Muse- Origin of Symmetery

This is Muse's second album, which was released in 2001 (two years after Showbiz).

On a personal note, in 2006 I purchased all of Muse's back catalogue and binged on them in preparation for a concert. However, I never really differentiated between the three earlier albums, due to their similar style. So I am interested to hear how this compares to Showbiz and Absolution (stay tuned...)

Recording quality? Atrocious. The loud parts have boomy mid-bass, pointless bass-quakes at random times and distortion on every instrument, reducing them to being a wall of harsh electronic noise. A thankful exception (except for the distorted vocal artistic effect) is Feeling Good, which inexplicably sounds much better than the rest of the album.

Space Dementia sounds thin in the verses, although to be fair, this is probably a deliberate stylistic effect. The lyrics are vintage Muse: incoherent wailing (which I really dig!). My favourite aspect of the song is the contrast provided by the relaxed chorus. Unfortunately, the ending feels tacked-on and is unnecessarily drawn-out. Megalomania doesn't appeal to me at all, it's too slow.

While the keyboard effects in Bliss and Hyper Music are fantastic, both their choruses are a letdown for me. Plug in Baby features a very similar melody to Bliss (perhaps they could have moved them apart on the album to hide the fact?!), but it hits the spot perfectly as a catchy Muse-pop hit.

The opening of Micro Cuts is a fantastic menacing instrumental. However the chorus is just a wall of noise. Similarly, Citizen Erased has a very "noisy" sound and the random subwoofer earthquakes are senseless. Things improve once the song gets quieter, and the subsequent build-up makes the return of the thrashing sections much more justified.

Screenager is a welcome break from the intensity, even if it just wanders around aimlessly.

Darkshines' contrast between the soft melodic verses and the massive headbanging chorus is brilliant. The song is a perfect example of simple yet effective pop hooks. Feeling Good is also brilliant. Nina Simone fans probably hate it, but I think it works really well as an rollicking electro-rock song.

Favourite songs

New Born, Space Dementia, Plug in Baby, Darkshines, Feeling Good 

Worthwhile?

In hindsight, it's probably my least favourite of the first three albums. It just devolves into "wall of noise" too often. In isolation, it is an album with some great moments. But I think there isn't enough to make it worthwhile alongside Showbiz and Absolution.