Grand space-rockers chew over the extra-terrestrial with a hopeful tenth.
For the better part of a decade, Muse had reached an impasse with their speculative attempts at making new music. For all their loud efforts, they often resulted in diminishing return. Squished amongst anniversary album reissues, 2022’s Will of the People was met with mixed results while 2018’s Simulation Theory was lambasted for its lack of concord. Drones in 2015 was a relatively positive experience for its mostly balls-to-the-wall heavy rock anthems, but many thought it was far too simplistic for a frontman who is classically trained . It seemed we were a far cry away from intriguing falsetto formations, formulaic time signatures and captivating storytelling that we saw post-Absolution in 2003. For want of a better word, everyone’s favourite rock band had become cumbersome.
In a recent NME talk, frontman Matt Bellamy told us that he had found himself once more about how he overcome his “personal struggles” to rediscover his need for music on this new project. It seems the projects within the last decade were merely cannon fodder. A revelation better late than never, Bellamy had been working with inner demons eager to destruct time and time again. That partly explains why we got what we got for the better part of ten years then…
Bellamy has stuck with the synth space rock theme again but this time – he’s unravelled, taken a step back and learnt a few things.
Upon first listening in full to its 45-minute runtime, it can be easily argued that The Wow! Signal is the bands’ most cohesive record in years. A present hark back to “old Muse”, you can tell it’s an album that has been put together with genuine thought. Despite the pasting that Be With You got on first release, it’s even found its place here, wedged in-between two songs that undoubtedly bring the shimmer to this record.
The urgency from start-up The Dark Forest tells you more than you know about this new record. The trio aren’t set to do things by halves. Soaring strings and George of the Jungle-esque drums drive a battalion into war. Whether it’s an invitation to extinction or survival however, we can’t tell. The second half ups tempo and we get a heavy surge of unconventional black metal – soaring vocals, amazing guitar solos abound. It’s the grandiose Muse we came to love and associate it with the bands’ former glory.
It’s been twenty seven years since their Showbiz debut in 1999. Twenty five since Origins of Symmetry, twenty three years since Absolution. A full twenty since Black Holes and Revelations – arguably the bands’ magnum opus in terms of breaking records. With their most cohesive record with Wow! Signal since, Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard have reeled back the years.
Cathartic Cryogen is a juiced-up Plug in Baby, while the huge intricacies displayed on Hexagons harks back to the likes of Assassin and Bliss before it. No wonder all fans new and old love it. It’s an all-encompassing homage of what’s been done and what’s to come. The synth-enthused lead of Unravelling is a marvel in itself, a heavy attack superseded with an euphoric chorus set for the stars. Even Ellie Goulding’s feature on follow-up Hush fits in here, a welcoming side to a band that rarely open the inner circle further than just the three.
The album ends with Space Debris, which for the most part, holds a beautiful melancholia with those longing strings. The record holds room for just the ten songs but unlike recent projects before it, every song holds its place. Remarkably, the record doesn’t rely on catchy quips or surface level ear-worms either. Instead, it relies on lofty atmospheric presence among king-sized anthems that hold their weight.
In almost despairingly heavy odds, it looks like the stratospheric accompaniment ofThe Wow! Signal has come from the depths of the black hole we found ourselves in with previous records of theirs. It may not fully explain the reasonings behind their recent gig prices but does confirm one thing: Muse are back.
mvm 
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