Absolution

It’s kinda strange how I got here. For the longest time, Absolution was nowhere near my favourite Muse album, let alone top 3 or even 5.

It always appeared to me as though other albums had more impressive elements, the raw energy and passion from Showbiz, the craziness and phenomenal heights set in OOS and the emotional beats from Resistance. But over time, this album crept up on me.

A lot of the flaws and cracks on the albums began to show, Showbiz was a lot more demo-ish and bloated than I remembered, there’s a few moments I didn’t particularly enjoy in OOS and Resistance was actually really cheesy.

And boy, oh boy was Absolution becoming more and more perfect. The album seamlessly blends the appeal of sing-a-long pop songs with a dark sheen of rock, pushing all the songs to this large anthemic scale where I couldn’t imagine anything less than Glastonbury 2004 when I envision the band playing. Even a surface-level listener can’t deny the sheer replayability and head bang potential in well-known singles such as Time is Running Out, Stockholm Syndrome and Hysteria.

The constant looming fear of the apocalypse bears heavy on each passing track as there are so many dreary vocal deliveries (Sing for Absolution) along with the general bleak atmospheres being set down in the general sound of the album. Even where there is a moment to breathe (Falling Away with You, Blackout), the band doesn’t shy away from the feeling of hopelessness with touches of static, loud fuzzy guitar solos and almost ominous synth choices.

Whilst lyricism was never a strong point for Muse, there are a few interesting food for thought concepts at the very least on this album with tracks like Blackout, The Small Print and Thought of a Dying Atheist which goes a long way to keep the album fresh to the end.

Great album that just gets better with time, with something new for me to enjoy every time I come back to it at a different points of my life.