Absolution

Absolution is the third studio album by English alternative rock band Muse. It was released on September 21, 2003 in the UK and on March 23, 2004 in the U.S. by Taste Music Limited. The album yielded the band’s first big American hits - “Time Is Running Out” and “Hysteria”, the former becoming their first UK Top 10 single. Recently it was voted the 21st best British album ever.

Writing and composition:

The band spent much of 2002 recording Absolution with producer Rich Costey. The album was recorded in studios in both Los Angeles and London. 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 with previous albums recording sessions were ‘hastily arranged’ and rushed.

The album incorporates themes of fear, mistrust, personal achievement and joy. Bellamy said that the beginning of the Iraq War had an effect on their songwriting.

Stockholm Syndrome, The Small Print, Time is Running Out and Ruled by Secrecy can all be perceived as having political undertones. The former contains lyrics such as “This is the last time I’ll/ Forget you/ I wish I could” that alludes to methods of control used by totalitarian states such as Hitler’s / Stalin’s Cult of the Personality, which force people to form a “bond” with their dictator. However it could also be interpreted as a critical view of the way the West democracies (US and UK) after 9/11 sacrificed civil rights in the name of “the war on terror”.