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Arriving soon after Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day, Muse's 10th album is a roaring comeback in a similar vein, a widescreen sci-fi blockbuster that combines extraterrestrial speculation with crowd-pleasing entertainment and a warm emotional heart. With their stadium-sized, chart-topping, omnivorous, prog-metal glam-punk maximalism, the Teignmouth trio have long transcended genre labels. Their loyal fanbase would probably embrace any outlandish indulgence right now.
Even so, The Wow! Signal feels super-focussed, densely layered and stacked with killer tunes. Cramming 10 tracks into 45 minutes, this is Muse at their sharpest, eclectic and energised but low on the bloat and bombast that sometimes marred previous albums.
The Wow! Signal is named after a mysterious deep space radio burst, detected in 1977, which some scientists speculated was proof of extra-terrestrial life. These familiar Close Encounters themes run through the album, notably opening track Dark Forest, which refers to the theory that alien civilisations would assume all others to be hostile and thus conceal themselves from discovery. Combining orchestral strings with Hi-NRG electro beats, solemn choral sections with supercharged guitar solos, this baroque'n'roll disco-metal epic is one of Muse's most ambitious mini-operas yet, a Bohemian Rhapsody for the post X-Files era.
Fans of classic Muse tropes – virtuosic guitar shredding, histrionic vocals, apocalyptic imagery, complex tempo changes – are well served by Cryogen and Hexagons. But Bellamy also has a solid track record of blending high-octane riff-scorchers with slick, shiny, catchy dance-pop. Powered by Chris Wolstenholme's snappy, super-funky bassline, Nightshift Superstar is a falsetto-voiced disco earworm, Daft Punk meets Hall & Oates. The Sickness in You and I leans more into nu-metal funk-rock, sounding like Prince Against The Machine, while Hush finds Bellamy sharing a muscular, melodic duet with Britpop diva Ellie Goulding.
For all their intergalactic excess, Muse have always had a deeply romantic side, and Bellamy makes some of his most nakedly emotional statements to date here. A mighty electro-gospel anthem built around a church organ, Be With You is a majestic heartbreak ballad with strong Freddie Mercury overtones. The climactic Space Debris is another stand-out, a tender orchestral heart-tugger that likens two lovers growing apart to broken satellites falling out of orbit, its skittish rhythm resolving into a lush, tumbling, waltz-time fade-out. Bellamy reportedly split from wife Elle Evans last year, so he may be channelling real feelings here, private pain as public catharsis.
Rich in everything but understatement, The Wow! Signal finds Muse on thrilling mid-career form. Their interstellar ambitions will always be too gauche for self-serious music critics, but they remain unique prime movers in the field of unabashedly grand-scale rock, undefeated world champions at balancing outer-space spectacle with inner-space psychodrama.
