- Released in 2012.
- Tracklisting CD: 1. Panic Station 4. Liquid State 12. The 2nd Law: Unsustainable 13. The 2nd Law: Isolated System DVD: The Making of The 2nd Law + Bonus Feature.
In fact 'The 2nd law' features Muse's most funkiest song that they have ever recorded in the excellent 'Panic Station' which is a funk filled slab of funk rock at its finest and sounds like 80's style Red Hot Chili peppers when they hung out with George Clinton as well as a Chuck Mosley fronted Faith No more and a hint of Prince from his 80's best.
Believe me, I wanted to hate this album. I really did. After having heard the teaser “Unsustainable” about a month back, I was left scratching my head, and certainly not because it was too abstract for my plebeian musical tastes to process. As far as the single was concerned, it sounded like Muse had dumbed down their symphonic edge to the point where I could expect a bib and apron to come along with it. Adding insult to injury, superfluous dubstep influences were rampant, offering the sonic equivalent of having my brain fried in a saucepan. Considering that the other two singles (“Madness” and “Survival”) certainly weren’t much better in the songwriting department, I was actually rather looking forward to writing what I only imagined would be one of my most negative reviews yet. Of course, as it turns out, I greatly overestimated the sort of emotion Muse’s sixth album would conjure in me. “The 2nd Law” is by no means excellent, but Muse’s outrageous approach to alternative rock is worth a certainly worth a spin, although the flash-over-substance dynamic suggests that it won’t remain a hot topic for long.
Going back a little ways, Muse were a big band for me in high school. Before I had really opened myself to the ‘modern’ scene in progressive rock, Muse were there to offer a more streamlined experience, while still managing to bring that sense of bombast and arrangement. By the time “The Resistance” dropped and left me disappointed, I had already moved onto different things. “The 2nd Law” perpetuates some of the negative traits I saw in “The Resistance”, but there is a greater sense of inventiveness to the music than there was in 2010. Muse are still defined by a somewhat contrived combination of symphonic music and angsty alternative rock, although I’d argue a lot of the depressive feeling in their music has been rather diminished. In its stead, vocalist Matt Bellamy splits his time between singing about personal topics and heavy-handed politik. As was even moreso the case with “The Resistance”, Bellamy’s political material is cheesy and ineffective, although his voice is as powerfully operatic as it’s ever been.
Muse aren’t necessarily expanding their boundaries on “The 2nd Law”, although there’s a surprising variety to the sounds and styles heard here. Barring the tired Queen-isms and shallow symphonic arrangements of the singles, Muse tend to incorporate these styles well. “Supremacy” sounds like it could either be a national anthem or soundtrack to the next James Bond film. “Panic Room” is the sort of dance-rock track I’d imagine gets played in trendier London clubs. “Follow Me” throws out all sense of rock, focusing instead on vocally- driven pop electronica, complete with the frustrating dubstep ‘wub’. There are plenty of experiments that don’t work, although there are a couple of gems here. The atmospheric “Animals” and the full fledged post-rocker “Save Me” are both excellent, and stand as being two of the greatest tracks Muse have ever done. Particuarly on “Animals”, the classically- derived melodies do not feel forced in the slightest; they allow themselves to get a little wild and even proggy without the overwhelming pretense that usually comes along with it.
Bellamy described “Explorers” as a collaboration between Louis Armstrong and Meatloaf doing a post-metal track, and while I wouldn’t say it quite matches the promise, it’s an interesting enough ‘ballad’ track, highlighting Bellamy’s vocal skills. Speaking of vocals, bassist Chris Wolstenholme offers his vocals on a couple of tracks, including “Save Me”. Although he’s certainly not as distinctive as Bellamy, his no-nonsense approach is refreshing, especially after the majority of the album has been spent digesting Matt’s larger- than-life performance.
Much like “The Resistance”, things wrap up with a multi-track suite. This time around, it’s only a two-part composition, and in a sense, I believe it summarizes my opinions on the album. The first half (“Unsustainable”) is a sour hodge-podge that feels like Muse were trying to force themselves to throw as much as they could into a short time, without the merit or skill to justify it. Although the follow-up and closer does not particularly wow me, it demonstrates that the band can exploit the rich sound of a string section properly. “The 2nd Law” feels like a progressive rock album catered to the whim of the masses. It is filled with surface complexity and surprises, and while these can be very enjoyable on the first few times around, there isn’t the sort of depth that will likely have me coming back for more in the future. With each album, Muse have tried to outdo previous efforts in terms of bombast, and in this respect, “The 2nd Law” certainly succeeds. There’s obviously been a fortune invested in it, but it’s come to the point where the ‘epic’ quality is feeling more forced than ever. It’s not without merit, and it’scertainly better than I thought it would be, but this path Muse is taking with their music is, in a word, ‘unsustainable.’
Tracklist:
1. Supremacy (4:55)
2. Madness 4:39)
3. Panic Station (3:03)
4. Prelude (1:03)
5. Survival (4:17)
6. Follow Me (3:51)
7. Animals (4:23)
8. Explorers (5:48)
9. Big Freeze (4:41)
10. Save Me (5:09)
11. Liquid State (3:03)
12. The 2nd Law: Unsustainable (3:48)
13. The 2nd Law: Isolated System (4:59)
Line-up:
* Matthew Bellamy – vocals, guitar, keyboards, piano, synthesiser
* Chris Wolstenholme – bass, backing vocals
* Dominic Howard – drums
Muse – The 2nd Law (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 53:35 minutes | 1,72 GB | Genre: Rock
Official Digital Download – Source: Muse.mu | Covers & Booklet
Throughout their career, it’s always been clear that Muse aren’t satisfied to just do the same thing over and over again, as they have evolved from their early days when they were (perhaps unfairly) pigeonholed as a Radiohead imitator into purveyors of some of the most epic symphonic rock since Queen graced the stage. On their sixth album, The 2nd Law, they continue to shake things up, diving deeper into the electronic rabbit hole as they experiment with a sound that’s less reliant on Matthew Bellamy’s guitar heroics, resulting in an album that’s a bit of a mixed bag. Incorporating some of the slickest production the band has ever had with a more synth-heavy sound, the album certainly succeeds in feeling different from Muse’s previous work. While this certainly keeps with their tradition of always pushing their sound in new directions, their excursions into dubstep and dance music on tracks like “Madness” and “Follow Me” feel more like remixes than original songs. Songs like these definitely have the spine of Muse tracks, but the production that’s built up around them feels almost alien. This feeling really comes through on “Panic Station,” which feels like a cousin to “Supermassive Black Hole,” but where the latter was built on a solid foundation of heavy guitars, the former is over-produced into what feels like the band’s version of Genesis’ “That’s All.” Though there are plenty of moments like these, there are also lots of places where they get things right, with album opener “Supremacy” and Olympic anthem “Survival” leading the pack with their symphonic arrangements providing the album with the kind of sweeping grandeur that people have come to expect. The most surprising experiment, however, comes by way of “Save Me” and “Liquid State,” which find bassist Chris Wolstenholme stepping into the spotlight as a singer and a songwriter for the first time. The two songs work well together, with the first feeling like a kind of drifting introduction to the other’s bass-heavy drive, providing the album with a pair of songs that feel like a throwback to the Origin of Symmetry and Absolution days, while feeling different enough that they’re not an obvious step backward. With so many different experiments going on, The 2nd Law can sometimes feel a bit disjointed. Fortunately, the sense of drama Muse have cultivated over the years provides just enough glue to tie the album together so that fans won’t have too much problem navigating its choppy waters, and though not all of the band’s experiments necessarily pay off, the album feels like a worthy proving ground for the ideas that will take the band boldly into the future.
Muse The 2nd Law Artwork
Tracklist:
01 – Supremacy
02 – Madness
03 – Panic Station
04 – Survival (Prelude)
05 – Survival
06 – Follow Me
07 – Animals
08 – Explorers
09 – Big Freeze
10 – Save Me
11 – Liquid State
12 – The 2nd Law Unsustainable
13 – The 2nd Law Isolated System
Muse The 2nd Law Rare
Download:
Muse The 2nd Law Rarest
mqs.link_MuseThe2ndLaw2012HD2496.part1.rar
mqs.link_MuseThe2ndLaw2012HD2496.part2.rar