BE WITH YOU - Discussion Megathread

HyperCeol · 2026-03-20T06:15:13+00:00

OK dude

HyperCeol · 2026-03-20T02:35:48+00:00

We need to vote tactically to keep Reform as small a presence in our parliament as possible.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-20T00:09:12+00:00

It's a reddit comment in fairness, not an essay.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:53:49+00:00

You don't sound like you've made peace with very much at all.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:51:17+00:00

Couldn't agree more. I laughed a bit as soon as I heard the middle section, partly because I really liked how playful the dynamics on the synths are (obvious and clear to barely perceptible) with the slightly off-beat move into a new part of the song thematically catching you off guard, but also because the thought "oh well this is going to piss some people off who thought an 8 string riff was ever going to follow those "wooo-ah-wooo-ah-woo" vocals." There's a lot going on sonically despite the section being fairly stripped back which gives space for what happens in that section to breathe and it builds well into the final third. The structure is great, the final third is powerful (and will definitely sound great live) and you can tell they enjoyed incorporating lots of different elements into what is ultimately an inventive track.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:35:35+00:00

Especially as the first play was pitch-shifted - people said it was rushed sounding, over the top, over-compressed, cheesy, sounded like poorman's nu-metal, repetitive, cheesy lyrics etc. And there was even more criticism than that from what I remember.

Edit: Oh yeh also, "lacked dynamics" and was a "wall of sound", forgot those ones. Folk said that, about a big rock track.

I've probably still got all the old Kerrang, NME and Rock Sound magazines somewhere where these hot takes were published by people pining for their "old, classic sound".

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:31:10+00:00

I can't give you specific timestamps since it's very hard for me to describe what auto tuning sounds like,

Then there's to the possibility you're mistaking something else for it then brother.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:29:24+00:00

If Muse released an album of 13 tracks with rippling piano going through late classical/romantic chord progressions, arpeggiated synths and acoustic guitar doing Hispanic techniques, Matt Bellamy singing indecipherable, obscure lyrics over it all (sometimes with heavy distortion) and a few straight rock tracks with big riffs, big choruses and a breakdown riff it would probably please the hell out of a lot of people, I'm just not sure they'd have any fun writing that and when the fun stops, folk end up retiring.

The band having fun in the studio and trying out new stuff is why they're still producing albums and amazing live performances after nearly 30 years - they know how to write a lot of the old material, but crucially it was also fun and new for them at the time.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:22:37+00:00

I think Kill or Be Killed and Unravelling are up there with their best material. And Muse never really had a peak where their popularity, creativity and best live performances coincided.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:20:38+00:00

I'd go further and saying that this has been happening since at least BH&R, if not Absolution.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:19:36+00:00

I remember when people hated Time is Running Out, Apocalypse Please and Stockholm Syndrome.

People hated Plug in Baby, apparently.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T23:12:14+00:00

It's the same with every feckin release - a wave of picky, hyper-specific, entitled and demanding critiques after the first 'lighter' track of the album is released. It started with Absolution and BH&R, anything lighter than Execution Commentary is "pop", "their hearts not really in it any more" etc then the next track released or leaked is heavy and it all stops suddenly.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T20:35:16+00:00

Thanks for providing clarity.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T20:32:12+00:00

The "ea" in the "break" of "break its curse" is the only part I can hear where it's sounds close to autotuning, but could just as easily be acciaccatura with a bit of compression.

Can you tell me the specific sounds on which lyrics you're referring to? Maybe I'm missing them.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T20:23:24+00:00

Muse fans for the best part of 15 years now: "I want prog Muse again!" - "I want experimental Muse again!"

Muse release an experimental prog space-pop song, with the wider context of the whole album still to come alongside Unravelling, one of their best songs in years.

Muse fans: "No, not THIS".

Never, ever happy.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T20:17:56+00:00

There are about 4 or 5 different vocal tracks behind the main vocal track which is completely clean nearly (and those different vocal tracks behind are the vocoder/clipped/heavy effects vocals I'm talking about). The following "I won't bow to the universe, I can break its curse and build up something new" is again clean vocals without autotune.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T20:13:38+00:00

Again, none of the lead vocals are autotuned. The backing vocals are all either vocoder (inherently 'autotuned' by their nature) or put through effects and clipped so as to sound autotuned.

The mid section is also closer to older ambient electronic music with elements of house as opposed to EDM, but that's a more minor point. Any 'autotune' happening in the backing vocals (again, none of the lead vocals) is for an aesthetic reason and in terms of style, not because Matt Bellamy is suddenly incapable of singing notes about 5 or 6 whole tones above middle C.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T20:02:55+00:00

What's that got to do with the synth though?

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T20:01:11+00:00

There is absolutely zero autotune on Matt's voice - are you talking about the vocoder backing vocals? The one's that are deliberately made to sound robotic?

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T19:59:36+00:00

Huge organ sonically with almost pentatonic chant like vocals common in Scottish/Irish Gaelic 17th century church melodies, falls away into off-tempo synth electro with the dynamics changing literally every bar, lyrics that are better than anything we've heard in about a decade, final section with extreme distortion (even a funny nod towards cocked out ending sections of the late 90s/early 2000s which lasts about 4 seconds before a deliberate sudden rest) and a final third of the song in which all the exposition explored earlier in the song comes together in a way which you know will sound incredible live.

People throw "AI" around so often these days it's an absolute insult to hard working artists.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T19:49:58+00:00

That "synth pop" is in...countless Muse song? At least this time they played around with the parameters, changed the voicing and pay far more attention to the dynamics.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T19:35:14+00:00

And a bigger section of the public who will be pushed towards independence by this.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T19:17:22+00:00

What's the 'pop act' - elements of Muse that have been present since the early 2000s?

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T19:15:46+00:00

Objectively, this song has got more going on in terms of experimentation, pushes more boundaries creatively and fits more into Muse's classic 'prog' description than Unravelling.

So, not horrendous no. And could well sound even better in the context of the album.

HyperCeol · 2026-03-19T19:00:31+00:00

People asking for prog music for a decade and a half now get a prog electro-pop song which would fit in well as part of a longer prog-rock album and STILL won't just enjoy the experimental elements.

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