ABSOLUTION

Absolution is the album that I've listened to the least out of the three Muse albums that I've had the opportunity of experiencing. It didn't really have much to do with the album itself but more with the circumstances that surrounded me at the time of its release. I consider the 2002-2004 period in my music development to be highly significant to my current level of enlightenment. This was where I really got into the Symphonic Prog bands like Genesis, Yes and ELP meaning that I personally refer to that period as my classic years.

I can understand why Absolution is currently the highest rated Muse release on the site. The album features quite a few of the band's best songs like Time Is Running Out and Hysteria at the same time it also fully utilized the Muse-sound that has, in the recent years, become a subject of imitation by other bands. But even though this record is an important artistic statement it also has its share of filler material. In fact, Absolution is far from a solid all around release that I would have wished it to be since the album is almost entirely split between excellent and filler material with very little middle ground in between the two.

The album starts with a short intro track that transitions into the atmospheric sounds of Apocalypse Please. This is where we get bombarded by a few heavier tracks like Time Is Running Out and Stockholm Syndrome that are easily the highlights of the album. Unfortunately it's the album's second part, starting with Interlude, that isn't really as strong. Things do start nicely with another heavy guitar rocker Hysteria but Blackout sounds quite pretentious to my ears and even though Butterflies And Hurricanes is easily the most progressive track of this album it just doesn't reach the intensity that the song's build-up originally promises.

The last four tracks consist mostly of either experiments gone wrong or just filler material that the band added just to fill out the space. Small Print and Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist are just two straightforward rockers that feel like an insult after all the excellent heavy hitting rockers that came right before it. Endlessly is flirting with disco which isn't something that I think this band needs to explore any further. Finally Ruled By Secrecy closes the album with another atmospheric landscape which I do find suiting even though I wish that the track had a stronger punch to it.

Overall Absolution, just like Origin Of Symmetry before it, is another important piece of this band's history due to the high number of great songs incorporated into the mix. Unfortunately the filler material restrains me once again from giving a Muse album anything higher than the good, but non-essential rating. Still I urge all the fans of this type of music to check this album out since this is one of the few times when Muse managed to satisfy all the spectrums of their fan-base without resolving to truly cheesy moments.

***** star songs: Time Is Running Out (3:58) Stockholm Syndrome (4:57) Hysteria (3:47)

**** star songs: Apocalypse Please (4:13) Sing For Absolution (4:55) Falling Away With You (4:41) Butterflies And Hurricanes (5:02) Ruled By Secrecy (4:52)

*** star songs: Intro (0:22) Interlude (0:38) Blackout (4:22) Small Print (3:29) Endlessly (3:49) Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist (3:07)