Composer Reacts to Muse - Megalomania (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

[@originbliss9488]

Fun fact about this song. It was recorded on the church organ at St Mary's Church (largest in the world) . Two issues with this, Matt Bellamy is an Athiest and this song itself is about 'deconstructing the church' and how the idea of it is a 'relic of the past' (quite interesting if you delve into it). Anyway, Bellamy, Wolstenholme, Howard and the producer asked the priest to record the organ parts in said church. The priest agreed only if he could see the lyrics. At the time, no lyrics had been written for Megalomania, so Bellamy scribbled up some cheery, happy Christian lyrics. The priest accepted it and let them record. If only the priest realised that the song was actually about how much of a corrupt system the idea of the Christian and Catholic Church is.

[@bhatt8914]

I love the song even more now

[@progrockplaylists]

yes their best album. they were lowkey prog back then. beautiful emotions conveyed by beautiful instruments and not even saying about the vocals

[@Melkor1818]

top 3.. you know the top 2

[@JUJUJUNO]

This album honestly has one of the best displays of voice work by Matthew Belamy in the whole MUSE discography, also is reaaaally well produced and put together, extremelly atmospheric, really nice overarching themes and very cool instrumentation all around. This one, Space Dementia, Darkshines and Citizen Erased are the certain highlights for me, and I really think you should check out the whole record.

[@alexshadowfax1119]

You would love several tracks from this album, such a unique work of music!

[@Blacky_Kamienczanka]

The best Muse album ever, as for me.

[@BooToadstool]

​@@Blacky_Kamienczanka The best album ever, as for me.

[@anordinarycat1285]

This is the band that got me into making music.
I could never hold a candle to them nor most musicians but I'm having fun with what I'm able to create.
Also the song is about rejecting religion and choosing to remain an atheist from the perspective of someone who is spiteful and vindictive against God himself. The organ this song was played on was recorded at a church under the conditions that the song wouldn't be anti-religion, they wrote a load of fake lyrics to show the church before recording the song and wrote the song this way anyway.

[@danielmannandersen2332]

Its basically a recipe on how they make music. It's all about harmony. So he'll always have long vocal notes, to give the drums and bass (or piano in this case) room to shine. Even when a heavy guitar gets included, it's never the instrument that sets the harmony of the song. Also if there's distorted instruments, then his vocals will be distorted, too.

[@StringHead92]

You should really check the 2021 remix of this album, imo it improves the production considerably. Great pick, one of my votes. The otherworldly feel here seems to be more in the grandiloquent end of things, rather than ethereal. I'll check the rest of the video later, but I feel this one is really interesting to analyse!

[@Neorigg]

Very underrated song

[@alexshadowfax1119]

His vocals are pretty consistent for the first 3 albums, he then starts to change his style a bit, I'm guessing to get different music and prolong his voice.

[@ModuliOfRiemannSurfaces]

Honestly he's best on the Resistance and The 2nd Law.

[@crazychaze9910]

It's mostly aging that makes his voice a bit deeper

[@miralex67]

@@crazychaze9910 technically yes but in early years he had the energy, the anger and the epic screams, full of emotions voice

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

I think I said on the last Muse reaction that I really enjoyed their first few (more alternative rock) albums but lost track of them after that, while their newer stuff seems proggier. This is from their second album, so I have heard this one. At this point Muse really sounded like a band in love with Radiohead, but who wanted to mix their sound with harder alternative rock, and I think they pull off that combination remarkably well. I think the most interesting thing about this relisten to me is how there's already shades of the proggier direction they would take their music in later on.

[@mikelbentube]

In my humble (and correct) opinion, the best muse thing is citizen erased into microcuts

[@nerea4327]

Matt's naturally a very pesimistic person, but at least he changed his mind on procreation and he has 3 kids now lol.
Nice catch on the "slurring"! Matt uses long notes and sacrifices pronnunciation to emphasize melodies and emotion. Some songs that break that pattern if you want to check them out: Panic Station, Break it to me, Thought contagion.

[@cave129]

You should react to Muse - Unnatural Selection.

[@ambassadortourettes753]

Muse is always a thinker 🤔

[@janeg6759]

I have not heard much Muse. Really I can only think of their song Uprising which, imo, was overplayed on the radio. So, that could be why they never got my attention. When listening to this song I couldn't help thinking about Radiohead and I love Radiohead (could have been the vocal style, idk). Which made me think why I didn't recommend Radiohead for this theme. I truly appreciate this technical analysis and it makes me appreciate the song more, but I'm not sold on downloading them into my playlist. 🤷 I suppose if I'm unintentionally comparing to Radiohead, I don't think they bring the emotion as intensely. That's just my opinion. It's very subjective.

[@zachanley2114]

As a massive fan of Radiohead and Muse, I'd say give Muse's Butterflies and Hurricanes or Invincible a listen! Those might be able to win you over.

[@PEGGLORE]

Citizen Erased is the only Muse song you really need to hear. It is hands down their best. They became repetitive sounding on all their future albums. Lost interest pretty quickly after Origin of Symmetry. Discovered Tool though, didn't I..