Muse – Absolution (2003)

I don't listen to Muse that much anymore, but at some point in my life the band was quite important to me. I first started listening to the band back in 2003 as I got my hands on their second album, Origin of Symmetry. I still think that is their best album to date. This album, however, is quite important to me as well, because it was the first new album that was released by Muse after I had started listening to them. Absolution was a bit more mainstream by its sounds than the first two albums. The most experimental space rock sound was gone and replaced with more straightforward rock sounds. This was also the album that made Muse an international superstar band. Especially the hit song Time Is Running Out was playing on the radio and on music television over and over again. I guess the time was right for well-produced and ambitious rock music with many guitar bands topping the charts.



I even saw Muse live on the Absolution tour in 2003. They performed at Nostrum in Helsinki, which is a club that can accommodate only about a 1000 viewers. I feel quite lucky that I got to see this band in such a small venue, because that will probably never be possible anymore. I remember being very impressed by the gig and especially Matthew Bellamy's high vocals.

Bellamy's voice is probably the most distinctive feature of this band. I remember Justin Hawkins, the lead singer of The Darkness, being asked which one of them, him or Matthew Bellamy, could hit higher notes. His answer was, "I don't know who the hell Matthew Bellamy is, but me". It's probably true. I have difficulties to reach The Darkness' vocals, but I can sing Muse songs. I used to sing Sing for Absolution quite a lot at a local karaoke bar in Helsinki. It always got quite good applause.

For some reason I have always grouped Muse together with the other British band that was popular at the time, Placebo. Both of them played quite dark and ambitious rock music with mid-heavy guitars. I always preferred Placebo because of their better songwriting, but I feel like Muse's sounds were more impressive with all the space rock elements. Muse wasn't as popular back then, but in the end they became the more well-known and bigger of the two.

Ever since Muse got enough money to tour with a massive show, they've really focused on the visual side of the show. This was clear already from their music videos that were incredibly well made. The one I remember the best is Time of Running Out's music video that played a lot on all the music programmes at the time.

One song that I liked the most on this album was Butterflies and Hurricanes. This song shows many different sides of the band and really shows the full extent of the massiveness the band is capable of. It's also a great exception to other songs around it, because towards the end of the album the songs become a bit boring otherwise.

At some point I got bored of Muse because they were playing everywhere and I also felt like they didn't know how to renew themselves. In public eyes, they became bigger than ever, but I felt like their prime was gone. The crazy space piano sequences that I came to love about this band were a lot less frequent and it was more frequently replaced by soulless electronic sounds. Currently, I have no idea what Muse has been doing for the past decade or so. The early albums, however, will always mean something to me as they were so important to me in my youth.

Listen to the album on Spotify.