Let’s start with the truth. This comes from a Muse fan and a place of love. Following the band has become something like supporting Liverpool: the glory days are behind them and they’re now a bit shit, but hope remains that they can turn things around.
When the Devon trio promised that ‘Drones’, their seventh album, would be a back-to-basics affair, that hope looked a little more concrete than it has done in recent times. Melodrama may have always been an inherent part of the band’s appeal, but they descended into the realms of parody on the genre-busting ‘The 2nd Law’, released back in 2012.
Muse devotees might have assumed that ‘back-to-basics’ meant a return to frontman Matthew Bellamy’s tested formula: write heavy guitar riffs and read some George Orwell. Based on the final evidence, though, the group’s problems are embedded deeper than any quick fix might cater for.
‘Drones’ is farcical at times and only redeemed by the overzealous commitment of the band themselves. In fact, the more overtly ridiculous songs here fare slightly better.
Despite a cringeworthy intro, Dead Inside is a solid opener. Tastefully incorporating new wave synths and a strong vocal melody, it’s a fun, deliberately OTT single that wouldn’t have been out of place on ‘Black Holes & Revelations’.
Reapers is also sufficiently silly and pairs some comical riffs with lyrics as subtle as a Cliff Notes reading of 1984, while the album’s overall concept is brilliant in a B-movie sort of way and conveys “mind control” through the use of air raid sirens and ominous vocal samples.
The Globalist, a prog-rock epic, sums up Bellamy’s disregard for nuance, though, and runs between countless half-baked ideas before pasting them together across 10 muddled minutes. If Muse were happy to see out their days as a rowdy Queen tribute act this would be all well and good, but it doesn’t excuse the tepid stadium rock ballads that fill up the rest of the album.
On that count, Defector is directionless, Revolt has practically the same dull chorus as the Mercy single and Aftermath might be the corniest thing the band have put their name to.
Whether you grew up with this band or not, it was always hard to deny the genuine creativity that went into crafting quirky classics like Knights of Cydonia and Plug in Baby. Muse still know how to be tongue-in-cheek, and that’s to be applauded, but when the songs are this lazy, no amount of theatrics can save them.
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