Muse : Madness

The sixth Muse album launches with Madness, a cyber pop ballad with stuttering backing vocals and a curious wafting melody. They’ve pulled back from all the bombastic stadium rock pageantry, thank Christ, but they’re no less pompous or self-impressed here. This relatively experimental turn feels like Bowie in the '80s, atmospheric but also kind of naval-gazing and dull, full of pointed breathing and “sexy” Billy Idol-esque vocal phrasing. Ease up on the drama, Matthew, you’re going to give yourself a hernia.