The 2nd Law

The 2nd Law is the sixth studio album by English rock band Muse. It was released on 1 October 2012 in the United Kingdom and elsewhere on 28 September, 2 and 3 October under Warner Bros. Records and the band's own Helium-3 imprint. The title of the album refers to the second law of thermodynamics and the album's cover art features a map of the human brain's pathways, which was taken from the Human Connectome Project. Recording of the album took place in four different studios, began in October 2011, and ended in August 2012. Mainly self-produced by the band, with the exception of the song "Follow Me" which was co-produced by English electronic music trio Nero, The 2nd Law features multiple styles of music and was influenced by acts such as Queen, David Bowie, and Skrillex.

Upon release, the album received generally favourable reviews from music critics, holding a 70/100 score on review aggregator site Metacritic, and had a very positive commercial performance. It was a top ten-charting album in thirty-one countries and a number one album in thirteen countries. The album has been certified platinum by the BPI in the United Kingdom, the FIMI in Italy, the IFPI in Switzerland, and the MC in Canada. It has also been certified triple-platinum by the SNEP in France. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best Rock Album and the album's second track "Madness" was nominated for Best Rock Song. The album's third track "Panic Station" was also nominated for Best Rock Song at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards the following year.

A total of five official singles were released from the album. "Survival", released on 27 June, and "Madness", released on 20 August, preceded the album's release. "Survival" was notable for being chosen as the official song for the 2012 Summer Olympics, while "Madness" was notable for its positive commercial performance, as well as for topping the Billboard Alternative Songs chart for a record nineteen weeks, beating out the previous record set by "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. Three singles were released after the release of the album: "Follow Me", released on 7 December, "Supremacy", released on 20 February 2013, and "Panic Station", released on 31 May.

Background and recording
The 2nd Law was primarily recorded at AIR Studios in London, England and Eastwest Studios in Los Angeles, California, with additional recording taking place at Shangri La Studios in Malibu, California and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. In an interview with Billboard on 18 October 2011, the band's manager Anthony Addis revealed that Muse had begun recording their sixth album in London and that he expected it to be released by October 2012. Muse bassist Christopher Wolstenholme had stated in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that they had aimed to begin recording The 2nd Law in either September or October 2011. During the recording of the album, band frontman Matt Bellamy jokingly described the album as a "Christian gangsta rap jazz odyssey, with some ambient rebellious dubstep and face-melting metal flamenco cowboy psychedelia" on his Twitter account. In an interview with Kerrang! on 14 December 2011, Wolstenholme stated that the next Muse album would be "something radically different" from their prior releases. He also said that it felt as if the band were "drawing a line under a certain period" of their career with their sixth album. In another interview Chris mentioned that the band had experimented with music and sounds in particular. It was revealed via Muse's publicist Tom Kirk on his Twitter account that composer David Campbell was helping the band compose the album. In an interview in the April 2012 issue of NME, Bellamy said that the band were set to include elements of electronic music, with influences coming from acts such as French house duo Justice and UK dance-punk group Does It Offend You, Yeah?.

Composition
The 2nd Law features art rock, progressive rock, and electronic music. The album's first track, "Supremacy", has been compared to James Bond theme songs such as the song "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings. "Madness", according to NME, features influences which draw from Queen's "I Want to Break Free" and David Bowie's Scary Monsters album. "Panic Station", the third track, has been noted as a funk rock song  and features collaborations from people who had worked on Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". It also includes explicit lyrics, making The 2nd Law Muse's first album to feature the Parental Advisory label. Bellamy has stated that dubstep producer Skrillex was an influence when writing one of the final two tracks on the album – "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable". He also stated that the song "Follow Me" was written about his newborn son, Bingham Bellamy. The song was produced by electronic music trio Nero. Bassist Chris Wolstenholme wrote two songs for the album about his battle with alcoholism – "Save Me" and "Liquid State" – and provided lead vocals on both tracks. Bellamy revealed that during the recording of The 2nd Law he was reading the novel World War Z, which became a major influence on the album, especially the tracks "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" and "Survival." "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" was featured in the film adaptation of the novel.

Packaging
The name "The 2nd Law" references the second law of thermodynamics, which is quoted in the track "Unsustainable" as follows: "All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way that the availability of the remaining energy decreases. In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system, the entropy of that system increases. Energy continuously flows from being concentrated, to becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted, and useless. New energy cannot be created and high-grade energy is being destroyed. An economy based on endless growth is unsustainable."

The album's cover art, taken from the Human Connectome Project, represents the map of the human brain's pathways, "tracking the circuits in our heads and how we process information with bright, neon colors." The artwork was subsequently used by Muse in a social Connectome Project on 21 September 2012. As more fans joined the online project, the album art was built, representing the network of the neurons within the brain. As the album art branched and more fans joined the network, incremental segments of the album track "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" were released.

The album was released as a digital download, CD, CD+DVD (with The Making of The 2nd Law and bonus feature), and vinyl. A deluxe edition box set of The 2nd Law included a CD, DVD, double vinyl and three posters.

Promotion
On 6 June 2012, Muse released a trailer for The 2nd Law with a countdown on the band's website suggesting a 17 September release date. The trailer, which included dubstep elements, was met with mixed reactions from fans. Muse made the album track "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" available to fans who pre-ordered the album from their online store, and then uploaded the video for the track onto their YouTube channel on 10 August.

The band conducted a competition to produce a music video for "Animals". The winning video was created by Inês Freitas and Miguel Mendes (Oneness Team) from Portugal. The winning entry was released on 20 March 2013.

Lead singles
Two singles were released prior to the release of The 2nd Law. "Survival" was released as the album's first single on 27 June 2012 and premiered on BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, along with the song's counterpart intro, "Prelude". The song served as the official song of the London 2012 Olympic Games and peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart.

It was revealed by the band in an interview with NME magazine that "Madness" would be released as the second single. Released on 20 August, it was announced that the song would make its world premiere on BBC Radio 1 at 19:30 BST, but the track was leaked online beforehand, due to an unintentional early release in South Korea. The official music video for the song was uploaded on 5 September to the band's YouTube channel. The song had significant chart performance by peaking in the top 40 in several countries. It has peaked at number 25 in the UK, as well as number 45 in the Billboard Hot 100, making "Madness" the band's second-highest charting song in the US, behind "Uprising". The song was also notable for topping the Billboard Alternative Songs chart for a cumulative amount of nineteen weeks, making it the longest-running number-one song on the chart. The previous record was eighteen weeks, held by the Foo Fighters with their song "The Pretender". The song has been certified platinum by the FIMI in Italy and the MC in Canada. The song has also been certified double-platinum by the RIAA in the US for 2,000,000 copies of the song sold.

Later singles
Three singles followed the release of The 2nd Law. "Follow Me" was revealed as the third single when several promo CD's allegedly sent to radio stations appeared on eBay. The official lyric video was released on 1 November and the official music video was released on 11 December, both on the band's official YouTube channel. The song failed to chart in the UK, but it ended up charting in Belgium, France, Italy, and Japan.

"Supremacy" was released as the fourth single from the album on 25 February 2013. The song gained popularity when it was performed at the beginning of the 2013 Brit Awards. Due to this performance, the song charted and peaked at number 58 on the UK singles chart.

"Panic Station" was released as a promotional single from the album in the days leading up to its release on 24 September 2012. Its first airplay occurred on British alternative music station XFM. The band performed this track, as well as "Madness", on the 6 October 2012 episode of Saturday Night Live. Panic Station was released as the fifth single on 31 May 2013, accompanied by a music video shot during the Japanese dates of The 2nd Law Tour. The music video was released on 22 April 2013 at 10:00 am. PDT on the official Muse YouTube channel. An interactive lyric video for the song was released, as well. The song failed to chart in the UK, but it peaked at number two on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. Furthermore, "Big Freeze" was released in April 2013, but only for French radios and without a commercial release.

Tour
On 7 June 2012, Muse announced a European Arena tour; the first leg of The 2nd Law World Tour. The leg included dates in France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Finland and the United Kingdom as well as other countries. They had also added North American dates to the tour.

Critical
The 2nd Law received generally positive reviews upon release. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70 based on 30 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." BBC music critic Ian Winwood also gave the album a positive review, highlighting "Supremacy", "Liquid State" and "The 2nd Law: Isolated System", saying that Muse "present themselves in any guise they please". The Telegraph's Helen Brown rated the album four out of five stars, noting the album's eclectic influences and reserving praise for "Madness" in particular. The Observer's Kitty Empire also alluded to Muse's bombastic tendencies, saying "Bellamy is not blind to the contradictions of his band's attempts continually to ramp the ludicrousness up to 11; endless growth is, of course, unsustainable. But for now they remain pretty comfortable with the idea of obscene over-inflation. So should we."

AllMusic rated the album three out of five stars, noting "their excursions into dubstep and dance music on tracks like "Madness" and "Follow Me" feel more like remixes than original songs. Songs like these definitely have the spine of Muse tracks, but the production that's built up around them feels almost alien." Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a grade of C+, claiming that "the band goes overboard with Queen-isms" and expressing disappointment at the lack of electronic music elements compared to the band's expectations that the album would be a departure from previous releases. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis rated the album four out of five stars, complimenting the band's ambition but finding fault with the album's bombastic tendencies which were also present on their previous albums, stating "no one goes to see a blockbuster for its profundity and deep characterisation. They go for the stunts and the special effects, both of which The 2nd Law delivers."

Accolades
The album was a nominee for Best Rock Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards. The song "Madness" was also nominated for Best Rock Song. The album listed at number 46 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012, saying "In an era of diminished expectations, Muse make stadium-crushing songs that mix the legacies of Queen, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead while making almost every other current band seem tiny."

Commercial
The 2nd Law had a very positive commercial performance, selling around 475,000 copies worldwide on its release. It debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 with 102,000 copies sold in its first week, giving Muse the highest charting debut of their career in the US, although it sold fewer copies than the debut of their previous album The Resistance, which debuted at number three with 128,000 copies. It has sold 485,000 copies in the US as of May 2015. It also debuted at number 2 in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Korea and Spain. The album gave Muse their fourth number 1 debut in the UK with first week sales of 108,536 copies, while also debuting at number 1 in 13 other countries. It has sold 255,000 copies in the UK in 2012 alone.

Personnel
Personnel adapted from album liner notes.

Muse
 * Matthew Bellamy – lead vocals (tracks 1-9, 12-13), guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, orchestral arrangements, production, additional mixing (track 6)
 * Christopher Wolstenholme – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals, lead vocals (tracks 10-11), production
 * Dominic Howard – drums, electronic percussion, synthesizers, production

Additional musicians
 * David Campbell – conductor and additional orchestral arrangements
 * Alyssa Park – first violinist
 * Gerardo Hilera, Josefin Vergara, Kevin Connolly, Mario Deleon, Michele Richards, Ruth Bruegger, Sara Parkins, Sara Thornblade, Serena McKinny, Songa Lee, Tamara Hatwan – violins
 * Andrew Duckles – principal viola
 * Alma Fernandez, David Walther, Matthew Funes – violas
 * Steve Richards – principal cello
 * Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, George Kim Scholes, Suzie Katayama – cellos
 * Dave Stone, Oscar Hidalgo – basses
 * Rodrigo D'Erasmo – additional violin on "Prelude" and "Explorers"
 * Daniela Savoldi – additional cello on "Prelude" and "Explorers"
 * Wayne Bergeron – trumpet solo on "Supremacy"
 * Joseph Meyer, Nathan Campbell – French horns
 * Alan Kaplan, Charles Morillas, Craig Gosnell, Nick Lane – trombones
 * Charles Findlay, Steven Madaio – trumpets on "Panic Station"
 * Tom Saviano – tenor saxophone
 * Donald Markese – baritone saxophone
 * Katie Razzall – spoken words on "The 2nd Law – Unsustainable" and "The 2nd Law – Isolated System"
 * Tom Kirk – additional chanting on "Survival"
 * Bingham Bellamy – Additional sound effects on "Follow Me"
 * Aaron Page, Antonio Sol, Baraka Williams, Beth Anderson, Bobbi Page, Christian Ebner, Chyla Anderson, Clydene Jackson, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Francesca Proponis, Gabriel Mann, Gerald White, Gregory Jasperse, Gregory Whipple, Guy Maeda, Joannna Bushnell, John Kimberling, Karen Harper, Karen Whipple Schnurr, Kathryn Reid, Kimberley Lingo Hinze, Michael Geiger, Oren Waters, Raven Kane, Reid Bruton, Robert Joyce, Scottie Haskell, Susie Stevens Logan, Teri Koide, Walter Harrah – choir

Production
 * Tommaso Colliva – additional production, engineering, mixing (tracks 4, 6)
 * Adrian Bushby – additional production, engineering
 * Paul Reeve – additional vocal production (tracks 10-11)
 * Nero – additional production and mixing (track 6)
 * Chris Lord-Alge – mixing (tracks 1, 5, 7, 9, 12)
 * Mark Stent – mixing (tracks 2, 8, 10)
 * Rich Costey – mixing (tracks 3, 11, 13)
 * Alessandro Cortini – additional synthesizer engineering
 * Brendan Dekora – engineering assistance
 * Olga Fitzroy – engineering assistance
 * Sean Oakley – engineering assistance
 * Tom Bailey – engineering assistance
 * Ted Jensen – mastering

Additional personnel
 * Gavin Bond – photography