I like this song quite a bit, actually. Not fully decided but thus far I appreciate that Muse pulls out the Depeche Mode approach every once in a while. They've definitely gone full speed ahead with drones. In all songs, it's pretty explicit, so no mistake that this album is unequivocally conceptual. I'd like to hear the studio version of Reapers, though.
Eh not great but at least it's better than Psycho. The lyrics are still not appealing to me but the instrumentation is a lot more layered. And Matt Bellamy doesn't sound so weak on this track. Best part of the song is the guitar licks after the first chorus. The bridge though was kind of underwhelming.
I actually like Dead Inside a lot! Especially when the guitars come in during the bridge. Reminds me a lot of Madness.
The notes accompanying the song might help some: "From Matt: This is where the story of the album begins, where the protagonist loses hope and becomes 'Dead Inside', therefore vulnerable to the dark forces introduced in 'Psycho' and which ensure over the next few songs on the album, before eventually defecting, revolting and overcoming these dark forces later in the story."
Although the lyrics are fairly depressing, the vocals completely ruin the "dark mood" with an almost hopeful delivery. Not to mention a fair amount of lust as well. The song does nothing for me once again. I won't speak my mind too early though, as Imagine Dragons did the same thing to me with Smoke + Mirrors and once I heard the full album I loved it. Hopefully the context of these songs will make sense in the bigger picture.
The song "Dead Inside" is not meant to be dark, itself. That's not what he's saying in the description. The idea is that this is the sort of the moment in which the protagonist realizes and proclaims their vulnerability. It is Psycho that is meant to be more of the 'dark forces' bit that Matt is referring to. I dno, personally, I like it. Muse's new albums lately have taken their time to grow on me, and I'm not 100% sold on it yet, but I kinda like the style of "Dead Inside" and I can see how "Psycho" fits in to the story. "Reapers" sounds really good even though we only have a rough live shot of it.
^ He gets it. That being said, I'd just like to point out that it's a lead single, its going to be the most poppy song on the album. Yes, it's extremely 80s influenced, it's very Queen-esque, but it's almost definitely not representative of the album (see reapers for that). And it's not bad either, you just have to remember that it's a pop song, not a rock song. Matt's vocals carry a huge amount of emotion ("Don't leave me out in the cold"), the melodies aren't boring (especially during the climax), the song builds itself very well from start to end, it has a fun drum beat (again, important for the genre), and most importantly for a lead single, it's exciting to listen to and damn catchy. But that's all it is, it's a pop song. If that's not your thing, that's cool, some people just don't enjoy pop, that's fine. I wouldn't worry though, yes psycho was meant to be representative of the album and it was a bit of a let down (in my opinion), but dead inside is exactly what it needs to be, and nothing more. Just my two cents as someone who listens to both pop music and heavy music. I enjoy it, but it's all just opinion anyway.
Muse performing Reapers live in Glasgow. Sick guitar work on this one. [video=youtube;Ls1EoPGoYMI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls1EoPGoYMI[/video]
Yeah, I'm a big fan of "Reapers" and am really hoping we hear a studio version soon. It has the feel of Absolution.
I've rather warmed up to Psycho, though the lyrics are still shit. The only thing I'm looking forward to at this point is The Globalist, a sequel to OoS's Citizen Erased.
Really hoping that these two tracks are the weakest on the album, because right now everything I'm hearing is screaming 'rehash'. The songs aren't bad, but I feel like we heard Psycho before with 'Uprising' and Dead Inside before with basically a few of the tracks on The 2nd Law. Again don't get me wrong, DI is very catchy and I've listened a few times. It's just this isn't a slam dunk of an album like I was hoping it was going to be so far.
Dead Inside is interesting. Just listened to it for the first time. What I'm interested to see is how Drones comes together as a full album. That's what'll make it or break it.
Agreed. I was expecting some better tracks from them. Reapers would have actually been the song for that. Hope they release that next.