"Sunburn" (RealAudio excerpt), the first track on Muse's second album, begins with overwrought
grand piano. Before long, singer/ songwriter Matthew Bellamy begins his
anguished moaning, and then the whole thing erupts into a thrash of measured
feedback and sculpted squalls of sound. As nimble-fingered, serpentine
guitar lines weave in and out of those twinkling grand notes, Bellamy coins
a less than original metaphor to describe the ravaging beauty he can't
escape from: "She burns like the sun/ I can't look away." "Sunburn" ... get
it?
Muse are emotional and bombastic and good
... but they're not quite ready for prime time. Hailed by the British press
as a potent hybrid of Nirvana and Radiohead, Muse sound more like a cliched
hybrid of Nirvana and Radiohead, with a dash of Queen and a pinch of Pearl
Jam thrown in for good measure (Bellamy seems unsure of whether he's more
interested in aping Freddie Mercury or Eddie Vedder for much of the album,
alternating between Mercury's falsetto cries and Vedder's impassioned
screams). Almost every song hews to a variation of the soft/ loud/ soft
formula Cobain and Co. took to such heights; similarly, the orchestral
flourishes and meticulous layering that mark Radiohead's work are in full
force. But while those bands were able to transcend the formulas they
employed, Muse haven't yet succeeded in similarly distinguishing themselves.
But that doesn't mean this isn't a band to watch. Muse's biggest selling
point is their ear for catchy melodies. Whether on the bombastic
"Cave" — which moves from orchestral punk to operatic climaxes in less
than five minutes — the herky-jerky plaintiveness of "Muscle Museum" (RealAudio excerpt)
or the drone-scape of "Showbiz" (RealAudio excerpt), Muse craft edgy tunes that percolate in your
subconscious long after you've turned your stereo off.
Muse's lyrics also stick in your head — not because they're memorable or moving but because they're trite. "Showbiz"
begins with Bellamy muttering about "controlling my feelings for too long"
before his vocals and the music roar into high gear, and "Escape" includes
the refrain "we are unlovable."
If he keeps writing lines like that, Bellamy might have a point. But I
suspect that he'll mature, along with his band's music — all three members
are just a pinch over their 20th birthdays — and Muse likely will, in
time, become lovable.