Since Origin of Symmetry, it's been clear that Muse were in danger of distintegrating into a series of the mannerisms that first made them compelling - Matt Bellamy's vocal pyrotechnics, the swooping keyboards, the raging guitar crechendos. Absolution managed to avoid that risk thanks to some well-constructed songs, but this latest album is less convincing.
Early Muse songs were full of ideas and invention. Now the band seem to be stretching a single musical thought over an entire track. Take a Bow is scarcely a song, is it?, and supermassive black hole is not that much better - a worrying…