Good.

Over the years I've had an on and off relationship with Muse. The Black Holes And Revelations album from 2006 is great, Map Of the Problematique one of my favorite songs of all time. Their albums following that had a couple of songs I liked, but as a whole they were all a bit lackluster. So when I heard they had a new album out it was a bit like hearing U2 had a new album. You know, mildly interested for nostalgia value, but in no hurry to actually listen to it. This week I decided to give it a whirl.

First a little note. About 18 months ago I wrote about how I'd discovered the music genre known as retro electro or synthwave. Kids making albums that sound like soundtracks to 80s movies & TV shows. Since then I've become fully enamored by all those bands and they're on high rotation in my headphones.

So yeah Simulation Theory. The first thing I noticed was the album cover. It's is almost an exact copy of everything in the retro electro genre. I wondered if that was a teaser for what was to come. It was. It seems Muse have also listened to a lot of those same bands I have in the last year.

And that's not a bad thing at all. I'm only on my second listen through but I'm really liking it so far. Seems like a welcome return to form.