic, it hits really hard! Bellamy is playing some pretty phenomenal guitar and piano in this chorus and also holding some more great long notes, he is so fucking talented! It all combines for a fantastic chorus and this all makes for easily my favourite song so far, and the bar has been pretty high! They even spice things up further as Bellamy delivers an epic and awesome guitar solo, then they play one more fantastic round to cap this non-stop awesome ride! Up next is "Falling Away With You" and it's got a very dreamy vibe with Bellamy playing a light, slow guitar riff overtop some light percussion by Howard as Bellamy sings a light and high verse to nicely match the mood. The chorus is much more involved with some pretty cool bass, solid rhythm guitar and some pretty awesome keyboards being shredded the whole time while Bellamy holds some really long notes! After another slow round they bring things to a close and move right into a short 38 second "Interlude" which is Bellamy playing some constant and trippy guitar for the whole short song. The next song is another single called "Hysteria" and it continues the run of Muse singles being pretty freaking cool! Wolstenholme starts us off with a phenomenal bass riff that is the backbone of this song and Words don't do justice, he keeps this awesomeness up for the whole song in the background! Howard's drums epicly build until Bellamy enters with a super catchy and pretty sweet guitar riff. The guitar falls away for the first verse as Bellamy sings nicely overtop Wolstenholme's awesome bass, then it nicely returns for a great chorus that is catchy and super smooth. The second verse has Bellamy echoing Wolstenholme on guitar and that sounds pretty awesome too! After another solid chorus Bellamy delivers a phenomenal guitar solo that is just so perfect and so amazing and we have another contender for favourite song on the album as this one is also non-stop awesomeness the whole way through! Muse are so wicked! Track 9 is "Blackout" and it has a strings section in full force with some slow but loud and cool stuff. Bellamy plays some pretty fast guitar overtop and it adds an exciting extra layer to this otherwise very slow-going song. Bellamy sings a nice high verse and as usual he seems to hold his notes effortlessly for long periods. This is obviously not a headbanger, but it's expertly done still and Bellamy's guitar solo sounds pretty damn epic midway through! Even their soft songs are still great! Up next is another single titled "Butterflies And Hurricanes" and Bellamy plays some faster and pretty cool piano to start us off as he sings softly at first to match the quiet mood, then they pick up nicely with some more cool piano and the rhythm section nicely joining in for a loud and pretty solid main riff. Bellamy is belting out more awesome long notes and this continues into a similar(ly sweet) chorus with even more awesome piano and vocals by Bellamy. After another solid round they devolve into some dark and creepy madness with Bellamy playing some absolutely phenomenal piano! Words don't do justice to describe this amazing piano solo which has Bellamy just wailing and shredding things all up and down the keys, it's really quite something! They slam superbly back into the main riff to close things out and this is yet another contender for favourite song on the album, that's quite a few absolutely amazing songs! Track 11 is "The Small Print" and Bellamy jumps right into a loud and pretty cool main guitar riff and Howard is playing some loud and pretty cool drums as well! Bellamy sings a fittingly loud and cool verse overtop and Wolstenholme's bass is pretty cool as they move into the similarly loud chorus. Bellamy sounds amazing as always and this song is quite the headbanger, it's loud and rockin' the whole way through! A bit of a missed chance with no solo, but it's a pretty good main drag to keep to! The next track is "Endlessly" and we're back to softer Muse as Bellamy leads the way with a light and simple piano riff and Howard plays a light but catchy and cool drum beat. Bellamy sings a slow verse to match the mood nicely and he sings a high and slightly repetitive chorus, but he just sounds so good you don't mind! He adds some synths to the mix along with the piano for an interesting effect that is different but not all that exciting honestly. If this is a weaker song, then that just shows the high bar on this album as things are still solid for sure, it's just a little bland compared to all the awesomeness we've heard before. Track 13 is "Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist", a very interesting song title, and Bellamy dives right into another fast-paced and pretty sweet main guitar riff with Wolstenholme backing him with some solid bass. Bellamy sings a nice fast verse overtop and things sound pretty cool as they move into the chorus where Bellamy nicely holds more long notes while singing about being scared to hell that this might be the end overtop a loud and solid chorus riff. There is an epic guitar solo, but it's a pretty simple, unflashy one before they predictably wrap up this short but pretty rockin' tune. The final song on the album is "Ruled By Secrecy" and Bellamy leads the way with a haunting piano riff that sounds really epic and cool that is the backbone of this finale. Bellamy sings a nice soft verse to match the mood and it's just him for the whole first verse and chorus. The rhythm section joins in for the second round to make things louder and more epic and after this round Bellamy plays a pretty epic little piano solo that perfectly makes it's way back into the chorus. Bellamy absolutely belts out this final chorus before things trail off for a trippy finish to this pretty cool closer.

That is the end of "Absolution" and I thought it was an absolutely amazing album from Muse! Matthew Bellamy is one hell of a musician/frontman/everything as he is just overflowing with great stuff! The other two guys aren't too shabby either and together they make some pretty excellent music on this album. Their first two albums were both really good as well, but this one is on a whole other level and easily takes the top spot. Can Muse continue to ascend?!