Hate This & I'll Love You has its moments, and the contrast within the song is nice. But, overall, I find it plods along. Similarly, Escape is like a reject Silverchair (Australian post-grunge) song: whiney and drawn out.
Overdue is a solid example of Muse's early style. For me, the verses are listenable, but without any real hook. Its catchy chorus is the highlight.
The riff from Uno is fantastic, and wonderfully complemented by the drum beat in the verses. It could have made a great James Bond theme song. Also, the kick-drum has a nice meaty thump often lacking on the rest of the album (on the other hand, the cymbals are too dominant). However, the song is basically a one-trick Pony with this riff. The chorus is just simply more noise added to it, therefore doesn't bring anything new to the party unfortunately.
Cave is very similar to Uno, and hits the nail on the head. Muse seem to have an endless supply of catchy riff, and this one is great bouncing fun. The breakdown for the chorus works really well to provide some contrast to the song. While I really like the instrumental outro at first, eventually it drags out and, means this punchy pop-song ends with a whimper. It deserves much better than this. Sunburn works similarly well, with the novelty of a real piano tinkling away (I always dig a bit of tinkling ivories to give rock songs some class).
At the other end of the scale, Unintended is a great ballad- simple and touching. Not only does it provide some variety to the album, it is also a top-notch song in its own right. I find the extra effects at the end unnecessary, but I guess the rest of the band were getting bored sitting around! The vocals are definitely the highlight, in both their words and delivery they are very heartfelt. Wonderful. Another song showing Muse's sensitive side is Falling Down. It could almost be classified a jazz song, and works well as a sparse, moody soundscape.
Normally prog-rock isn't my cup of tea, but I love the build-ups in Showbiz. This song is a nice preview of Muse's operatic-rock style on later albums. The recording quality irks me with its deliberately (I assume?!) thin and distorted sound. And it is another song that deserves a sharp ending, rather than the indecisive fade-out. At full noise, though, it is great headbanging fun.
Is Fillip some kind of parody/joke? It's an incoherent mess, and sounds like the recording of a teenage band's first jam session. Also, the britpop influences sound awful.
The interplay between the bassline and the various guitar riffs in Muscle Museum is stunning. Timeless guitar brilliance. Combined with impassioned lyrics and a huge chorus, it's an all-time favourite song of mine.
The recording quality isn't as bad as their Origin of Symmetry album thankfully, but that's quite a low bar... It seems like a stylistic decision was made to have a rough "garage band" sound, so the louder parts can be grating, distorted and compressed. On a brighter note, the verses are much easier on the ears and the swirling piano parts are a treat.
(You may notice my favourite songs below are all singles from the album. This is completely by coincidence, but I guess it destroys any music-snob credibility I may have had!)
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