Review Summary: Take a bow
To fully appreciate the return-to-form that
The Wow! Signal most assuredly is, it helps to have been on the twenty year rollercoaster that signifies Muse’s post-
Black Holes & Revelations output. As a fan since
Showbiz, I’ve seen the tremendous heights this band can reach when they are firing on all cylinders.
Origin of Symmetry and
Absolution are not just peak Muse, they’re top 00’s rock records in general, and the quality of their first four albums made the ensuing two decades of hits and misses all the more maddening to endure. Sure, the experimentation occasionally sounded cool (‘Madness’) and they would ever so sparingly remind us that they can still shred with the best of ‘em (‘Reapers’), but there was never the consistent execution needed to label any of their past five releases as actually
essential. At long last, I can finally proclaim what I once hoped I could with the release of
Drones – and what I never thought I’d be able to following
Simulation Theory or
Will of the People: Muse is
back, and they’ve crafted an objectively excellent record that serves as the long-awaited successor to 2006’s
Black Holes & Revelations.
The Wow! Signal – named for the 1977 narrowband communication that suggested the presence of extraterrestrial life – is rooted in cosmic mystery, paranoia, and a search for truth. For a band that has traditionally been at their very best when embracing uncertainty – from political secrecy to the apocalypse – this theme feels right at home. ‘The Dark Forest’ kicks everything off with Matthew Bellamy lamenting that we might be providing our coordinates to a powerful and hostile cross-universe civilization: “Broadcasting reckless confessions / We will all beg for extinction”. Accompanied by spacey riffs and propulsive, galloping percussion, it feels like a logical continuation from ‘Knights of Cydonia’ – and for many of us, that’s exactly what we’ve been begging for since 2006. It’s not just ‘The Dark Forest’ that evokes a nostalgic response, either; ‘Cryogen’ is absolutely teeming with
Origin of Symmetry guitar-heavy energy, particularly the lead-off riff which sounds like a sequel to ‘Plug in Baby’. It’s immediately and abundantly clear that Muse wants
The Wow! Signal to be a homecoming of sorts, and for the most part, it feels like they never left.
The best song on the album may be ‘Hexagons’, which features a combination of Muse’s
Black Holes-era synths (a keen ear will pick up on the similarities to ‘Take a Bow’) and intricate ‘Muscle Museum’-esque electric guitars. It feels like the best of all of Muse’s early eras in one spot, right down to the subtle dread that emanates from its lyrics (“I'm a marionette with severed strings, gorge on my soul while I'm weak and dying / Haunted by futures I can't avoid, a shape immersed through the fog of war”). ‘Unravelling’ is another moment worth highlighting for its crushing, oppressive riffs and massive chorus – something I’d liken to ‘The Handler’ or ‘Reapers’ from 2015’s
Drones, only with less complex soloing and more of a suffocating
heaviness. ‘The Sickness In You & I’ is similarly intense with its sinister beat and thunderous riffs, and across these tracks, Muse ends up establish this as a
rock experience above all else – almost as if to reassure fans that there isn’t an ‘I Belong To You’ or ‘Something Human’ lurking around the corner.
Speaking of poppier songs, even the mainstream-leaning tracks on
The Wow! Signal are legitimately compelling, with a few even packing surprises. The Ellie Goulding feature on ‘Hush’ comes to mind immediately; it’s not necessarily a pairing you’d expect, but her shimmering, dreamy vocals are the ideal complement to Muse’s synth-wrapped space rock, and here they intertwine for a breath of fresh air right when you might think you have
The Wow! Signal all figured out. ‘Be With You’ is another shockingly strong pop offering from the band, with a dash of autotune in the early verses and a massive rock crescendo in the latter half that sees the track evolve from “Muse ballad no.
x” to a seriously riveting grower. ‘Nightshift Superstar’ is everything
Simulation Theory wanted to be but wasn’t – it’s a gritty, groove-laden funk cut with a pervading 80s glow and a chorus that is impossibly catchy. If Muse were to have another song explode on the charts the way ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ did, ‘Nightshift Superstar’ just might be the one – and really, any of these songs are infectious enough to have a lasting streaming presence and become one of Muse’s most commercially successful tracks to date.
On their ceremonious tenth LP, it’s impressive how Muse have managed to not only recapture their spark, but also to succeed on so many different fronts. It feels like a career summation in the best way possible, featuring blistering rockers, elaborate guitar solos, synthy/spaced-out atmospheres, groove-laden pop tracks, poignant personal moments (‘Space Debris’ seems to be written about Bellamy’s recent divorce), and brilliantly catchy melodies front-to-end. Very little here may qualify as truly
new for the band, but after so many years of trying their hand at various styles that never quite lived up to their true capabilities, they’ve finally come full circle and recommitted to their roots. The result is Muse’s best album in twenty years. If you’ve been along for the ride all this time waiting for another classic Muse outing, then take a bow – this one’s for you.
