[powerpress]
The Album Effect episode 26 reviews Simulation Theory by Muse, Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures by Coheed and Cambria, Younger Now by Miley Cyrus, and a special submission from punk rock band, Spun Intended, for their 2016 EP, Learn to Love, plus more.
Check out and listen to Learn to Love by Spun Intended, here.
Have an album you’d like us to review?
Submit your album recommendation here.
Follow us on Instagram/Twitter @thealbumeffect
Episode 26 Albums:
Simulation Theory (2018)
Muse
Muse’s Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard met at Teignmouth Community School in England, where they played in separate bands. After getting together in 1994, they released their first Muse EP four years later through independent label Taste Media. Their first studio album, Showbiz, was released in 1999 and featured a mix of alternative rock with jazz and classical influences that was sometimes compared to Radiohead. Muse achieved greater success with their subsequent albums; their third studio album, Absolution, became the first of five consecutive top charting albums in the UK.
Muse began work on their eighth studio album, Simulation Theory, after their world tour ended in late 2016. The band recorded in both London and Los Angeles, co-producing the album with Rich Costey and Timbaland, among others. Unlike their prior three albums, which had been dark-themed concept works, Simulation Theory was created without a focus on an overall narrative. Muse drew influences from sci-fi and pop culture to develop a synth-driven album that blended sounds from many different eras. Bellamy has said that his goal was to create music that didn’t sound as if it belonged to one particular time or place. The accompanying artwork has a distinctly 1980s feel, however; Stranger Things artist Kyle Lambert created a cover referencing 80s classics Back to the Future, Max Headroom, Teen Wolf and more.
Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures (2018)
Coheed and Cambria
Prog rock band Coheed and Cambria formed in 1995 after the end of singer Claudio Sanchez and guitarist Travis Stever’s Toxic Parents band. Originally called Beautiful Loser, the band went through several incarnations before settling on their current name, based on the characters from Sanchez’s Amory Wars sci-fi comic. The Second Stage Turbine Blade, the band’s first album as Coheed and Cambria, was released in 2002, and it began the storyline that would be continued through all but one of their future albums. While the band is generally described as progressive rock, they also incorporate elements of pop, metal and post-hardcore, with Sanchez citing bands as diverse as Pink Floyd, Queen and At the Drive-In as influences.
Coheed and Cambria’s 2018 release, Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures, returns to the Amory Wars storyline after a single album departure with 2015’s The Color Before the Sun. The band’s first album with label Roadrunner Records, The Unheavenly Creatures is the beginning of a five-album series in what Sanchez has described as a new story arc. Released in October, the album was recorded in the early part of 2018 and self-produced by the band in New York. It received generally positive feedback from critics, with many hailing its anthemic songs as a return to form for Coheed and Cambria.
Younger Now (2017)
Miley Cyrus
Pop star Miley Cyrus first gained national attention in 2006, when she took on the lead role in Disney Channel series Hannah Montana. The daughter of country musician Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley’s music career began to take off with the soundtrack to the popular show. The Hannah Montana album was a huge commercial success, selling over three million copies globally and making Cyrus the first Disney star to have simultaneous deals in film, tv, music and product lines. Cyrus released several more Hannah Montana-related records in the following years until her Can’t Be Tamed album in 2010 saw the teen star looking to move toward a more mature sound. 2013’s hip-hop oriented Bangerz went even further in this direction, with Cyrus crafting a controversial, provocative image.
Miley Cyrus returned to a country-pop sound and more conservative look with sixth studio album Younger Now. Featuring guest vocals from Dolly Parton, the 2017 album was the result of Cyrus’ desire to revisit her musical roots. Lyrics and melodies for Younger Now were written by the singer with longtime collaborator Oren Yoel handling production and instrument duties. Bringing in Cyrus’ lowest first-week sales yet, Younger Now debuted at number five on the US Billboard chart. It received mixed critical reviews, with some praising Cyrus’ strong vocals but many feeling that the album lacked the personality of her previous work.
