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Album Review

Upcoming Muse Concert


February 22, 2019

There is an idea that music cures… if you want to check that out and need a portion of good alternative rock music with some self-motivation and life-coaching - your best option may be tuning in to the Muse’s latest album called “Simulation Theory”.

“Five hundred hours till I’m home, I need something human” - the chorus of the alike titled song in the middle of the album tells a story of a space avenger in a way returning back to humanity, or just a person who got tired going through the hardships of life. Verses written by Matt Bellamy amaze to be “very human” in the sense that we all need to return to our safe places every time we have been going through the crisis.

The Country sounds in the song, though is some kind of slowing down the flow of the electronics and synth-rock, but does not let the song fall out of the concept of the album, which claims to follow the 80’s sci-fi cinema. This is clearly seen from the first glance at the album’s cover made by Kyle Lambert who worked on the popular Netflix series. In one of the recent interviews about their greatest hits, Mett reveals that “The simulation theory” was inspired by “Knights of Cydonia” – one of their experimental hits from the “Black Holes and Revelations” album released in 2006.

In the “Simulation Theory,” Matt's well known and loved falsetto appears in the new unexpected way in the “Propaganda,” which is a result of the cooperation with the American music producer Timbaland. Also, the Muse incorporated UCLA Bruin Marching band for the alternative version of the “Pressure”.

Maybe this close cooperation of the UK based band with American industry is the reason of the start of their world tour with concerts in Houston on February 22

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in Toyota Center and in Dallas two days later in American Airlines Center. The tour will encompass major US cities, Canada, most of the European counties, Singapore, Mexico and will finish in Rio de Janeiro on 6 October at the Barra Olympic Park stadium which in 2016 cheered for the Olympics.

Their show devoted to the 2

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law in 2013 in Madison Square Garden was praised by Jon Pareles from the NY Times as “an endless buildup heading for one peak after another”. How will be this show look?

In one of the interviews devoted to the upcoming tour, Mett revealed the ideas to incorporate more people, “more humans” like they do in pop and hip hop which was quite challenging for them to incorporate in the rock music. So, they come up with televised movie-based visuals.

An already successful trend for Muse is to rely on the science fiction and utopian topics, as in with “Drones”, “The 2

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Law”, “Black holes and revelations”, “the Resistance”. The latter was singled with an “Uprising” - the song that suits perfectly for a Revolutionary fight anthem against a totalitarian regime.

But “Simulation Theory” claims to “rise against systematic technological, and mental anguish” according to the band’s release in Apple Music. Not being the most devoted fan of the Muse I perceived the lyrics of the “Simulation Theory” as a motivational training. All sides of personal crisis described alongside with motivation to resist and fight with it. Maybe it is the key to the band’s success?

This quality lets their music to become very universal for a big number of people. Such as in “Pressure” the demand “don’t push me” wrapped in catchy guitar motive and powerful drum pattern attaches a specific ambiguity about a destination, which lets the Muse easily join the song to a concept of the album, at the same time giving the room for being applied to everyday life problems, or dark sides of romantic relationships, or struggles for survival in our fast-paced world.

KANM logo, designed by Isabella Little.

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