Origin of Symmetry is the second studio album by the English rock band Muse, released on 18 June 2001 through Taste Media. It was produced by John Leckie, who produced Muse's debut album, Showbiz (1999), and David Bottrill.

Origin of Symmetry is considered Muse's breakthrough album. It reached number three on the UK Albums Chart and was certified platinum. It was the first Muse album to chart in the U.S. "Plug In Baby", "New Born", "Bliss", and the double A-side "Hyper Music" / "Feeling Good" were released as singles. As of 2018, Origin of Symmetry had sold more than two million copies worldwide.

Origin of Symmetry received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising its blend of rock and classical music. It has since been named one of the greatest rock albums of the 2000s by several publications. For the album's 20th anniversary in 2021, Muse released a remixed and remastered version, Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX.

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".

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.

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". while Kerrang! named it the ninth-best.

The Guardians 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." 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.

|headline = Original release

|title1 =New Born

|length1=6:03

|title2 =Bliss

|length2=4:12

|title3 =Space Dementia

|length3=6:20

|title4 =Hyper Music

|length4=3:20

|title5 =Plug In Baby

|length5=3:40

|title6 =Citizen Erased

|length6=7:19

|title7 =Micro Cuts

|length7=3:38

|title8 =Screenager

|length8=4:20

|title9 =Darkshines

|length9=4:47

|title10=Feeling Good

|length10=3:19

|title11 =Megalomania

|length11=4:40

|total_length= 51:38

Personnel

Personnel adapted from Origin of Symmetry liner notes.

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! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| 20

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Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

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! scope="col"| Chart (2001)

! scope="col"| Position

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! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

| 50

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! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)

| 46

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! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

| 67

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! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)

| 91

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! scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)

| 57

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! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

| 74

|}

Certifications

Notes and references

Notes

References

  • Muse official site