Alternative Press wrote that the album's "chaotic choruses feel like the triumphant culmination of some earth-shattering undertaking", while Andrew Future of Drowned in Sound called it "a truly elemental opus".
The song "Blackout" features in the 2006 film, Southland Tales and its soundtrack, Southland Tales: Music from the Motion Picture.Ĭritical reception Professional ratings Aggregate scoresĪbsolution was met with positive reviews from critics, holding an average critic score of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 16 reviews. The album and each of the singles except "Stockholm Syndrome" were distributed as promotional CDs housed in Anti-Static Bags. This DVD contained 40 minutes of 'The making of Absolution' footage, as well as pictures of the band. There was also a limited edition release of Absolution that featured a bonus DVD. Because of contractual obligations, the band could not allow the song to be downloaded for free, so the fee was set at $0.99 and it was downloaded more than 20,000 times.
There were six singles, of which the first, " Stockholm Syndrome", was download only. It was their first album released on the A&E Records label. The special edition features a different man in a different angle, while the vinyl pressing features a little girl, instead.Ībsolution was released on 23 September 2003 on CD and double vinyl. The special edition and vinyl pressing artworks slightly differ. According to Dominic Howard, "The artwork can either be seen as people coming down to Earth or leaving the Earth, it's open to interpretation". The ambiguous falling/floating image was inspired by the René Magritte painting Golconda. I think it's just suggesting that the act of making music is a way of understanding things." Ībsolution was one of two Muse albums (alongside Black Holes and Revelations) to feature artwork by Storm Thorgerson. In April 2004, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy stated "I think that absolution is not necessarily a religious word it has meanings of purity, but it's not necessarily talking from a Christian or any particular religious point of view. The track "Blackout" featured an 18-piece orchestra. The B-side and bonus track "Fury" and future Black Holes and Revelations track "Soldier's Poem" were among discarded material written during the Absolution sessions, with "Fury" being dropped in favour of "The Small Print" due to Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard's preference to the latter song, despite frontman Matt Bellamy intending to include the former on the album's track listing. These musical influences and lyrical themes were relatively new to Muse's sound and would be further explored on their following albums, in particular their fifth studio album The Resistance.
Bellamy said that the beginning of the Iraq War had an effect on their songwriting. Lyrically, the album incorporates themes of fear, mistrust, personal achievement and joy, and a general theme of "things coming to an end". It establishes some of the musical and lyrical themes which would later become Muse's trademarks, such as symphonic rock influences on " Butterflies and Hurricanes", orchestral music influences on "Blackout" and electronic music influences on "Endlessly". Ībsolution is an alternative rock, progressive rock, hard rock, and art rock album. Bellamy said that the band made a "conscious decision" to "get together in a room and make music", setting aside time to record the album, as previous albums' recording sessions were 'hastily arranged' and rushed. The album was recorded in studios in both Los Angeles and London. The band spent much of 2002 recording Absolution with producer Rich Costey. In 2009, it was voted by Kerrang! as the second-best album of the 21st century thus far. It also yielded the band's first top-ten single, with " Time Is Running Out" peaking at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. Absolution has a noticeably darker and heavier tone musically, with a lyrical focus on theological and apocalyptic concepts. The album followed up on Origin of Symmetry 's diverse musical tendencies and elaborate sound, while also having a more focused and consistent theme and aesthetic throughout. It was released on 15 September 2003 in Japan, 22 September 2003 in the United Kingdom by East West Records and Taste Media and 30 September 2003 in the United States by Warner Bros. Absolution is the third studio album by English rock band Muse.