In the vast expanse of the music universe, few bands have the gravitational pull of Muse. Their journey, much like the supermassive black holes they once sang about, has been a captivating yet tumultuous one. The release of their 10th album, 'The Wow! Signal', marks a return to form, or so one might hope. But is it a triumphant return or a mere echo of past glories? This is the question that lingers in the minds of fans and critics alike.
The album's opener, 'The Dark Forest', is a grand spectacle, featuring the Crouch End Festival Chorus and the London Metropolitan Orchestra. It's a sequel to the epic 'Knights of Cydonia', but instead of building upon the original's grandeur, it feels like a disjointed collection of genre concoctions. The song's scale is advertised, but it lacks the cohesion that makes Muse's best work so captivating. Personally, I find myself wondering if the band has lost its way, becoming too sincere to have fun and too obnoxious to take seriously.
The paradox of Muse's music is that it's both too sincere and too obnoxious. 'The Dark Forest' is charming, but the four misfires that follow are torturous. 'Nightshift Superstar' is a French-house homage that feels like a cheap imitation of Timbaland's worst work. The pure charisma of Bellamy's voice, which once seemed so affecting, now feels flat and suffocating. It's as if the man who wrote the words of unadorned agony on 'Shimmering Scars' has lost the ability to sing them with conviction.
Bellamy's voice is one of the album's several albatrosses. While the words of 'Shimmering Scars' are genuinely affecting, their poignancy is lost on the man who wrote them. His delivery on 'Cryogen', on the other hand, suits the abysmal sixth-form poetry that forms the basis of the song. It's as if the band has become too self-indulgent, too focused on the spectacle rather than the substance.
The Wow! Signal is a mixed bag, with some songs that are charming and others that are torturous. It's a return to form, but not in the way one might hope. The band has lost its way, becoming too sincere to have fun and too obnoxious to take seriously. In my opinion, the album is a missed opportunity, a mere echo of past glories. But for fans, it's a chance to revisit the stars and dream of what could have been.
