Album of the week - 'The 2nd Law' by Muse

Muse

Warners

Last year, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy announced the band's sixth album would be a "Christian gangsta-rap jazz odyssey, with some ambient rebellious dubstep and face-melting metal flamenco cowboy psychedelia".

It tells you something about Muse that it was hard to work out exactly how far his tongue was lodged in his cheek.

It could be suggested that the only real giveaways to Bellamy's comic intent were that his bandmates were talking up their forthcoming album as a major sonic reboot and that his description didn't sound that far removed from what Muse had done previously.