rating: ***

It's tough being 20, cute and touted by Madonna as the next big English thing. Muse have escaped the supposed "living hell" of Teignmouth, Devon to unload their pain on the world - or on Radiohead fans, anyway, the most obvious target of their salvos. It's hard to decide whether to applaud them for being so effortlessly epic or give them a talking-to for cribbing so many ideas from their elders. They do their thing with gusto, at any rate, producing multi-layered melodramas with a strong melodic bent. More potential than you can shake a moody stick at. (CS)

Caroline Sullivan