Absolution

Absolution is the third album of rock band Muse. I get the impression that the quality of Muse albums is getting worse over the years, but their first four are solid. This one has the fantastic "Time Is Running Out" and "Stockholm Syndrome". “Hysteria” and "Butterflies and Hurricanes" are also great and the rest is solid.

An album so microscopically lesser than its older siblings, it is hard to even justify half of a star lower, and so I will not. Perhaps the hits feel a bit more commercial, maybe the concept could be done better, but frankly, I do not care, for if this album is one thing, it is a deep cuts album, through and through. Falling Away With You, Blackout, The Small Print, Endlessly, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist, all some of the band's best, and considering the band is still in peak performance mode, they are all pulled off flawlessly. Matt's piano playing is starting to reach virtuoso levels of magnificence, the bass riffs are actually some of the best in all rock music, and the drumming is finally mixed in a way where the (much needed) subtleties found throughout the percussion only elevate the momentous theatrics this album presents. Muse knows they're at the top of the world with this album, you can feel it, but they never let it get to them for a moment, and the album is all the better for it. Even its longer length flies by as you sit there waiting for the next track, and then the next one, and then the next one, it is pure bliss! Perhaps not my favorite album of theirs (would be hard to reach the top) but still well-deserved to be seen as the Plastic Beach to OoS's Demon Days, and if that isn't the most white boy born in the early 2000s thing to say, I don't know what is.

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Apocalypse please, Time is running out, Stockholm syndrome, Hysteria, Butterflies & hurricanes, Fury, Thoughts of a dying atheist

Any reason to listen to Absolution is a good reason. I've did listen to this album multiple times before, and there's just no bad song on it. The piano parts feel so in place, the guitars are wild. The bass rules (especially in Hysterie). If I could give 6 stars, I would

Probably their best album

Time is Running Out // Hysteria //

4.5/5

Sandwiched between the heavy, synth-accented 'Origin of Symmetry' and career highlight 'Black Holes and Revelations,' Absolution has always felt like a less exciting LP in the Muse discography to me (even during my excessive years of teenage fandom). As the band's output grows increasingly eccentric and unlistenable, however, I've come to appreciate this album's straightforward focus and exceptional execution of meat and potatoes rock. Though the frenetic energy and vaguely spacey focus of OoS are gone, Absolution sees Muse locking in the elements that defined their early career. From the catchy, swaying groove of 'Time is Running Out' to the bombastic, Queen-lite approach of 'Butterflies and Hurricanes,' there's a sense of confidence from the band in their artistic delivery and performance that was lost in the frenetic scramble of their sophomore effort. This hits the hardest on heavy tracks like 'Hysteria' and 'Stockholm Syndrome,' which are absolute fucking heaters to this day for how unforgiving and self-assured they come across. It's a tightly constructed album all in all, and one I'm glad to have come around on. Not sure it's 1001 material given BHaR is already on the official list, but still cool to see pop up in the feed.

A lot of muse lately 3 Liked it more than the first time I heard it. 4