Select (November 1999)

Debut album from the youthful Devon trio - despite the yearning gravitas of their sound, the band are all 20 years old. Radiohead is a name likely to adhere itself to Muse like nlint on velcro - thanks to singer Matt Ballamy's tremulous, Yorke-ish vocals, and the way the guitars crash in on the fraught 'Muscle Museum'. But to dismiss them for this would be ill-advised. Muse have plenty of their own identity. For a start they have 'Unintended', a gorgeous ballad, which sounds utterly, utterly defeated, then builds to an epic finale. There are also the odd, incidental noises they fit seamlessly onto 'Cave'. They may sound like a band with the world on their shoulders, but you get the impression it's an oyster-shaped burden rather than one that will crush them. Select

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