Much has been said about how this album (band?) is a Radiohead ripoff. There's no denying the Radiohead influence, but to dismiss Muse as a band with nothing new to offer is extreme. Every band is, in one way or another, a ripoff of one or more other bands. The idea is to meld those other sounds into something unique and to give the band its own voice. Muse does that well on Absolution.
I hear Dave Grohl-esque drumming on the heavier tracks and Tool-like intricacy and precision on every track. "Hysteria" starts with a dizzying and distorted bass intro backed by an effective drum track. To counteract the complex bass and guitar riff during the intro, the drummer limits himself to kick drum and snare hits interspersed with hi-hat in between. But when it's time to let loose, they belt it out with everything they have and the song takes flight while they hold on with their fingernails. On "Butterflies and Hurricanes," we hear the singer demonstrate his compositional skill with a piano interlude. Thoughts of Gershwin come to mind as chords sweep across the keyboard in waves punctuated by a stepwise descent and then ascent back into the Fender Rhodes staccato intro. "Stockholm Syndrome" is five-minute opus of brutal drumming, vocal flexibility, and melodic creativity. My favorite part of this song is probably the 10-second bridge that leads very nicely from the verse into the piano-accented chorus.
These three tracks are only a sampling of what Absolution offers. I am a fan of Radiohead (to some extent) but it seems to me that the only bit of Radiohead I hear in Muse is in the vocals. They rock more and use less electronic sampling. And the overall sound of the record sounds little like Radiohead, even back when they were more of a 'rock' band.
That said, fans of Tool, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, possibly Tori Amos, and of course, Radiohead, ought to give this record a try.
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Article comments
1 - Steve
Muse, What a Great Band!! People say they can hear Radiohead in there music, But I Believe that Muse are a much better band than Radiohead anyway.(And i Was a big Radiohead Fan) songs like Plug in baby, Hysteria, Citizen Erased ,New Born, Dead Star and Stockholm Syndrome, they are just Classic full on ROCK!! Radiohead Wrote some Great songs, But they aint Muse,Who are By far the best band about at the moment..
2 - adrian
steve c'mon man, you and i both know you're not knowledgeable on the subtle intricacies of radiohead's musical virtuosity. you say you were a fan of radiohead but perhaps what you really meant was that you've listened to a few songs here and there. that you would even BEGIN to compare muse to radiohead is a testament to your limited exposure to radiohead's music. besides i just never understood folks who foolishly rate up-and-coming fledgling bands like muse to established musicians like radiohead. tho i do understand that you might get excited and slip in a few hyperboles to accent your argument as in this case - but please try to keep it honest man, that's all i ask. peace.
3 - Jocmoorris
Muse is incomparable to Radiohead. Radiohead’s innovative virtuoso and unyielding experimentalism and trenchant lyrics puts them on a totally different scale which deems them one of the best bands in the world.
While most rock bands eventually paint themselves into a corner with fomulaic redundancy, becoming parodies of their former selves, Radiohead is versatile, always reinventing themselves and aspiring for greater heights in music. Muse are fantastic musicians but have yet to produce anything worthy of Radiohead.
4 - JP
Yes I'm way late on this one, but I love both bands. Radiohead is far further along on the experimental measure, but after listening to "Amnesiac" I'm not sure that's always a good thing. Muse are powerful, much more in the grunge/hard rock vein than Radiohead; anthemic and arena-rock purveyors, and I think a better comparison is to Coldplay, who they outshine by far in my book. Coldplay is highly derivative, has some Britpop threads in common with Radiohead but nothing more.
5 - sLuG
Radiohead is by far the greatest band and their songs will always remain immortal.
Muse is also stunning and you have to agree close to pre-Kid A radiohead to some extent.
For me the greatest albums of radiohead would be
# OK Computer &
# The Bends &
# Pablo Honey (to some extent)
Radiohead's later albums though bold and experimental and good couls never replicate or create the kind of magic which the earlier albums did. People expected more of 'the bends' or 'OK Computer' era radiohead but could only get glimpses of the music in their later creations.
I only hope muse can give us some of those music back. The vocals are almost radioheadish..but the music is not alway that way....
No Suprises.....
sLuG
p#latypu#s_iha#teu@#yahoo#.com
6 - Vince
first things first, based on what Radiohead had done even before Hail to the thief, they were my favorite band for the rest of my natural life.....but one thing I can't stand is Radiohead snobs...... sometimes I wonder if you closed-minded fools understand what you are saying when you trash bands like muse.... Thom was influenced by the rock that came before him and the rock of his time...he wasn't groundbreaking from day one....so Muse sounds a little like Radiohead, they also sound like tool, nirvana and queen....i don't hear nirvana fans screaming for muse to stop copying Kurt, it's just you Radiohead snobs.
Fledgling?...hmmm...well right now they top the charts don't they....4th album and more widely accepted than ever...... expanding their sound yet again..... their sound hasn't copied radiohead since showbiz. they were young give'em a break...
I love Radiohead and it can be very difficult at times wait for their next release....i love that there are other bands out there that have a sound that can relate to Radiohead's to keep me content....
and one other thing, Radiohead is a group of exremely talented musicians but if you haven't noticed that the members of Muse are pretty talented too, than you are ignorant and should stop commenting on blog...snobs!
7 - Ali johnstone
I wouldn't want this to turn into another muse / radiohead battle, but I really, really dislike radiohead. I don't know why, I love Muse, and Absolution is great, but radiohead just seem like white noise compared to stuff like Muse, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, even The White Stripes. And yes, I have all radiohead's albums, but only because I'm a music fiend :)
8 - Con
I like both bands but this comparison is really getting tedious, Muse have a complete different sound from Radiohead! I completely agree with the post above that all bands are influenced by other bands and I'm sure that Radiohead is not 100% original (IMO High and Dry is a nice emotional acoustic song but really nothing spectacular and mind-blowing)although I still like Radiohead.
I prefer Muse more just because it is more my kind of music, so then again it's more about people's own opinions. Some Radiohead fans are just ignorant snobs and wouldn't accept the fact that there are other good bands out there.
9 - Particleman
Now that it's been two years since I've written this and Muse has created a very different sounding record than Absolution, it's clear that Muse and Radiohead have moved farther apart. I'd say any comparison is now moot. Buy the new Muse album - it's still Muse, but altogether different.
10 - Trisomy21
I have been a Radiohead fan for as long as I can remember. My Radiohead MP3 folder weighs in at 8.7GB , 1,305 files and 75 folders. "I have seen it all" 9 concerts, including two smaller venues (acoustic).
You're right. Muse is no Radiohead, Muse is above and beyond anything Radiohead. I am sorry, but as a guitarist (16 years) pianist (11 years) and bass ist (10 years). I understand the differences and complexities that set these bands apart. Radiohead blew me away with OK Computer, but Matt Bellamy is far more artistically gifted than all the Radiohead members combined.
Don't get me wrong, I love Radiohead and have been dying for LP7, though Thom's solo 'The Eraser' was so wretched and awful it nearly drove me to suicide.
It's just that Muse has failed to let me down. Right out of the gates, all of their albums are loaded with amazing songs, while with Radiohead, it's not exactly a difficult task to remove tracks from albums on your playlist.
The only category where Muse loses, Music videos, although Knights of Cydonia shows some drastic improvements.
11 - y
Why can't people accept that people have different opinions when it comes to music? For some people, Muse is the better band, for others it's Radiohead. It shouldn't be blaphemous to say Muse is better, if that is a person's honest opinion, than why can't they express it? Why is it perfectly ok for someone to say Radiohead is better, but another person cannot say it's vice-versa? Radiohead are good band, but let's not put them on a god-like pedestal. Not everyone likes them or finds them impressive, and that should be alright. Besides, if a person can say Muse is better than Queen with no consequence, then why can't they say they're better than Radiohead as well. Personally, I'm not a fan of bands that receive an ungodly amount of ass-kissing, like the Beatles and Radiohead.