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This article is about the Muse album. For the rule of energy transfers upon which this album is based, see Second law of thermodynamics. For other theoretical laws, see Second law.

The 2nd Law is the sixth studio album by English alternative rock band Muse, released throughout most of the world on 1 October 2012, and in North America on 2 October 2012.

Critical reception was favourable, with praise directed towards the album's ambition and bombastic tendencies; whilst also being criticized for incorporating too many genres and influences.

Background and development

Muse entered the studio to begin recording their sixth studio album in September 2011, which bassist Christopher Wolstenholme later confirmed in an interview with BBC Radio 1, stating: "September and October, that's when we're going to get into the studio to start writing the new album." In an interview with Billboard on 18 October 2011, the band's manager Anthony Addis revealed that Muse had begun recording their sixth album in London and that he expected it to be released by October 2012. Bellamy jokingly described the album as a "christian gangsta rap jazz odyssey, with some ambient rebellious dubstep and face-melting metal flamenco cowboy psychedelia" on his Twitter account.

In an interview with Kerrang! on 14 December 2011, Wolstenholme stated that the next Muse album would be "something radically different" from their prior releases. He also said that it felt as if the band were "drawing a line under a certain period" of their career with their sixth album. In another interview Chris mentioned that the band had experimented with music and sounds in particular, which makes this album their most experimental piece ever. It was revealed via Muse's publicist Tom Kirk on his Twitter account that composer David Campbell who had worked with acts such as Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Evanescence, Avril Lavigne, Beck and Adele was helping Matt Bellamy compose the album. In an interview in the April 2012 issue of NME, Bellamy said that the band were set to include elements of electronic music, with influences coming from acts such as French house duo Justice and UK electronic rock group Does It Offend You, Yeah?, as well as the inclusion of brass players.

The name "The 2nd Law" references the second law of thermodynamics, which is quoted in the track "Unsustainable" as follows:

All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way that the availability of the remaining energy decreases. In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system, the entropy of that system increases. Energy continuously flows from being concentrated, to becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted, and useless. New energy cannot be created and high-grade energy is being destroyed.

Writing and composition

"Madness", according to NME, features influences which draw from Queen's "I Want to Break Free" and David Bowie's Scary Monsters and Super Creeps album. Frontman Matt Bellamy has stated that dubstep producer Skrillex was an influence when writing one of the final two tracks on the album – "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable". He also stated that the song "Follow Me" was written about his newborn son, Bingham Bellamy. "Panic Station" features musicians who performed on Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and includes funk rock influences. Bassist Chris Wolstenholme wrote two songs for the album about his battle with alcoholism – "Save Me" and "Liquid State" – and provided lead vocals on both tracks. The electronic-tinged track "Follow Me" was produced by Nero.

The album marks the first time Muse have received a Parental Advisory label on an album with the inclusion of explicit lyrics in the song "Panic Station".

Release and promotion

On 6 June 2012, Muse released a trailer for their next album, The 2nd Law, with a countdown on the band's website suggesting a 17 September release date. The trailer, which included dubstep elements, was met with mixed reactions from fans. On 9 August, Muse made the album track "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" available to fans who pre-ordered the album from their online store, and then uploaded the video for the track onto their YouTube channel on 10 August.

Artwork

The album's cover art, taken from the Human Connectome Project, represents the map of the human brain's pathways, "tracking the circuits in our heads and how we process information with bright, neon colors." The artwork was subsequently utilized by Muse in a social Connectome Project on 21 September 2012. As more fans joined the online project, the album art was built, representing the network of the neurons within the brain. As the album art branched and more fans joined the network, incremental segments of the album track "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" was released.

On 24 September, the album was made available online through official streams in many international markets.

Singles

"Survival" was released as the album's first single on June 27, 2012. It served as the official song of the London 2012 Olympics Games.

"Madness" was revealed as the second single by Muse in an interview with NME magazine. Muse announced on their website that "Madness" would be released worldwide on 20 August. It was also announced that the album would be delayed from its initial release date of 17 September to 1 October 2012.

"Follow Me" was revealed as the third single when several promo CD's allegedly sent to radio stations appeared on eBay. The official lyric video was released on Muse's YouTube channel on 1 November 2012.

Promotional singles

"Survival" was released to radio stations on June 27, 2012, and was premiered on BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, along with the song's counterpart intro, "Prelude".

"Madness" was released to radio stations on August 20. It was announced that the song "Madness" would make its world premiere on BBC Radio 1 at 19:30 BST, but the track was leaked online beforehand, due to an unintentional early release in South Korea.

"Panic Station" was released as a promotional single from The 2nd Law in the days leading up to its release on September 24, 2012. Its first airplay occurred on British alternative music station XFM. The band performed this track, as well as "Madness" on the October 6th, 2012 episode of Saturday Night Live.

Tour

On 7 June 2012, Muse announced a European Arena tour; the first leg of The 2nd Law Tour. The leg included dates in France, Ireland, Spain, Finland and the United Kingdom as well as other countries. They recently announced North American and Canadian tour dates.

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	70/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
BBC	positive
Digital Spy
Drowned in Sound	8/10
Entertainment Weekly	C+
The Guardian
NME	8/10
The Observer
Grande Rock
Pitchfork Media	5.5/10
Rolling Stone

Critical reception

The 2nd Law received favourable reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." The Guardian's Alexis Petridis rated the album four out of five stars, complimenting the band's ambition but finding fault with the album's bombastic tendencies which were also present on their previous albums, stating "no one goes to see a blockbuster for its profundity and deep characterisation. They go for the stunts and the special effects, both of which The 2nd Law delivers." BBC music critic Ian Winwood also gave the album a positive review, highlighting "Supremacy", "Liquid State" and "The 2nd Law: Isolated System", saying that Muse "present themselves in any guise they please". The Telegraph's Helen Brown rated the album four out of five stars, noting the album's eclectic influences and reserving praise for "Madness" in particular. The Observer's reviewer also alluded to Muse's bombastic tendencies, saying "Bellamy is not blind to the contradictions of his band's attempts continually to ramp the ludicrousness up to 11; endless growth is, of course, unsustainable. But for now they remain pretty comfortable with the idea of obscene over-inflation. So should we."

Allmusic rated the album three out of five stars, noting "their excursions into dubstep and dance music on tracks like "Madness" and "Follow Me" feel more like remixes than original songs. Songs like these definitely have the spine of Muse tracks, but the production that's built up around them feels almost alien." Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a grade of C+, claiming that "the band goes overboard with Queen-isms" and expressing disappointment at the lack of electronic music elements compared to the band's expectations that the album would be a departure from previous releases.

Commercial performance

It debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 with 101,000 copies sold in its first week, giving Muse the highest charting debut of their career in the US, although it sold fewer copies than the debut of their previous album The Resistance, which debuted at number 3. It also debuted at number 2 in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Korea and Spain. The album gave Muse their fourth number 1 debut in the UK, while also debuting at number 1 in 13 other countries.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Matthew Bellamy, except "Save Me" and "Liquid State" by Christopher Wolstenholme

Personnel

Muse

• Matthew Bellamy – vocals, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, orchestral arrangements, production, additional mixing (track 6)
• Christopher Wolstenholme – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals, lead vocals (tracks 10 and 11), production
• Dominic Howard – drums, percussion, synthesizers, production

Additional personnel

• David Campbell – conducting
• Gavin Bond – photography

Charts and certifications

Release history

See also

• The 2nd Law Tour
• Second law of thermodynamics

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