Muse and Biffy Clyro start feud over Scottish independence

Things in the rock world get ugly as the bands take opposites sides over the referendum

The scene of the brawl in Edinburgh today

Two of Britain's biggest bands today sparked fears of nationwide fan violence after they started fighting over the issue of Scottish independence. Biffy Clyro's new album 'Opposhits' is said to be the cause of the initial aggression, with lyrics on pro-independence song 'Imagiwank' going: "Don't worry baby / We'll break apart / Escape the English / Explode their hearts / Woo woo woo woo yeah woo woo independence".

On hearing the song, Muse's Matt Bellamy took to twitter to accuse 'the Biff' of being part of an SNP conspiracy, as well as personally attacking the band (scroll down to see a selection of his tweets). Biffy singer Neil Simon retaliated by charging down Edinburgh's Royal Mile with a glass bottle of Irn-Bru and engaging Muse in open battle. Muse fought valiantly, constructing catapults from drum sticks and firing Matt Bellamy's 376 guitar pedals at the enemy, but the sheer size and scale of overproduction on Biffy's album was too overwhelming, with last-man-standing Muse drummer Dom Howard finally being brought down by a brutal 20 second multi-tracked "woah". 

To avoid civilian deaths, and in an attempt to settle the issue, it is understood that Muse alcoholic Chris Wolstenhome has given up sobriety to challenge his boozy Biffy counterpart Ben Johnston to a drinking competition. The other two members of each band are playing their part by signing up to a tornado tag match at WWE's upcoming Summer Slam event. 

Just like the independence referendum itself, the outcome of these challenges are uncertain, although everyone can agree that Muse's album was a lot better. 

Some of Matt Bellamy's tweets:

Photo credit to Léa Reviron

Review: 'Our Love Has Solar Equinoxed' by Muse

Not content with just releasing album 'The 2nd LAWL' this year, Muse have put out a new single as part of the Breaking Dawn Part 2 soundtrack, but is it any good?

Matt Bellamy doing a guitar playing
Image: 'Matthew Bellamy' http://www.flickr.com/photos/14726595@N02/1632910575

We really enjoyed 'The 2nd LAWL', so we were a little disappointed when we heard new single 'Our Love Has Solar Equinoxed', which features in the final instalment of the Twilight franchise. 

The clear move tie-in sound effects of wolves howling and vampires vamping gives way to a synth chord riff, which bears more than a passing resemblance to Queen's 'A Kind Of Magic', before moving on to a chorus which sounds a lot like something Queen might have written around the same time as 'Flash'. The lyrics are instantly recognisable as Muse, with the chorus containing a revolutionary call against the New World Order:

"We must stop them / End their reign of terror / But our love has solar equinoxed."

Although this is all very Muse, it is also quite reminiscent of some Queen songs such as 'Fat Bottomed Girls', although singer Matt Bellamy seemed completely unaware of this in interview when he said: "It's actually got quite a INXS-U2-R.E.M.-IDM-IBM- MFI-IKEA-funk-punk-pop feel to it, just this sort of feeling of oppression, knowing that the end of the world is coming and the energy is escaping. And we're just letting them get away with it."

Our verdict: the song is catchy enough, but it's nothing new from the band.

5/10