Absolution

Muse: Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Chris Wolstenholme (bass, background vocals); Dominic Howard (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: Paul Reeve (background vocals, samples).

Producers: Rich Costey, Muse, Paul Reeve, John Cornfield.

Recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios, Westmeath, Ireland; Livingstone Studios and Air Studios, London, England; Cello Studios, Hollywood, California; Sawmills Studio, Cornwall, England.

This 2004 tour album features a bonus disc of six live-to-air recordings ("Stockholm Syndrome," "Newborn," "Muscle Museum," "Hysteria," "Bliss," and "Time Is Running Out."

Muse lead vocalist Matthew Bellamy's vocal timbre bears a distinct similarity to that of Thom Yorke, leading some to dismiss Muse as simply a band of Radiohead-worshippers. With ABSOLUTION, however, the UK-based group proves that it's much more than the sum of its influences, delivering a work that revels in the enormity of its ambition, the breadth of its sonic palette, and the intensity of its emotional resonance. Employing a daring mix of classical-influenced piano and strings, metallic guitars, unabashedly strident house-style synths, and the type of production bombast usually reserved for Queen or ELO, Muse often sounds like an otherworldly jam session between Rufus Wainwright, Front Line Assembly, the Move, and Evanescence. Packed with both pop hooks and unusual instrumental textures at every turn, ABSOLUTION invites listeners to expect the unexpected.

What the critics say…

Rolling Stone (4/1/04, p.89) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[G]ive Muse, from the English town of Teignmouth, some credit for adopting Radiohead's bombastic BENDS approach and adding prog-rock-style instrumental virtuosity."
Q (Magazine) (p.121) - "Muse's grandiose ideas and boundless energy are channelled into songs that rarely last longer than five minutes. Progressive rock for the post-Nirvana generation."