Muse are set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of landmark release Origin of Symmetry with a remixed version of the entire album.
As the anniversary approached, the band asked Grammy-winning producer Rich Costey to revisit the original recordings, and derive a new sense of clarity and dynamism from the tracks.
As well as new artwork by Sujin Kim, Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX) now adds B-side Futurism to the tracklisting – in between Feeling Good and Megalomania – and was remastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios.
Ahead of the arrival of the album’s release on June 18, the band have shared a new version of Citizen Erased, which gives a flavor of what to expect from the reimagined record.
The new mix of Matt Bellamy’s first foray into seven-string guitar foregrounds his burgeoning experiments with Z.Vex’s Fuzz Factory, lending extra crackle to the track’s opening harmonic squeals and uncovering previously unheard oscillation sweeps. Once-buried chromatic arpeggios have also been lent a fatter clean tone.
"In revisiting the album, what we found was the original mixes on the singles, like Plug In Baby and Bliss, were pretty good so they were the hardest ones to improve," says Bellamy. "It was the deeper album tracks like Micro Cuts where we were able to make massive breakthroughs."
In addition to the release, the frontman has previously hinted at the possibility of anniversary shows when live events return in full force.
Last month, Bellamy announced a new solo album, Cryosleep, for Record Store Day, which is set to include recordings that showcase Jeff Buckley’s Fender Telecaster. Bellamy purchased the iconic Grace-featured guitar last year.
