You gotta hand it to Muse — in the tongue-in-cheek era, they are proud to be fucking ridiculous. Because really, what band today could open a record with the line "Wake to see your true emancipation is a fantasy" wailed over the string section from "Kashmir" and riff right out of the Queen playbook? Dub-step breaks, Gothic choirs, allusions to robot overlords, falsetto (oh the falsetto): no band has the balls, or perhaps the gall to go for broke like this. That said, The 2nd Law is undoubtedly the silliest record of the year, but it's hard to knock the band for following their, well, muse to such entertaining ends.
★★ ½ (out of 5 stars)
