Uncut - Showbiz review (october 1999

Primal Creamadelica Muse Showbiz (Mushroom) **** Towering debut from fearsome West Country power trio Black clad doom poets with knitted brows and lou guitars, Muse stand on the verge of greatness with this, their debut album. They rock hard enough to please metal fans, write strong enough tunes for pop radio and look miserable enough for indie acceptance. None of which feels remotely contrived - the Devon trio are simply spray-painting their small-town souls across a vast, stormy canvas. There's something of the night about cadaverous singer/songwriter Matthew Bellamy - gothic in the true sense, not the Celtic tattoos and vampire fetishism crowd. Muse share a dash of Suede's perfumed decadence and haughty swagger, but married to Nirvana's self-lacerating sincerity and Mansun's operatic pomp. They also have grand ambition and explosive energy to spare, from the explosive howls of 'Sunburn' to the malevolent manifesto of 'Hate This And I'll Love You'. For a debut album, Showbiz displays astounding depth and breadth. 'Muscle Museum' resonates with simulated Greek instrumentation before swelling to a gale-force climax of Wagnerian dimensions, while 'Falling Down' and 'Uno' are built on fiery Latin rhythms played with blood-soaked Spanish passion. You can hear vintage Delta blues, billowing priog-rock excess and jerky Kurt Weill dissonance here - sometimes in the space o one track. And yet this doesn't feel like artfully calculated, cut 'n' paste Nineties eclecticism but an organic, red-raw skin-flaying journey into one man's wracked soul. With great tunes. Radiohead is the most glaringly obvious reference point for Bellamy's tormented lyricism and lusty falsetto - a comparison which goes beyond the record's crisp, full-bodied production by John Leckie of The Bends fame. But there is more grit in Belaamy's wouded roar than in Thom Yorke's cystalline whine, even though the Muse mainman can still conjure up a toxic choirboy sob for the lovelorn acoustic lullaby 'Unintended'. Bellamy might sound tortured but Showbiz is no soul-sapping monument to negativity. It's more like a cathartic and exhilarating rollercoaster ride through heartache, self-loathing and existential despair. Just ask Madonna, who has signed the Teignmouth trio to her Maverick label in the US. Muse are going to be huge. And Showbiz is the reason why. Cheers. It's been emotional. Stephen Dalton

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