On Thursday, Muse has posted a video on YouTube for their new song ‘Psycho’ off their upcoming album ‘Drones’, and it already has more than 850,000 views and more than 6,000 comments, Man, is this band big! However, browsing the comments, the Muse world is very divided!
The UK band goes back to the full arena-rock effect with tough metal riffs and the Full Metal Jacket copycat to begin the video … but wait a minute… Have you heard this starting riff before? It starts exactly like this song by Rob Zombie, which could also remind about a lot ofIggy Pop? A new song is always reminding me another song which is reminding me another song…. My head is spinning. Oh sure the rest is different but in these times of plagiarism they should be more careful. Should I email Rob Zombie?
Beside this persistent metal feeling, the song is not going into many directions, just add Bellamy’s signature operatic falsetto and then we will go back to the beginning, the song structure couldn’t be simpler and the sound couldn’t be more bombastic. It is a head-banging track if I have ever heard one, but these strident guitars remind me way too much QOTSA to be comfortable! Should I stop with my comparisons? Look, Rolling Stone even heard Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’ into it, and I can hear it that too, but at the end ‘Psycho’ is very much a Muse song, so how is this possible? Well because they have used this same formula over and over.
It’s apparently an anti-military song and Bellamy has explained the tone of ‘Drones’ by declaring:
‘To me, ‘Drones’ are metaphorical psychopaths which enable psychopathic behavior with no recourse. The world is run by Drones utilizing Drones to turn us all into Drones. Drones explores the journey of a human, from their abandonment and loss of hope, to their indoctrination by the system to be a human drone, to their eventual defection from their oppressors.’ …
‘All in all you’re just another brick in the wall’?… instead he sings ‘Your mind is just a program and I’m the virus…. Your ass belongs to me now’… I let you to be the judge, but are you really out of the system Bellamy?
‘Drones’ is Muse’s seventh album, and it will be released on June 9th, but it is available right now for pre-order on iTunes with an instant download of ‘Psycho’. Meanwhile, the album’s first official single, ‘Dead Inside’ will be released later this month. Another formulaic song? Probably!
Here is the album tracklist
Dead Inside
[Drill Sergeant]
Psycho
Mercy
Reapers
The Handler
[JFK]
Defector
Revolt
Aftermath
The Globalist