It’s Two-Thirds-Glam-Rock Wednesday! Which really spoils the surprise of who we’re covering, actually, doesn’t it…
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[3.30]
Alfred Soto: “Jean Genie” riff, distortion, and five minutes later, they went through this trouble to prove they’re ready for arenas.
[2]
Iain Mew: After m-m-m-m-mixing things up slightly last time, this may be the most straight down the line rock Muse single ever, and the riffing sounds a bit worn out. Matt Bellamy using his best sing-for-absolution voice for the line “your ass belongs to me” is a hilarious new development, but it shows up the sticky ground they’re on: ridiculous is fine for vague conspiracy theories, but when you start tying it to specific protests against the military you can end up way out of your depth.
[3]
Thomas Inskeep: Plod plod plod. Let’s party like it’s 1974 and Mud is still one of the biggest bands in the UK. Mud, Muse: see? Not that different, in any way. Lazy glam is the order of the day.
[2]
Brad Shoup: Ah, a return to the supercreep beat. Since I was 40% under correctness for “Madness,” I really really want to give this the benefit of the doubt. But if I couldn’t identify the best U2 parody ever — this includes Negativland, by the way — I don’t know how I’m going to properly peg a dead-on Marilyn Manson rip.
[5]
Will Adams: Thing is, using a 12/8 stomp to signify edge was played out when “Uprising” came out, so what use is “Psycho”?
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: It’s a mathematical ratio, you see. Take Radiohead, divide by Alex Jones and Bill Hicks, while combining it with Full Metal Jacket subtracted by the attention span marred by smugness and weed, now multiply it by Queen minus Freddie Mercury’s presence or having a soul, to the power of South Park, and you have Muse’s career goals. Just don’t be confused if your grade is a V For Vendetta mask sticker with a motivational slogan wrapped around it.
[1]
Scott Mildenhall: It might be the obvious thing to say, but at this rate Muse’s next album will just be a t.co link to David Icke’s website. Somehow, though, “Psycho” doesn’t sound absurd enough. It runs for almost as long as “United States Of Eurasia” and “Knights Of Cydonia”, songs that more than live up to their titles, but just sounds bloated. Its sole idea of yabbering between samples of killing machines over this beat has been done, too – it’s called “Doctorin’ the Tardis” and it is brilliant. So brilliant that Muse did another, far less dull version of it six years ago, calling it “Uprising.”
[5]
Luisa Lopez: I want to hear the song which, in another more righteous universe, comes after that opening. I don’t know what it would be — a progression of increasingly damaged chords; a parade of villainous verses; sinful shrieks punctured by unctuous murmuring — but it would definitely be better than this mess.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: I don’t hate this, but I think it’d be more fun if it were sped up and put through some cool distortion effects. Oh, then it’d be “Supermassive Black Hole,” which we already have. We already have “Uprising” too. The bit where Matt Bellamy sounds like he’s impersonating Marilyn Manson is quite funny, though.
[4]
Mo Kim: For something so critical of the toxic masculinity and dehumanization found in the military, this song sure embodies a lot of the toxic masculinity and dehumanization found in listening to Muse. If I felt more generous I’d peg the instrumental as satire, but then I think of the six (six!) times Matt Bellamy draws out the word “assssssss” and by then I’m gigglesnorting too hard to take any of this seriously anymore.
[3]