A song that doesn’t sound like the usual sound of a band could be considered as a nice surprise, at least it shows that the band in question is not repeating itself. May be, unless the tune is a mixed rip-off of other famous bands and becomes like an attempt to gain as many fans as possible, from dubstep maniacs, to U2’s bombastic enthusiasts, to Queen’s nostalgics?
The new Muse’s single, ‘Madness’, has only been out for a few days, but has already, and unsurprisingly, more than 1 million views on YouTube, without sounding like a Muse’s song at all! Instead, there’s a lot of Queen, George Michael, and Bono in this pseudo-synth ballad, and Bellamy has lost any personality as visions of Freddie Mercury will unavoidably cross your mind when he sings this rather stripped down song,… for a Muse tune! Even the guitar sounds like a riff from a 1984 Queen’s song.
It is also very slow at starting and when there is at least some drama around 3:28, the song goes into a sort of U2-envy territory and you just want Bellamy to shut up.
Oh, I am sure Muse’s die-hard fans will find it ‘incredible’ and everything, but it is really a weird direction for the British band, using old formulas that have worked in the past. How can they pretend to get away with this 80s-greatest-hits mashed up into an electronic sauce?