Origin of Symmetry

Writing

Origin of Symmetry was described as alternative rock, progressive rock, space rock and hard rock. Muse developed it during their tour for their debut album, Showbiz. "Feeling Good", a cover, was written for Broadway by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse in 1964, and first recorded by Nina Simone for her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You.

Whereas the Showbiz lyrics had "wallowed in heartbroken angst", Matt Bellamy's lyrics moved to "sci-fi surrealism". The album title derives from the 1994 book Hyperspace by the theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, which suggests the title The Origin of Symmetry for a future book about the discovery of supersymmetry, a reference to On the Origin of Species. Bellamy said: "Everyone's been writing about the origin of life so now they'll start looking at the origin of symmetry; there's a certain amount of stability in the universe and to find out where it originates from would be to find out if God exists."

Recording

After completing the Showbiz tour, Muse recorded "Plug In Baby", "Bliss", "New Born" and "Darkshines" with the producer David Bottrill, forming the "backbone" of Origin of Symmetry. To capture their live energy, Muse recorded together as a band, with some overdubs.

After Bottrill departed to work on the Tool album Lateralus, Muse enlisted John Leckie, who had produced Showbiz. They recorded in Sawmills in Fowey, Cornwall; Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey; Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire; and David Gilmour's Astoria houseboat studio on the Thames. While they were working in Real World Studios, they went to a church in Bath to record a church organ for "Megalomania".

Having mainly recorded Showbiz with a Gibson Les Paul guitar, Bellamy recorded Origin of Symmetry using a custom Manson guitar equipped with a built-in Fuzz Factory, a fuzz distortion effect. It was the first of many collaborations between Bellamy and Manson.

Release

Origin of Symmetry was released on 18 June 2001. It was originally scheduled for release in the United States through Maverick Records, which had also released Showbiz. However, Muse left Maverick when they demanded Bellamy rerecord the album with less falsetto, and it was not released in the US until 2005.

Critical reception

Origin of Symmetry received mainly positive reviews. Roy Wilkinson of Q praised it as an "astonishing record... where extra-terrestrial fascinations meet the classical world's more unhinged impulses", adding that "comparisons with Radiohead that dogged Muse's early career now seem all but obsolete". Roger Morton of NME called the album a "reinvention of grunge as a neo-classical, high gothic future rock, full of flambéed pianolas and white-knuckle electric camp ... It's apparent that Muse can handle their brutal arias." Q named Origin of Symmetry one of the 50 best albums of 2001, while Kerrang! named it the ninth-best.

The Guardian's Betty Clarke panned Origin of Symmetry as "unbelievably overblown, self-important and horrible". The Stylus critic Tyler Martin felt that Muse were "very good at their craft", but that "the constant overplaying of everything waters it all down immensely".

Legacy

In 2006, Q named Origin of Symmetry the 74th-greatest album. In 2008, Q readers voted it the 28th-best British album. Kerrang! named it the 20th-best British rock album and the 13th-best album of the 21st century. For its 10th anniversary, Muse performed Origin of Symmetry in its entirety at the Reading and Leeds Festivals on 26 August and 28 August 2011.

In a retrospective review, Natalie Shaw of BBC Music wrote that Origin of Symmetry "shows a band with the drive and unfettered ambition to create a standalone marvel which not only awakens the ghosts and clichés from prog's pompous past, but entirely adds its own voice". She said many elements of later Muse albums, such as Black Holes and Revelations (2006), could be traced back to the album. The author Amy Britton argued that Origin of Symmetry made Bellamy "this generation's guitar hero", highlighting "Plug In Baby" and "New Born". In a 2021 review, the Pitchfork critic Jazz Monroe wrote: "Muse were playing melodrama as teenage realism, an extremely, ridiculously honest noise ... By combining goth vulnerability with sci-fi scale and hard-rock drama, [Origin of Symmetry] captures a paradox of young romance: on one hand, Bellamy sounds wracked with despair, but he proclaims his heartbreak with the glee of an ecstatic preacher."

Reissues

On 6 December 2019, Origin of Symmetry was remastered and reissued as part of the Origin of Muse boxset, alongside Showbiz, demos, live performances and other material. On 18 June 2021, the album's 20th anniversary, Muse released a remixed and remastered version, Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX. A collaboration with the producer Rich Costey, who worked on several later Muse albums, it features a "more open, dynamic and less crushed sound". The new mixes also restore elements that were originally muted or obscured, such as string sections on "Space Dementia", "Citizen Erased" and "Megalomania", and a harpsichord on "Micro Cuts". The album features new cover artwork by Sujin Kim. Monroe described the reissue as "definitive ... even more colossal and timeless".

Personnel

Personnel adapted from Origin of Symmetry liner notes.

Muse

Matthew Bellamy – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards; string arrangement, production, mixing

Chris Wolstenholme – basses, backing vocals, vibraphone; production, mixing

Dominic Howard – drums, percussion; production, mixing

Notes and references

Notes

References