If 1999's Showbiz provided the world with Rock's bright young things, enticing the world with their darkly romantic songs with 100 watt angst; Origin of Symmetry could be the album to propel the band into super-stardom.
The major change in this album is Matt Bellamy's switch in guitars from the Peavey Wolfgang special guitar to the custom built Manson Matt-O-Casters with enough built in effects to allow the lead singer and guitarist to conjure sci-fi sounding riffs, not to mention astronomical guitar whizzes, feedback and fuzz. Showbiz took tremolo-picking to the nth degree, with tracks like "Sunburn", "Showbiz" and "Uno", but with this album there is a greater amount of shape throwing and axe-wielding from Matt.
No greater opportunity is exploited than in the first single "Plug in Baby", which boasts a riff to die for, and is destined to be a live favourite for as long as the band is in existence. "New Born" opens the album with tremendous tremolo picking and general full throttle guitar playing, and is the perfect way to reinforce the strengths of band Members Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard.
"Bliss" explodes into science fiction fantasy as Bellamy sings about a relationship high, and the positivity of the song does make a refreshing change. But let us not forget what Muse are good at; dark and brooding angst. "Space Dementia" hits you with a 'Sunburn'-esque piano riff not out of place in a horror soundtrack. "Hyper Music" returns us to the angst-ridden anthems that Muse are loved for, "Citizen Erased" is the outright epic of the album; it is over-indulgent and opus-like.
"Micro Cuts" is falsetto angst at its finest, "Darkshines" takes tremolo picking to the next level, without it being over-used, and the cover of the Nina Simone track "Feeling good" turns a lazy brass-filled blues track into a grandiose piece of rock brilliance which is guaranteed to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, which for all musos out there, is a certain measure of a good song.
Finally, Megalomania provided a crushing finale to consistently superb album which is certain to cement Muse comfortably in Rock folklore on their own merit.
Craig Aston.
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