"Reapers" bounces between "Appetite for Destruction"-era metal and wild prog-rock guitar solos. Queen's influence is felt throughout "Drones" and not just when Bellamy reaches for his highest keys, especially in the strutting "Revolt" and "Defector," with their stacked backing vocals a la "Bohemian Rhapsody." However, Muse tackles so many different styles in the name of telling this story effectively that it really does feel like a Broadway musical in the making.
"Mercy" is the album's strongest track, not just because Bellamy makes the narrator's predicament sound so emotional, but because the driving rhythms from drummer Dom Howard and bassist Chris Wolstenholme make the singer's falsetto feel even more like Freddie Mercury. The narrator's transformation plays out across the album, with plenty of moments of doubt. In the glam-rock stomper "Drones," his job is described by his superior officer as "a Super Drone, and you will kill on my command and I won't be responsible." Singer-lyricist Matt Bellamy has built a multilayered story of a young, disillusioned guy who enlists in the service and is lured into becoming a drone operator.
In fact, "Drones" is so complex, the unpredictable British rockers want to turn it into a musical for London's West End. Only Muse could turn what it planned as its "back-to-basics" album into a complicated concept album like "Drones" (Warner Bros.)