Simulation Theory

Swagcore.

EDIT: Should be noted that when this review was written, I had this at a 70+ score. How times have changed!

Is this considered a hot take? Look, I know that rating looks oddly positive. And this will most likely cost any credibility of having any opinion on this site. I could very easily slap a 30 on this and be done with this while affair. But...damn it, Muse won me over in the end.

Yeah, there is no easy way to say this. As a giant, huge, crushing, absolutly biased Muse fanboy/stan, I have come to the conclusion that this album is...odd. It's tacky, gimmicky, silly, weird, stupid, cheesy, underwrititen, with intrumentation that for the most part sounds like Muse are on the verge of a crisis. But...fuck it, this is one of the most fun listens I've had with Muse in a long time. It's not the best record of 2018 by any chance, and will most likely be many Muse fans lest favorite record of the whole year. But I gotta give Muse some credit, they have brought their strangest, oddest, most experimental and off the wall to date on this record. It's a glitched out anthem record against all the negativity that this god forsaken decade has given us, and it's unapologeticly putting a flag in the ground, yelling at us to 'Get Up and Fight'.

But while it's odd and strange, it doesn't mean every experiment works. Some songs feel a bit too 'Imagine Dragons' for my liking (COUGH Propaganda COUGH). Muse through trap-esq production is different to say the least. And there is some major cheese on this perticular album (Pretty much this entire record is cheese on a plate, subtlety is null invoid here). And the very distinct 80s cheese is a bit stinky to say the lest, but the songs presented here are damn fun to listen to. It's not gonna be for everyone. Hell, I may be the only person alive who will ever really love this record. But I'd rather take weird and odd over bland and boring. And yes, you can very easily say that this could also be be said about Fall Out Boys latest (which is still a pile of ass), but the difference here is that Muse have the musicianship to pull off a change like this. They have the talent to pulls some of these songs off. I know this isn't gonna win over any Muse haters, and will most likely be the death of this band, and I will most likely be thrown to the liga for even thinking of enjoying an album of this nature but damn it, I had a lot of fun here. I had a big smile on my face as I danced my ass off to this album. And it will most definitely be my biggest guilty pleasure of the year, but I still really enjoyed this album. I'm not saying you should enjoy it, hell this will go down as one of the worst records of the year. But...damn it, I liked it.

Favorite Jams: Blockades, Pressure, The Dark Side

Lest Favorite: Something Human

EDIT: While i'm not gonna really change what I have to say for my Band Binge series on this band, I will change the Favorite Jams list. Something Human being on the Lest Favorite and Propaganda not? Was I on crack? Also...yeah the album hasn't really stuck with me the way I thought it would. Hell, the bonus tracks made a lot more impact on me.

New Favorite Jams: Break It to Me, Pressure, Blockades

Lest Favorite IT'S FUCKING PROPAGANDA