ABSOLUTION

It's no secret that Muse main man Matt Bellamy is an unabashed conspiracy buff, and so it's only natural that it should come out here and there in the lyrics of Absolution, the first Muse album to come out after 9/11 (which, of course, set conspiracy fans the world over into overdrive). As well as overt espousal of conspiracy theory in songs like Ruled By Secrecy - whose title recalls an infamous work of conspiracy literature - there's also the apocalyptic and paranoid tone of songs like the title track. Hogwash, of course, but musically speaking this is a perfectly logical development of the emotionally overwrought and musically bombastic style Muse hit on in Origin of Symmetry. That said, the playfulness evident in the previous album has all but disappeared and a certain po-faced seriousness creeps into the music here, and I don't think Muse have been quite on form since.