Review Summary: “I JUST WANTED. I JUST NEEDED. TO BE LOOOOOOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” *Proceeds to metaphorically annihilate the universe*
Last school year I participated in a considerably high budget (by high school standards), under cast (mostly because other students genuinely thought the plot was stupid) theatrical adaptation of The Who's
Tommy. Concept albums have always interested me and that experience reinforced that for me. So contemplating the fact that
Drones would follow a proper story-line made me rather excited, albeit secretly skeptical.
So now what about the album? It’s almost like a Michael Bay film: a whole lot of bombast and a hell of a lot of cheese... Only, it would have to take a lot of sifting through that cheese to really get behind what the story is trying to offer.
Muse said they were making a more rock oriented record and
Drones is their only album to rely so heavily of riffs riffs
riffs. Even taking that into consideration, there is still a large amount of pop oriented tunes on the album and that is when the latter half of the record becomes more hit or miss. Sure, each song on the album is decent on their own, but when they're mixed together, it's not a smooth ride. Songs like “Revolt” and “Mercy” end up paired next to a much heavier track and the polar difference in songwriting do not compliment each other at all. This complete difference of songwriting in each song really damages the replay value despite some strong songwriting in several of the songs.
Tracks 5-8 is where
Drones really shines. “Reapers” is the clear highlight of the album as it contains some of the gnarliest shredding Matt has done on a track since 2007's "Knights of Cydonia". One thing that "Reapers" highlights so well is the trio's tight chemistry and each member have their own moment to shine on the song. The song is followed by “The Handler” which is quite mellow in its pace with a catchy riff and a chilling falsetto to end the song. “Defector” also contains some noteworthy riffs with some Queen added in the mix for good measure. What these 3 tracks do so well in the album is that their songwriting don’t contradict each other. What really makes “Defector” work so well in particular is that it perfectly combines its heavy riffs with its pop-oriented songwriting, something that the rest of the songs should have been like.
As for “The Globalist,” the only way to really understand its layers is to look at what the song is all about. The song picks up from where “Aftermath” left off and acts as a sort of epilogue. Also, just looking at “The Globalist” and its prequel “Citizen Erased” side by side, it is almost clear how easily “Citizen Erased” could have fit into
Drones. Both songs also share similarities in the identical distorted guitar tuning and the fact that they are built around 3 central movements. The Globalist only really gets hated on because it’s nowhere near as heavy as Citizen Erased, but what really The Globalist as strong its prequel is the emotional catharsis that they both unleash. “Citizen Erased” ends with a dreamy atmosphere that slowly builds as Matt gently sings about the brainwashing and growth of apathy in a person before the music coldly implodes on the listener; “The Globalist” builds into a tear-jerking crescendo as the counterpart of the protagonist proceeds to end the world as he carries his last hurrah.
The album ends in a mystical note as it details the emotions that each annihilated human drone is thinking before their death. Who knew Matt is fantastic at acapella?
So what exactly does Muse want people to take away from the album? Well, for a moment, just imagine if citizens in a country like North Korea or Syria got a hold of this album. Could you imagine how powerful this would be in their eyes? It could strike so many people’s emotional chords, it can lead to disastrous results, actually. But even taking out the political overtones, what the album is really trying to say is how only 1 small person can change or destroy the world; it is up to you to decide whether to embark on a journey for change for the better or to let bad circumstances create further destruction. The albums's concept can be summed up in the ambiguous phrase repeated by the obscured vocal sample at the end of “Reapers:
Quote:
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”Follow the Yellow Brick Road and it will be over quickly.”
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Drones’s audacity is what makes it a marvel
conceptually. Lyrically, it does its job vividly telling the story but they are
incredibly subpar a lot of times. It's no
Tommy,
The Wall or, hell,
American Idiot but the story is strong enough to convey its universal (and extremely relevant) message. *But whether it is worthy to become a musical is beyond me or anyone's comprehension.* Depending on how much the listener takes it to heart, it’ll either be greeted with love or disgust.
Averaged Track Ratings (Outside + Inside of album’s context):
Dead Inside: 4.5/5
[Drill Sergeant]/Psycho: 4.1/5
Mercy: 1.5/5
Reapers: 5/5
The Handler: 3.7/5
[JFK]/Defector: 4.2/5
Revolt: 2.7/5
Aftermath: 2.7/5
The Globalist: 5/5
Drones: 5/5
Averaged Album Rating: 3.8/5
