Muse: Drones (2015)

wakam escribió:Me encuentro esta crítica por ahí, supuestamente de esta web (hay que registrarse para leer, pero he pegado la supuesta transcripción)
https://classicrock.teamrock.com/reviews/2015-05-18/muse-drones

With über-producer Mutt Lange on board, have the Teignmouth trio made their own Back In Black?
It was perhaps inevitable, after more than a decade of intergalactic ambition and stadium-rocking space-metal spectacle, that Muse would eventually crash back down to Earth. Most big bands make their equivalent of Pink Floyd’s The Wall at some point, and Matthew Bellamy has now delivered his. A coldly impersonal concept album recorded in the depths of a personal crisis, Drones starts off uncomfortably numb, and finishes up apocalyptically bleak.

Muse: Drones Cover
Based on the topical theme of military drones, both literally and metaphorically, the West Country trio’s seventh album was recorded just as Bellamy split from his long-term partner, Hollywood actress Kate Hudson. Just how much this private drama informed the music is obviously pure speculation, but the lyrics are bitterly cynical about love and empathy, drawing parallels between domestic emotional disconnection and remote-control techno-age warfare.

“The world is run by drones utilising drones to turn us into drones,” the Muse frontman claims. Like the Russell Brand of rock, Bellamy has returned from Hollywood exile to bash us around the ears with dark conspiracies and new-found political anger. Wake up and smell the Truth, sheeple!

Drones was co-produced by elder statesman Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange, famous for his multi-platinum collaborations with AC/DC, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams and more. It’s an unexpected choice for Muse, perhaps, suggesting a move away from their baroque-and-roll sci-fi overdrive towards rock’s centre ground. There are still Queen-sized fanfares, maximalist flourishes and striking sonic experiments here, notably a hymnal a cappella title track composed purely of overlapping vocals. But the overall sound is polished and conventional, as Bellamy sets aside his past flirtations with pounding dubstep and punky electronics. Shame.

The sleeve design is also – how can we put this politely? – laugh-out-loud awful. Muse have always favoured ostentatious album artwork in the Pink Floyd tradition, even working with Floydian legend Storm Thorgerson. This time they opted for photographer and video director Matt Mahurin, who has previously done great work with Tom Waits, Marilyn Manson, Bon Jovi and many others. But Mahurin’s image of a giant Orwellian hand operating a faceless human joystick just looks amateurish and adolescent. The figure’s resemblance to a Peperami sausage only adds to the air of unintended comedy. Not a promising start.

The tracks loosely follow a fall-and-rise arc in which the narrator descends into totalitarian mind-control hell, before finally breaking free and fighting back. His journey begins with the U2-ish sparkle-rock shimmer of Dead Inside and the walloping fuzz-bass glam-rock groove of Psycho, a crudely effective workout for the band’s powerhouse rhythm section Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard. The latter tune is prefixed by the short spoken-word track Drill Sergeant, which shares some of the same lyrics, and plays on stale movie stereotypes of the cruel military taskmaster: ‘your ass belongs to me now... your mind is just a program and I’m the virus.’ Subtle as a punch in the testicles.

Lyrics are admittedly not Bellamy’s strongest point, but he has never crammed quite so many ungainly, clichéd and po-faced lines onto a single album before. Over the fluid, Coldplay-ish ripples of Mercy he envisages ‘men in cloaks trying to devour my soul’. On the fightback anthem Revolt, he claims ‘we live in a toxic jungle, truth is suppressed to a mumble.’ Ouch. At least Russell Brand would throw in a few knob gags to keep it interesting.

Midway through the album sits JFK, a long extract of John F. Kennedy’s landmark 1961 speech in which he warned about a “monolithic and ruthless conspiracy” against democratic freedoms. He was talking about the Soviet Union, of course, though Muse believe this Cold War relic will resonate in our new mass-brainwashed Dark Ages. It’s a bold ambition, albeit fuzzy in intent, the rockstar equivalent of posting inspirational Morgan Freeman quotes on Facebook.

Bellamy concedes there is “not a lot of love” on Drones. He’s right, but two stirring power ballads in the album’s closing stages warm up the overall emotional temperature. Aftermath begins very much like U2’s One, a slow-burn lament with a gently imploring circular guitar hook and a lyric full of battle-scarred, world-weary tenderness. Lovely.

But Muse save their full 1812 Overture arsenal for The Globalist, a majestic finale which begins with whistles and twangs worthy of Ennio Morricone, erupts into a tumescent speed-metal riff monster midway through, then ends on a soaring Lloyd Webber-sized show-stopper about the imminent death of mankind: ‘A trillion memories lost in time forever!’ Bellamy howls as planets collide and stars implode. This is the way the world ends: with a bang and a whimper. And a symphony orchestra.

Epic melancholy romanticism has always been one of Muse’s saving graces, a glorious rebuttal to snooty critics who hear only bombast and bluster in their music. But there is too little of it on this album, and too much middling Muse-by-numbers.

Great in parts, but flat and clumsy in others, Bellamy’s bid to become more serious appears to have stunted what he does best, which is operatic excess fuelled by volcanic emotion. To stretch a metaphor, Drones sometimes feels like it is flying on autopilot, and too often misses the target.

FINAL VERDICT: 6/10

Hoyos7 escribió:Los primeros clips con Matt con greñas y tocando riffs más o menos duros en el estudio han sido uno de los grandes cebos/espejismos de este año sin duda.

Pinta a ponzoña de las buenas.

Letras superficiales de primer EP de un grupo de instituto y composiciones hasta el momento que rozan la vulgaridad por su simplicidad y que además suenan a un batiburrillo de hits de discos pasados. Hasta la portada da realmente pena.

En directo serán un espectáculo, pero el disco en vuestro día a día os lo pondréis 2 veces contadas.

No me creo la posibilidad de que los temas que saquen sean los malos y los que dejen para el final los compensen con maravillas.

Elephant Man escribió:

Hoyos7 escribió:Los primeros clips con Matt con greñas y tocando riffs más o menos duros en el estudio han sido uno de los grandes cebos/espejismos de este año sin duda.

Pinta a ponzoña de las buenas.

Letras superficiales de primer EP de un grupo de instituto y composiciones hasta el momento que rozan la vulgaridad por su simplicidad y que además suenan a un batiburrillo de hits de discos pasados. Hasta la portada da realmente pena.

En directo serán un espectáculo, pero el disco en vuestro día a día os lo pondréis 2 veces contadas.

No me creo la posibilidad de que los temas que saquen sean los malos y los que dejen para el final los compensen con maravillas.

Y tu que sabes.

Elephant Man escribió:Me soprende que la crítica omita como 4 o 5 canciones del disco.
Pero bueno, un 6 ya es mejor que el 2nd Law.

Deldeck escribió:Joder qué negatividad macho, y falta más de la mitad del disco Además por estrategia comercial pueden ser los temas 'más comerciales' los primeros en salir.

Elephant Man escribió:

Deldeck escribió:Joder qué negatividad macho, y falta más de la mitad del disco Además por estrategia comercial pueden ser los temas 'más comerciales' los primeros en salir.

Es que es de cajón. Y de los 3 uno me gusta bastante tirando a mucho. Los otros dos me parecen flojos, pero no deleznables tampoco. Vamos, que si son lo peor del disco ni tan mal. El problema viene si se nos cuela un Guiding Light o un Big Freeze entre los que quedan  

Baldrick escribió:

Elephant Man escribió:

Deldeck escribió:Joder qué negatividad macho, y falta más de la mitad del disco Además por estrategia comercial pueden ser los temas 'más comerciales' los primeros en salir.

Es que es de cajón. Y de los 3 uno me gusta bastante tirando a mucho. Los otros dos me parecen flojos, pero no deleznables tampoco. Vamos, que si son lo peor del disco ni tan mal. El problema viene si se nos cuela un Guiding Light o un Big Freeze entre los que quedan  

A mi la que me acojona de verdad para desequilibrar la balanza es la Globalist de turno, como esperemos un Citizen Erased y se quede en un Exogenesis...

Johnny Kashmir escribió:Vaya pufo la nueva.
Terrible, parecen Coldplay.
¿Qué coño pasa este año con Coldplay?

wakam escribió:Hay edición chachiguay del disco exclusiva de la web del grupo.

http://store.muse.mu/es/tbc-deluxe-edition-1.html

ElArquitecto escribió:

wakam escribió:Hay edición chachiguay del disco exclusiva de la web del grupo.

http://store.muse.mu/es/tbc-deluxe-edition-1.html

Casi merece la pena comprarla para esquivar el horrible artwork de la versión normal.

MABarracus escribió:

ElArquitecto escribió:

wakam escribió:Hay edición chachiguay del disco exclusiva de la web del grupo.

http://store.muse.mu/es/tbc-deluxe-edition-1.html

Casi merece la pena comprarla para esquivar el horrible artwork de la versión normal.

Pero supongo que eso estará en la parte de dentro...

myluckyscars escribió:Una revista francesa ha escuchado el disco ya y estas son las descripciones de los temas que faltan:
http://board.muse.mu/showpost.php?p=10803411&postcount=3645

Spoiler:

Dead Inside. The first single, available to download since March 23rd. An electro-pop track with a huge, distorted bassline and a remarkable lack of guitar (towards the end, there's a familiar guitar tone). Matthew affects a very Freddy «Queen» Mercury voice.

You would think that you're listening to a love song, with the narrator revering a disquieting feminine figure, in the process of being zombified («Your skin is warm to the touch, I see magic in your eyes. On the outside you're ablaze and alive, but you're dead inside»). At the end of the song, the protagonist succumbs as well to this same transformation («You taught me how to lie without a trace, and to kill with no remorse. On the outside, I'm the greatest guy, but I'm dead inside»). Is he addressing a woman or a personified image of power?
[Context (mine): feminine gender nouns make it so that "power" is personified as feminine in French.]

Drill Sergeant. Just as the song title implies, this interlude is [narrated] by a vituperative sergeant.

Psycho. This tidbit was put online in March, [with] the announcement of the new album. «For me, drones are metaphorical psychopaths who [take on a] psychopathic disposition without remorse», writes Matthew. The world is directed by drones utilizing drones with the goal to transform us into drones. This album explores the journey of a human being, from abandon and loss of hope to his indoctrination by the system to become a human drone, and his eventual defection».

A beefy guitar riff to illustrate the conditioning of human drones. In the chorus, his voice funnily drills [aka vibrato probably] into the words «fucking psycho»

The bass comes into unison with the guitar to create an enormous sound, in the spirit of the 70s. The end of the track is very «operatic», just the way Muse likes.

Mercy. Piano and a fuzzed-up bass. The protagonist seeks out mercy, but «the men in cloaks try to eat his soul». Absent gods and silent tyranny are part of the program as Matt plays deep in the mix with some arpeggiated effects which make for some... annoying arpeggios.

The Handler: Slow, mammoth-sized drums... and a humongous riff. The protagonist begins to rebel at this point [in the narrative]. The vocals begin in falsetto. This is one of the most progressive-rock tracks on the album. During the song's mid-section, [Matt breaks out into] a solo [à la] Angus Young. What is the producer up to? Was this intended to be humorous? Apparently not.

Zombie. The reprise of a speech by John F. Kennedy, about an oppressive and tyrannical secret [society]. Is he talking about the CIA or about a globalist conspiracy theory, like those that Matthew loves? No, specifically, in the original speech, [JFK's] referring to the USSR.

Defector. Very, very Queen-esque harmonies. Seriously, very Queen. There you have it, the protagonist is «free». «You can't brainwash me anymore! You can't control me!» Matthew paints some, umm... colorful images. «Your blood is blue, your spirit's turned green and your gut's all yellow».

[The message] is clear, but as for the "poetry", we'll need to take another look at that...

Revolt. The protagonist calls for a revolution in the form of a power ballad. «Our liberty's only a loan to be taxed, controlled by psychos and drones». This is one of the [album's] poppiest offerings, not too far removed from 'With or Without You' by U2. [Matt's] voice is strangely distorted, and becomes brutally shrill/piercing at times. But here, the catchiest chorus on the album.

Aftermath. A desolate wind blows in the distance. In comes a synthesizer, followed by violins. Then a guitar in the style of Jimi Hendrix's ballads. «It's you and I against the world, we're free... states falter and walls still rise higher».

The Globalist. A whistled melody, like those of an Ennio Morricone western (Muse sometimes uses Morricone to herald their stage entrances), violins, a bolero rhythm, a long intro, and a Pink Floyd-esque guitar plays.

We're in the mind of a an evil [asshole] who controls all of the drones. He has [unleashed]/dropped all of the bombs at his disposal, and nearly destroys humanity. This song then takes on an epic tone. In the end, the dictatorial entity gives an excuse [for his actions], «I just wanted to be loved »

Drones. A song in a capella, full of superimposed vocal layers and an ethereal ambiance. Matthew summarizes his message... and everything ends with an «Amen».

Conclusion: Musically, this is a varied album with the obligatory grandiloquence that was expected of it. Muse fans cannot be disappointed. However, the much anticipated plot of this concept album was rather childish [in presentation]. [As a result] just like [they did against] the little booklets of certain operas [this is an obscure musical history reference btw, meant to address the French], devoted fans will object to this [this meaning the presentation of the plot]. At least there's a little bit of irony to it all.

Dani. escribió:Por muy malo que sea este nuevo, es imposible que no mejore la ponzoña del anterior.

Deldeck escribió:¡Hoy a las 22:55h. streaming de Muse!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcthree

henchman escribió:

Deldeck escribió:¡Hoy a las 22:55h. streaming de Muse!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcthree

Se podrá ver aquí?

Suele estar registringido

Deldeck escribió:

henchman escribió:

Deldeck escribió:¡Hoy a las 22:55h. streaming de Muse!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcthree

Se podrá ver aquí?

Suele estar registringido

Igual solo para UK, pero se puede arreglar para verlo en España

Elephant Man escribió:

Deldeck escribió:

henchman escribió:

Deldeck escribió:¡Hoy a las 22:55h. streaming de Muse!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcthree

Se podrá ver aquí?

Suele estar registringido

Igual solo para UK, pero se puede arreglar para verlo en España

Como?

Deldeck escribió:

Elephant Man escribió:

Deldeck escribió:

henchman escribió:

Deldeck escribió:¡Hoy a las 22:55h. streaming de Muse!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcthree

Se podrá ver aquí?

Suele estar registringido

Igual solo para UK, pero se puede arreglar para verlo en España

Como?

Os instaláis la extensión hola para que navegue en UK es easy, ahora toca Florence + The Machine ^^

https://themusestation.wordpress.com/solucionar-problema-de-restriccion/

Deldeck escribió:¡Esto va a empezar señores!

Elephant Man escribió:

Deldeck escribió:¡Esto va a empezar señores!

Y como ha empezado

ElArquitecto escribió:Me uno al sarao. Se puede rajar de Mercy, pero en directo les va a funcionar que te cagas.

Deldeck escribió:Sigo confiando en que en el BBK toquen algo más de una hora y tal xD

EDIT: Porque si no, no sé dónde van a meter las canciones nuevas

Deldeck escribió:Sigo confiando en que en el BBK toquen algo más de una hora y tal xD

EDIT: Porque si no, no sé dónde van a meter las canciones nuevas