Muse - The Wow Signal
Against all odds, Muse return to top form.
With reception from both critics and listeners steadily declining over the band’s last five albums, dating all the way back to 2009’s The Resistance, until very recently, it seemed entirely fair to have written off Muse’s ability to make a great record again. However, on their tenth studio LP, The Wow Signal, released June 26th, the seasoned English rock group deliver arguably the best music they’ve made since their 2006 LP Black Holes and Revelations.
The album’s soundscape is quite consistent with its dark, outer space-themed album cover – the futuristic, synth-backed instrumentals make the record feel genuinely otherworldly, with a real menacing edge to certain tracks like “The Sickness In You & I” or “Unraveling”. The album has a theatricalness to it that isn’t overbearing, unlike some of Muse’s other more recent output; the more dramatic elements such as the cinematic string and organ parts add to the scale of the album without feeling forced, giving tracks like “The Dark Forest” or “Be With You” a massive, anthemic quality.
The instrumental work is really impressive at times, particularly on highlights such as “Hexagons”, “Cryogen” or “Space Debris”. The guitars are fantastic, and the distorted, prominent bass lines also stand out. Muse go for a lot of non-obvious structural choices throughout the tracklist, too, which makes the project a thoroughly captivating listening experience from front to back. Some of the instrumentation is somewhat generic at points, but that doesn’t stop it from being very enjoyable. The record does very well combining more industrial and futuristic elements with straightforward, modern metal heaviness, oftentimes even within the same song.
Frontman Matt Belamy also performs to a very high standard on this album, with his instantly recognizable breathy, mesmerizing vocals adding a great deal of personality to the tracks; his more impassioned moments also connect as intended, with the slightly exaggerated tones not feeling hollow or excessively self-important like they did on previous records. There is a wealth of catchy moments vocally throughout the project, especially the choruses, which are immediately memorable and, in many cases, really piercing emotionally. There is also one other vocalist aside from Bellamy on this album – Ellie Goulding, who is an unexpectedly great fit as a featured artist on the album’s penultimate track, “Hush”.
It also feels like Muse have learned and improved from their missteps when it comes to the lyricism: while still feeling elevated and poetic, it’s much simpler in its core content, but is significantly more effective – particularly when compared to the ham-fisted, messy preachiness of 2022’s Will of the People.
Overall, in many ways, The Wow Signal feels like a modernized, futuristic nod to the band’s older music, both in terms of some musical choices and in terms of its quality. It’s an album that feels like a much-needed reminder of Muse’s abilities as a band, particularly their unique approach to structuring and their sonic versatility – a huge step back in the right direction after a somewhat misguided last decade and a half.
7.5/10
