My Amazon Reviews: Muse "The 2'nd Law"

A State of Thermodynamic Equilibrium
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Muse waste no time on album #6 in going right for the pomp. "Supremacy" kicks off "The 2nd Law" like some expectation of a James Bond film theme, incorporating a movie-like riff and building into a cinematic overthrow of anything else that may follow. But that's Muse. If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. Which is a main part of the band's charm.

Queenly pompous and football stadium huge, Muse are one of the few bands that currently play it on a large scale. Take the exaggerated funk of "Panic Station," a dead ringer for Queen's "Fun It," or the upward crescendo of their contribution to the 2012 Olympics, the monumental "Survival" (which is self important enough to have its own prelude). Spiraling up to a mammoth cascade of vocal overlays and epic anthem guitars, it was a fitting song to play over Olympian triumphs.

New to the band is the stepping out of bass player Chris Wolstenholme, who tries his hand at singing and songwriting in place of main man Matthew Bellamy. On "Save Me" and "Liquid State," which provide a break to Muse's usual sledgehammer approach. "Liquid State" is the more driven of the pair, which then leads into the band's set of prog numbers, "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" and "The 2nd Law: Isolated System." Not since Alan Parsons has a band attempted to go this grand; who else would try a duo of songs based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics? (The entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated systems spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium--the state of maximum entropy - thanks Wikipedia.)

Loaded with stings, horns and choral effects, it's the sound of ambition pole vaulting into classic rock territory. Parsons would be proud of his prodigies in this case, although I bet a lot of fans will be confused. Me, I usually like when one of my favorite bands tries to get their rocks off doing something against the grain. Be it the electronics of "Madness" or the theater of "The Second Law," Muse delivers on their promise to not be run-of-the-mill.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Queen "Flash Gordon Soundtrack"

Flash! Naahhh!
2 Out of 5 Stars
 
A Cheesey soundtrack for an even cheesier movie, this album arrived a mere six months after "The Game" began establishing itself as Queen's biggest American album. But let's not kid ourselves about this one; "Flash Gordon" is a mish mash of dippy synthesizer effects, Freddie Mercury wailing away operatically, and snippets of the film's campy dramatic dialogue. The theme itself is classic Queen, with the powerful "Flash! Ah Ah! Savior of the Universe!" The bonus disc offers the single version, with almost a minute of Ming The Merciless's dialogue chopped off, and a rework of "The Hero" to a single-like version (again, minus dialogue).

As Queen albums go, this is the bottom of the stack. Guess I am too nostalgic to not have bought it, and the bonus disc offers some good stuff, which is why I offer two stars instead of one. "Flash Gordon" is more a soundtrack that features Queen music than an album by Queen themselves. For that, get the pseudo "Highlander" soundtrack, "Kind of Magic."