On November 9th, Muse dropped their 8th studio album, Simulation Theory. The album, with 11 songs and 5 alternate versions on the deluxe album, has been met with high ratings across the board with a 71 from Metacritic and an 80 from NME. The album, as with other Muse albums, focuses on a heavy electronic sound and deep bass beats. Unlike other albums,  Simulation Theory‘s sound is less modern EDM and more 80’s style techno.

The album was preceded by the release of 5 singles, including popular radio hit “Dig Down” which predated the album by a year and a half. The next single, “Thought Contagion” wouldn’t be released until February this year. The album has music videos for 8 out of the 11 songs, a much higher ratio than seen with other artists, but Muse apparently wanted to mix the art of their music with the incredible visual art these videos contain. The art of the album cover and the music videos are clearly inspired by 80’s style poster art, as seen in popular shows like Stranger Things, and the electric neon of the same era.

Aside from the visual art, the sound of the album, though similar, has different aspects compared to their other works. There are definitely more 80’s style synthesizers to go in line with the theme. The album opens up with two songs, “Algorithm” and “The Dark Side”, which are such classic Muse I had questioned whether or not I had heard them before. It follows they’re traditional methods in line with their self-created techno-opera genre.

As the album continues, the sound starts to evolve a little beyond their classic songs. There are a few slower songs, but for the most part, it involves heavy bass and falsetto vocals. Despite their similarity to other songs the band has produced, the first two songs on the album are still great bops.

The music videos are great visual art, and definitely work to tell the story of the album. I appreciate songs and videos that tell a complete story. The plot line of the videos are somewhat hard to follow — so, I’ll have to dock some points for that.

The visual art of the albums, though gorgeous and well done, probably could not have been done without shows like Stranger Things. There are such obvious allusions to the work that it’s difficult to think they didn’t just copy them directly. They’re not exactly original visuals, to say the least.

All in all, though the album may be almost identical to Muse’s other albums, and the art style has been done before, it’s a solid album with several good bops. My personal favorites are “The Dark Side”, “Get Up and Fight” and “Propaganda”. If you like classic Muse, this album is a great addition to your discography. If you’ve been waiting for them to change up their sound, however, you’ll probably have to wait a little longer. I’m giving this album a 6/10.