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Amazon.com: One can't listen to Muse without hearing Bends-era Radiohead, so it's necessary to start there. But for all the familiar grandeur and gloom, Muse's other catharsis-rock influences, like Queen, Slade, and even Black Sabbath, provide the band with a dazzling, heart-on-their-sleeves theatricality. Always threatening to layer on another falsetto from singer Matt Bellamy, or conjure more guitar crunch from the ether, Absolution is downright Baroque in parts, like a Rufus Wainwright-penned rock opera fantasy. Yes, the record is completely unoriginal. But when these guys let it rip, there's no doubt they have the fever. "Stockholm Syndrome," for one, could only be produced by True Believers with a lust for power chord drama, full of angst, envy, and the bitter end of it all. If you wish a certain Thom Yorke-led outfit from Oxford had made another record or two before evolving into minor-key art rockers, Muse carry the torch for another few miles, gloriously and tragically unaware that they're running in circles. --Matthew Cooke Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-07
Absolution is amazing!
This was the first Muse album I heard, and was blown away. I could not stop listening to Blackout. It is the most amazing song I have heard in a long time. It is subtle song with Russion sound to it. The band is very inovative. They know how to make each song different and insteresting. That whole album made a Muse fan forever. It made me go out and buy Black Holes. It too is amazing and brillant. Apocalpse Please, the first song is intense and never lets go. And the album ends with Ruled By Secrecy, which is a very soft and pretty. Matt Belamy's voice is soft and caresses each lyric. This albums stands as one of my all time favs. Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-06
Their Muse must have been Queen and Art Rockers
Great CD from this British band. Yes, the band is poppy but they infuse enough rock, prog and Queen to keep them interesting. Keep an eye on this band. I think they're only going to get better. A real great listen with the spirit of Freddy Mercury. Rating:
Date: 2008-03-31
Perfection
Each track on "Absolution" is powerful and beautiful and flows together to create a unique and emotional punch in the gut album. The songs pulse, build, swell, and explode...leaving you satisfied and pressing replay. The lyrics run the gamut of emotion and are delivered with a raw and honest voice by Matthew Bellamy. Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard add their own individual style and point of view, and it blends together perfectly. This is not your run-of-the-mill indie rock album. It feels larger, more ambitious, and free of any pretension. A true rock gem. Rating:
Date: 2008-03-21
Ambition and Absolution
I guess maybe the constant Radiohead references must be coming from people who haven't been listening to music for more than a decade. Muse may have a touch of The Bends, but they have also undergone a little Brain Salad Surgery and perhaps suffered a Sheer Heart Attack or two. One thing is VERY obvious, however. Matt Bellamy and his band mates like big, theatrical, ambitious music. "Absolution" pulses and pounds, kicks and punches, demanding that Muse fill every nook and cranny of every available stadium in the world. There hasn't been a band this blatantly craving stardom since Billy Corgan brought on the Smashing Pumpkins.
That is certainly not a bad thing. There are few bands around right now that seem to want to make heroic pomp-rock. "Absolution" is almost relentless in its velocity and desire to be as thorough as possible. Climaxing staccato synths? Check. Multi-layered falsetto harmonies? Check. Grandiose piano (on "Butterflies and Hurricanes")? Check. One quick forced ballad to ease the pressure? Check. Science Fiction and apocalyptic themes? All present and accounted for. While "Absolution" sounds like a billion other bands before it, Muse works this floor plan brilliantly and with flair. It lifts "Absolution" far above most of its ilk, which may be why those Thom Yorke comparisons seem so hard to dodge. One thing Radiohead is always good for is high ambition, and Muse brings it on as well.
Perhaps the only fault here is that "Absolution" just seems to never let up. Best taken in small bites, this is a CD that shows Muse as ready to take on the world's stadiums. The good thing is that by the next album, Black Holes and Revelations, Muse forged into some new stylistic departures and created an album that sounded incredible from start to finish without feeling like a club to the skull. On the other hand, on those days when you want to fill your room with the sounds of a band that feels full enough of itself to fill a CD with every trick they've got and no subtlety whatsoever, "Absolution" is the disc for you. Rating:
Date: 2008-03-17
Stop comparing Muse and Radiohead
Absolution is one of my very favorite albums. Most of the songs I can listen to over and over without getting tired of them. I love the complex baseline, the seamless mix of rock and classical, and every song keeps me on the edge of my seat asking for more.
How many times in a day do I listen to a Muse song? Many. How many times in a month do I listen to a Radiohead song? Maybe 5. How many times do I skip a Radiohead song when it comes up in shuffle? Most. It bores me. How many times would I do that to a Muse song? Very few.
For those of you who say that Muse is a blatant rip-off of Radiohead, I don't really see it. The voice is very similar. The music is very different. I love Muse. I only kind of like Radiohead. Showbiz could be labeled as a Radiohead copy. But it is my least favorite of their albums. As time went on Muse has created a sound that is entirely their own. Radiohead is good. Muse is good. Stop comparing them. Can't you just enjoy the music and shut up about it? Beethoven sounds like Mozart if you hear a 5 second clip. They're both classical, they use similar instrumentation, etc. But then if you actually listen to them they are very different from each other. As is the same with Muse and Radiohead. This is a very good album. Just shut up and listen. |
