Spaceships,
classical piano and crazed rock pomp? Yes please.
Another insanely epic love-or-hate offering from the Devon trio set
on scaling new heights of rock pomp.
This starts with the sort of '70s prog keyboard runs you'd find on
the Daft Punk album but while the Gallic pair would present them with
a raised eyebrow, MUSE do so with trembling, heroic sincerity. And
there in lies their appeal - being magnificently ridiculous with a
straight face. We salute them.
This being the third single from the current album, however, the bonus
track well is beginning to run dry. In terms of disappointment, the
live track is the equivalent of getting a tangerine in your Christmas
stocking and there are two here: Screenager (CD1) and New Born (CD2).
Never mind - CD1 also boasts wibbly mock-classical instrumental The
Gallery and the sci-fi extravaganza that is the video to Bliss, while
CD2 chucks in the bleary, ravaged Hyper Chondriac Music, which manages
to revive those old Radiohead comparisons, but in a good way.
Dorian Lynskey