Thought Contagion

[KirkBot]

Coming 15 February

Source: http://muse.mu/news,thought-contagion_3801.htm

[Jobby]

LateBot

[FairyTales]

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[manana]

It's already on the internet. Pretty disappointing. It's like Matt can't be bothered any more.

[Hypermused]

I think this takes us back to the Absolution days. For Me - Rich Costey and Muse - I could lap this up all day.

I can see the Fury link - with some of the bass/drums/guitar solo etc, but I'm glad it's not too strong as Fury isn't one of my top Muse songs. I'd say Hysteria with some Neutron Star Collision-esque drama. Piano adds a nice layer in the pre-chorus. Sci-fi guitar sound at the start. BIG sounding drums.

The solo is simple - following the vocal line but we know Matt's more riffs than solos - I would have liked a 'second half' of the solo to take it somewhere a little different - like Hysteria solo.

I mentioned when writing about the end of Dig Down that they'd (eventually) discovered the whole "Whooa whooa" crowd-singing sound (Coldplay - Viva LA Vida / Imagine Dragons Radioactive) and here Muse have turned it UP. Pros and cons - it's nice to listen to and goes very well with this song but does that DATE the song? In 10 years time will we be saying 'oh yeah everyone was doing that then'. Songs like Plug in Baby still sound fresh (to me anyway).

Not a huge fan of the almost shouty/aggressive vocals in the verses. And that's coming from an Offspring fan and think that's the weakest part of the song. I like melody and harmony. I also feel they're slightly conforming for pop world with having the first 'Thought Conathion' half-way through the first verse...! They wouldn't have done that before. Maybe I'm overthinking it now.

Overall: For me it's as close as we're going to get to 'old' Muse and I welcome that and it's got me excited again to hear what's next... if it even exists yet. 4/5.

[manana]

I don't want to hear 'old Muse;' I want to hear songwriting which has matured. They're all 40 now, aren't they? It's no use listening to fans moan that they're not as good as they used to be and then trying to recreate that. They're not as good as they used to be but this is entirely down to Matt's songs. As performers they just get better and better. If all three wrote the songs together perhaps they shouldn't do this again?

[Hypermused]

Originally Posted by manana

I don't want to hear 'old Muse;' I want to hear songwriting which has matured. They're all 40 now, aren't they? It's no use listening to fans moan that they're not as good as they used to be and then trying to recreate that. They're not as good as they used to be but this is entirely down to Matt's songs. As performers they just get better and better. If all three wrote the songs together perhaps they shouldn't do this again?

I don't want to recreate the past either, but I also don't want any more Dig Downs or Resistance album stuff. This is a mature group with the 'old skool' sound that I prefer. They're not singing about the 'hot girl in the club' they're talking about Thought Contagion: How belief spreads through society. That's what I want. So am a happy Muser.

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

Originally Posted by Hypermused

I don't want to recreate the past either, but I also don't want any more Dig Downs or Resistance album stuff. This is a mature group with the 'old skool' sound that I prefer. They're not singing about the 'hot girl in the club' they're talking about Thought Contagion: How belief spreads through society. That's what I want. So am a happy Muser.

And without contrived political references at that (bar the "revolution/solution" bit, maybe). It's very good, overall.

[Jobby]

Really don’t get any shouts for this being something that sounds like it could’ve come from Abso or Black Holes. A b-side for the latter, maybe.

Honestly I’ve got massively mixed feelings. On the plus side, it’s obviously more energetic than Dig Down, so it instantly grabs your attention more. I’ll admit I’ve caught myself singing the “You’ve been bitten by...” melody a few times today (even if I keep nearly slipping into Smooth Criminal). Those occasional wavy sci-fi synths are something I’ve wanted to hear from them for a while as well, weirdly.

It’s so ‘Muse’ that it...feels like it isn’t, if that makes any sense? The uncreative dissonance + 4-bar bass lead in, pretty generic riff, uber vague dystopian lyrics that don’t really say anything, falsettos that just repeat the title for a chorus, faint piano trills in the pre-chorus, uninventive + short whammy solo all smack of what your average kid with some moderate ability in recording software might slap up as a fake leak. Just with some 30STM backing vox and faintly Fall Out Boy verses. All it’s missing is a synth arpeggio.

So on the whole I’m conflicted, mostly v meh. There’s some kinda fun elements, even if the lyrics do absolutely nothing for me, but it feels like it’s written by someone trying to sound like Muse and just hitting the rough, generic outline.

[01fromfinland]

Originally Posted by Jobby

Honestly I’ve got massively mixed feelings. On the plus side, it’s obviously more energetic than Dig Down, so it instantly grabs your attention more. I’ll admit I’ve caught myself singing the “You’ve been bitten by...” melody a few times today (even if I keep nearly slipping into Smooth Criminal). Those occasional wavy sci-fi synths are something I’ve wanted to hear from them for a while as well, weirdly.

It’s so ‘Muse’ that it...feels like it isn’t, if that makes any sense? The uncreative dissonance + 4-bar bass lead in, pretty generic riff, uber vague dystopian lyrics that don’t really say anything, falsettos that just repeat the title for a chorus, faint piano trills in the pre-chorus, uninventive + short whammy solo all smack of what your average kid with some moderate ability in recording software might slap up as a fake leak. Just with some 30STM backing vox and faintly Fall Out Boy verses. All it’s missing is a synth arpeggio.

Basically this. Although at least it leaves me feeling slighlty optimistic. Really dig some of the sounds. Hoping they won't slip to the "T2L-scattergun" with sounds again though. T2L had too much stuff going on, Drones was too thin at some points... need to get the balance right.

[manana]

Originally Posted by Hypermused

I don't want to recreate the past either, but I also don't want any more Dig Downs or Resistance album stuff. This is a mature group with the 'old skool' sound that I prefer. They're not singing about the 'hot girl in the club' they're talking about Thought Contagion: How belief spreads through society. That's what I want. So am a happy Muser.

This is musically as bad as Dig Down. I like the lyrics. They're good. The main reason I listen to Muse is for their music. This just isn't up to their usual standards.