The 2nd Law - Muse
The 2nd Law Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 179 Ratings

  • Summary: The sixth album for the British rock band features bassist Chris Wolstenholme on lead vocals for two tracks he wrote.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 30
  2. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. Oct 1, 2012
    92
    Muse fans will have a hard time being disappointed by "The 2nd Law," and rookies have a new perfect place to jump in.
  2. Oct 22, 2012
    80
    Muse and David Campbell's melodramatic arrangements occasionally raise a smile, but if you like your rock symphonic and your vocals histrionic, The 2nd Law delivers. [Nov 2012, p.87]
  3. Oct 29, 2012
    80
    Does this all meld together into the cohesive whole of a perfect album? Well, no, not really. But does The 2nd Law represent a band whose only limitations seem to be the high ceiling of their collective imagination? The answer here is an emphatic yes. [6 Oct 2012, p.52]
  4. Oct 16, 2012
    60
    Listeners may scratch their heads over the album in whole; but open minds will discover that the beauty of the standalone tracks saves The 2nd Law from total combustion.

See all 30 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 61
  2. Negative: 10 out of 61
  1. Whatever genre Muse touch, they make it sound better than some band who are that genre only.
    This album is a grower, that's for sure. I enjoy
    ed pretty much whole album at first listen (except Explorers) but with each listen it gets better and better! Well done Muse. Expand
  2. The first time I listened to this, I hated it (as a years-long Muse-Fan), it was too Poppy, too mainstream. But then, after the third or fourth time of listening, it grew on me. I still don't think it's their best work (in my opinion that was their last album "the resistance" and "Absolution"). Muse are still experimenting and their music is as epic as ever. And there's not too much Dubstep in this, only in two songs. That's bearable... Expand
  3. "Not a bad album at all. It has very great musical detail, and with [Matt's] soothing vocals. Though the album doesn't include as much great songs on the album and with some of the song's not being exactly 'perfect' and 'accomplishing', the album does give a great direction to a new musical era." Expand
  4. 4
    Appalling compared to previous releases, The 2nd Law is disjointed and completely lacking in cohesion. They try to have too many styles and influences on the album, from prog rock to dubstep and none of them form together in a satisfying way. Matt's staccato vocal delivery is just pompous and irritating, and the two part symphony at the end has nothing on Exogenesis. Like the rest of the album, it's just lots of tidbits thrown together to pass off as experimentation. The only acceptable songs on the album are Panic Station and Supremacy. Matt and the boys need to come down to a little place called Earth, somewhere they were clearly at during the Origin of Symmetry era. That album was amazing. This is pure crap. Expand

See all 61 User Reviews