Music / Simulation Theory

"This means war...WITH YOUR CREATOR!"

Burn like a slave
Churn like a cog, we are caged
In simulations
Algorithms evolve, push us aside, render us obsolete

— Algorithm

Simulation Theory is the eighth studio album by the English Alternative Rock band Muse, released in 9 November 2018.

The album has a more lighter approach in comparison to previous albums, featuring more eighties synthwave elements combined with modern pop sound and arena rock, and much less darker lyrical content. Science Fiction is also a huge influence for the era, being noticeable on the sound and lyrical themes.

It is also noteworthy for its music videos comprising a loose sci-fi canon and mythology when viewed together, culminating in that era's concert film (see Trippy Finale Syndrome below).

Tracklist:

1. "Algorithm" (4:05)
2. "The Dark Side" (3:47)
3. "Pressure" (3:55)
4. "Propaganda" (3:00)
5. "Break It to Me" (3:37)
6. "Something Human" (3:46)
7. "Thought Contagion" (3:26)
8. "Get Up and Fight" (4:04)
9. "Blockades" (3:50)
10. "Dig Down" (3:48)
11. "The Void" (4:44)

Trope Contagion!

• Alliterative Title: "Dig Down".
• Armed Legs: The protagonist's prosthetic leg shoots flames in the "Dig Down" video.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Murph and the giant robots in The Dark Side's music video and the Simulation Theory concert film.
  • Murph in particular guards the exit to the Simulation. He can fire a massive beam of energy out of his mouth. At live shows, the band has a giant prop of him.
• Audience Participation Song: "Thought Contagion".
• Awful Truth: The main premise of the album.
• Brutal Honesty: Invoked with "Break It To Me."
• The Cameo: Terry Crews in the music video for "Pressure" as the school principal and as the protagonist of "Algorithm".
• Chekhov's Gunman: Dom plays a policeman who appears briefly in the "Thought Contagion" video, then later becomes one of the primary antagonists of the "Something Human" video.
• Clip Show: The music video for "Blockades" is this for the rest of the Simulation Theory videos released before it.
• Conspiracy Theorist: The school principal in the "Pressure" music video becomes one by the time we reach the "Algorithm" video.
• Continuity Nod: The video to "Pressure" starts with one; namely to themselves. The school principal^note Played by Terry Crews, no less. announces the band as hometown heroes and the local Battle Of The Bands winners, Rocket Baby Dolls. As well as the three of them attending college together - initially in separate bands - they gradually gravitated to one another^note Matt auditioned for Dominic's band as a new singer/songwriter, before the two of them later approached Chris to join them, but switching from drumming to bass. where they became the Rocket Baby Dolls; the precursor to Muse who won a local Battle Of The Bands contest in 1994.
• Cool Car: The Lamborghini Countach featured in the music videos. A fitting car for what they were trying to accomplish in this era.
• Cyberspace: The primary setting of the Simulation Theory videos. Best exemplified in "The Dark Side".
• Dare to Be Badass: "Dig Down":
  When they’ve left you for dead
  And you can only see red
  You must find a way
• Eat Me: Matt seemingly does this on purpose in The Dark Side's music video, driving straight into the mouth of a robot, through its brain, and out the back of its head.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Matt, known for having this, deliberately weaponizes this in "Propaganda".
• Face on the Cover: Excluding singles and live albums, Simulation Theory is the first studio album to feature the band's faces on the cover, albeit illustrated in the style of an eighties movie poster.
• Fanservice: The Simulation Theory concert film features dancers in skintight bodysuits fumigating the audience during "Propaganda".
• Final Solution: Referenced by name in "Thought Contagion". In the music video, the protagonist, a young man bitten by his vampire girlfriend, approaches a pair of Gas Mask Mooks struggling to contain the girl, seeking help. They turn to look at him; the light makes their masks' eyes shine a sickly green and they start dancing in sync with the vampires.
  It's too late for a revolution / Brace for the final solution.
• High-School Dance: The setting of the "Pressure" music video is inspired by the "Enchantment Under The Sea" dance in Back to the Future.... with a few twists.
• Homesickness Hymn: The main premise of "Something Human".
• Improvised Weapon: The protagonist in the music video for "Dig Down" grabs a wall-mounted flat screen and swings it at the end of its cables as an improvised flail.
• Lighter and Softer: The album as a whole has a lighter soundscape in comparison to the previous albums, dominated by synths and an far more optimistic tone overall. Of course, it doesn't last.
• Michael Jackson's Thriller Parody: The music video for "Thought Contagion" includes a recreation of the group dance scene from Thriller
• Neon City: Matt drives through one in the video for "The Dark Side".
• Non-Appearing Title: "The Void".
• One-Word Title: "Algorithm", "Pressure", "Propaganda" and "Blockades".
• Our Wormholes Are Different: They seemingly appear at random throughout the "Something Human" and "The Dark Side" videos so that Matt can continually evade danger by dumb luck.
• Platonic Cave: The main theme of Simulation Theory.
• Rearrange the Song: Most of the Alternate Reality versions are these.
• Recursive Reality: The events of the "Dig Down" music video are revealed to be an arcade game within the "Thought Contagion" video's universe. Later it's revealed that the events of "Thought Contagion" itself are a video game as well.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the music video for "Something Human", Dom and Chris appear at a run-down Blockbuster store in a telephone booth that warps into the area.
  • The music video for "Dig Down" features Matt as Max Headroom.
• Stock Desert Interstate: The video for "Something Human" has a seemingly endless and straight road out in a desert.
• Tricked-Out Gloves: The Power Glove that Matt uses, introduced in the video for "Behold, the Glove". As seen in the Simulation Theory concert film, it can also absorb energy beams from Murph.
• Trippy Finale Syndrome: The Simulation Theory concert film is this for that entire album era.^note Not unless you count the epilogue music videos Matt made for "Behold the Glove" and the Simulation Theory Theme, which push this more into Gainax Ending territory.
• Tron Lines: A subtle version in the video for "The Dark Side", where the Lamborghini Countach's tires light up when speeding through cyberspace. The same happens to Terry Crews' motorcycle in "Algorithm".
• Turned Against Their Masters: "Algorithm"
  "This means war with your creator!"
• The Virus: There's one throughout the Simulation Theory music videos that turns people into vampires, best seen in "Thought Contagion". There also may be one that turned Matt into a werewolf in "Something Human".
• Wolves Always Howl at the Moon: When Matt turns into a werewolf in "Something Human"'s music video briefly, he does this.

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They'll say, no one will find us
That we're estranged and all alone
They believe nothing can reach us
And pull us out of the boundless gloom
They're wrong