Origin of Symmetry

There's just no bad song on this album! This was also one of the contenders for my own submission in this list. The 'rawness' of the song is amazing. The guitarwork is heavenly. Awesome basslines. Everything is perfect.

Still got the CD!

It’s hard to believe given the mountain of shit they’ve produced recently, but Muse used to be an amazing band. This LP soars well clear of the sophomore slump, building on ‘Showbiz’ dark, insular themes while turning the instrumental maximalism to 11. It’s an album that lays the framework for the rest of the band’s career, the characteristic synth arpeggios and Bellamy’s conspiratorially-themed lyrics making their first appearances atop the layered, maximalist rock that defined their early output. Even though the LP could be balanced a bit better given the saggy back half, it still hits hard as a complete artistic product – from the album art to the track names to every one of Bellamy’s squealing falsettos, every element builds toward a complete, cohesive experience which is something that’s become incredibly rare nowadays. I miss the old Muse, but at least their early work has aged well and still stands as a solid listen – somebody’s just gotta add Absolution and we’ll have all the classics on the list!

Great record from a band I don't think gets a lot of live from us music snobs.

A close friend of mine loathes Muse, and I always have quite tender thoughts about him whenever I listen to them. In all fairness, I can understand why he's allergic to them -- at least on paper. To put it in a nutshell, Matthew Bellamy is a very interesting case in rock history. He's an extremely talented artist, so impressive for both vocal performances (the man's falsetto is one-of-a-kind, enough said) and guitar playing (those fingers of his are not merely nimble, they defy the laws of physics, while always retaining some amount of grace and measure). But with that blessing comes a curse: Bellamy admittedly relies a little too much on his skills, and in that process, he sometimes comes up short songwriting-wise. He can churn out extremely memorable and well-constructed songs, sure. But other times all you have is some sort of demonstrative shtick that can annoy you fast. So contrary to my friend, I think you can separate the wheat from the chaff here. Muse's bangers can be tons of fun for me, even if they have the subtlety of an elephant crashing its way into a china shop. In a sense, it's a story as old as Queen. What gets on the nerves of some listeners there is the exact reason the band has attracted so many fans in the first place. True, each and every album after *Black Holes And Revelations* is simply ridiculous, filled to the brim with terrible, overblown dross. But the first era of their career? I can live with it, honestly. Apart from that, yeah, it's pretty surprising that *Origins of Symmetry* wasn't included in the original list, because it clearly harbors some of the biggest hits of the band in this early era when they had not *fully* become a caricature of themselves. The first side is packed with those humongous bangers: synth-laden "New Born” and “Bliss", ripe with much punch and effective musical melodrama ; “Hyper Music”, whose slapping guitar, bass and drums work owes so much to Rage Against The Machine (Muse were big fans of theirs at the time), here transmuted into very bouncy and energetic non-crossover rock ; “Plug In Baby”, which is the platonic ideal of a Muse banger with its terrific guitar solo and infectious chorus ; and finally the long epic “Citizen Erased", angular and lively at first, and then slow and mellifluous. On a sidenote, the sci-fi and dystopian themes harnessed by those songs are also a good fit for the cinematic music in them. Bellamy is not the lyrics writer of the century, but no one is asking him to be anyway. There's a far bigger problem preventing me from giving full marks to this album, however. Let me put this quite bluntly: after such a raucous start, its second half is mostly composed of fillers. The first of them, "Micro Cut" is even an absolute dud exemplifying all the worst tendencies of Bellamy as a performer. That one should have been left on the cutting room floor, ironically -- and frankly, given the 55 minutes length of this record, this wouldn't have diminished its value on a purely quantitative level. The only real standout in that second half is the cover of "Feeling Good" -- obviously not at the level of the initial Nina Simone version, but once again, tons of fun to listen to. But one drawback generated by the inclusion of this cover is that the other songs next to it sound either bland or unnecessarily bloated in comparison. All of that being said, there's never been a perfect Muse album for me, and if really you had to include one, you'd better have most of the truly "greatest" hits in it. *Showbiz* and *Absolution* are more cohesive affairs, but the peaks in them are less numerous, and for some of them, far less punchy or impressive (even if they're good tracks). As for *Black Holes And Revelations*, it does have two other humongous hits in it, but it's also the start of the band's downward slope on a sonic and aesthetical level, even if you want to remain benevolent to their oh-so-grandiose, performative artistry. So I guess I could easily live with this one record being included in a "better" list of 1001 albums you must listen to at least once in your life (even if this would have never been my first choice). But only this one, OK? And please, don't tell my close friend I said so, alright? 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes. ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 77 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 97 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 189 ---- Émile, tu trouveras ma dernière réponse sous le *Inside* de Bo Burnham

Origin of Symmetry is certainly not my favorite Muse album. "Plug In Baby" is an absolute fantastic song, "Hyper Music" and "Bliss" are worth listening, but the other songs are a bit meh. As "Black Holes and Revelations" is on the original list, I would have preferred "Showbiz" and "Absolution".

Yes! One of my favourite albums, by the band who mean the most to me. For a second album, it sounds so polished and mature, but still with the madness and energy of their early years. Not the Muse album I would have picked (I'll always love Showbiz a wee bit more, and probably listen to Drones most at the moment) but a solid choice which I would fully support for a place in the list.

I started off less than enthused about this album. It had some of the Muse that I loved in Black Holes and Revelations but felt a bit less polished? As this progressed I appreciated it more and more. This was a bit towards some common Muse/Radiohead ancestral sound… but Muse took some alternative roads. Really surprised at the cover of Feeling Good - fabulous highlight. Plug In Baby and Screenager stood out on the first listen. It may not have claimed my favorite Muse album spot… but it shows plenty of the things I love about this group.

I don’t listen to Muse anywhere near as much as I used to but this is still probably my favourite of theirs by quite some way. It’s the logical progression of their sound from the rough yet fragile Showbiz, and is so much more confident and ambitious. New Born, Space Dementia, Citizen Erased, Screenager - just so many fantastic songs on here

I do love early muse, and one of those bands you need to see live. I actually prefer this album over black holes even though I do like both. So might have to give this full marks.

My missus commented just the other day "where are all the Muse albums instead of this sh*t"? I'd forgotten how good they are - spiralling vocals, incessant bass and driving drumbeat. Amazing

I remember this album hitting the US like a nuclear bomb. totally fit the moment. A high watermark and prophets call to a new band to hold the standard of grand prog and arena rock. Citizen Erased is so fucking good and Bellamy's voice is HAUNTING!

Fun! four stars. Not really re-listenable, but I liked what I heard.

I liked this a little less than the other Muse album I got. It just gets a little tiring with all the guitar work. I love good guitar work, but too much of a good thing isn't great. I think the other album was the right choice. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Not an unknown album. One of the biggest records of its era. This is Muse’s second album, and the one where they properly find their own voice after a debut still wearing its Radiohead influences on its sleeve. It’s bombastic, over-the-top, and built for stadiums, which is usually not my thing at all. But this album rocks. Hard. The first six tracks are relentless: “New Born,” “Bliss,” “Space Dementia,” “Hyper Music,” “Plug In Baby,” “Citizen Erased.” One after another, no let-up. The sheer energy is what makes it work. Chris Wolstenholme’s bass is the backbone of the entire record, massive and melodic, holding everything together while the riffs and drama explode around it. There’s real power here, not just volume. It does lose momentum after those opening six songs, but they’re strong enough to carry the album regardless. Later Muse would lose me. The bombast got bigger, but the energy drained away: more strings, more synths, more stadium ambition, less raw rock power. Origins of Symmetry still has that fire. 4.5 stars. Not quite top-tier all-time, but absolutely a banger.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: New born, Bliss, Hyper music, Plug in baby, Darkshines

Yeah this is a good one, and probably should've been the one on the list from Muse over Black Holes and Revelations. A bit too guitar-driven for my taste but I can't deny that it's good. 8/10

Banger

"My plug-in baby supervised my elephant, I'm so hard of hearing" I had considered leaving that as my entire review, but I don't feel I can. My storytelling itch needs to be scratched. You see, back in the late 90s, early 2000s I used to occasionally visit my father while he directed (or occasionally performed in) shows at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton. One evening, I'd assiduously avoided going to see whatever it was that was on (because who would want to see a G&S Opretta?) but of course I still crashed the cast party in the Pavilion bar after the show. Either a nepotistic benefit of the Old Man directing, or, more likely, a very bored bouncer who couldn't care enough to tell me I wasn't allowed in. Anyway, I remember talking to some incredibly beautiful young lady who was somehow involved in events there. Tall, slender, with dark hair and dark eye, I could easily imagine her at Slimelight, clutching a Snakebite and Black as Sisters of Mercy played on the soundsystem. Anyway, this lass was indulgent in her conversation, and let me know that she positively melted at he sound of a tenor voice. To my clueless, youthful self, this was interpreted as an invitation to talk about tenor singers and Matt Bellamy, at the time, was one of very few of that range, and conversation came around to Muse. This possibly wasn't quite where she was trying to steer the conversation, but she continued to indulge me while I hopelessly chuntered on about this band, and probably this album. Then, Muse actually were quite new and different, putting a slightly harder edge in pop music, but more significantly, moving performance away from a more jovial, festivally, giggy style towards stadium theatrics. Muse did it better than their immediate peers, but they didn't half disappear up their own arseholes. I remain as clueless to advances now as I was then.

Not something I want to be caught listening to But it's all right 3

Muse to me is a band that is purely alternative music. They have a sound that is a bit stronger than other English rock bands while not sacrificing actual enjoyability. Muse may have more popular albums than this one but this is still a pretty solid album with electronic and other alternative influences. Would revisit this one as it’s not as poppy as some of their other albums. 7.1/10

Dismissing the Radiohead (as Wikipedia sugggests many have done) comparisons seems pretty disingenuous: there's really no disputing the influence. It does stretch well beyond that though and the findamental vibe lands elsewhere. I liked this and would ve up to hear more of this band, though occasionally the upper ranges of high-end noise brushes up against aural assault.

Alternative rock, progressive rock, space rock, hard rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Never quite takes off. Starts pretty good and then stays in first gear throughout

Identifying Muse : Yep it’s Muse!

Not very amusing

Muse har gjort mycket bra musik. Tyvärr når inte detta album dem höjderna.

I’d heard a song from a different album years ago and liked the singer’s powerful voice and deliberate song tempo. This album had similar qualities.

Not much of a Muse guy, but yeah, their early stuff is solid. Probably their second best after "Black Holes and Revelations". A bit lacking in the sauce department, but always at disposal if I'm ever craving completely serviceable 2000s alt rock.

En general, un buen disco del que se supone que es un buen grupo. Lo que ocurre es que el estilo de las canciones lo suelo ver muy parecido entre sí. Quizás abusa un poco de ese estilo. Aun así, que sea algo guitarrero y con algo de fuerza, le salva.

I remember buying this album because I wanted to like it and to like Muse. But I didn’t then and I don’t think I do now. The cover of Feeling Good felt weird - it is so Nina Simone’s song that it felt like cultural appropriation, but a quick google shows that may be misguided and the song in fact comes from a musical! Every day’s a school day.

Muse is cool for about 5 minutes. This album is longer than 5 minutes.

Didn't realize opera records were in play but this diva's way too bombastic even by operatic standards so, no thanks, this music snob cannot – and will not – abide. Despite this being somewhat more interesting than one expected (knowing the reputation), this record doesn't surmount the fundamental problem with this Muse and their ilk: it's extremely difficult to take them anywhere as seriously as they fairly beg to be taken. And please stop with the Radiohead comps – T. Yorke is highly sensitive and would of course be deeply hurt by any such association. One should probably round down another tick to counterbalance the gushing among super fans ... one album on list proper is more than enough.