After having used several different bass guitars and effect pedals for The 2nd Law, Wolstenholme used only one bass guitar and a small number of pedals, hoping to find a cohesive sound. Tommaso Colliva and Rich Costey served as additional producers. After having self-produced their previous two albums, Muse worked with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange to spend less time mixing and reviewing takes and focus on performance. In October 2014, Muse entered the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver. Sometimes, making things simpler makes them more powerful." Recording The logical step was to strip away all the outer layers and go back to the way we started. According to bassist Chris Wolstenholme, some of the music on The 2nd Law was "somewhat of a bore to play live, and I'm not too certain how much of it worked for our shows. I kind of feel like it will be nice to reconnect and remind ourselves of just the basics of who we are." The band felt the electronic side of their music was becoming too dominant. Bellamy stated that the album "should be something that really does strip away the additional things that we've experimented with on the last two albums. Muse began writing their seventh album soon after the Rome concert. In December 2013, they released the live album and video Live at Rome Olympic Stadium songwriter Matt Bellamy said the band wanted the release "to capture some of the extremes of what we've been doing since we want to go in a different direction in the future." On their previous albums The Resistance (2009) and The 2nd Law (2012), Muse incorporated orchestral and electronic music. A concert film of the tour, entitled Muse: Drones World Tour, was released in cinemas in July 2018. It was supported by an expansive world tour with appearances at several festivals and arenas, lasting from 2015 to 2016 and grossing $88.5 million from 132 shows. Diffuser.fm named it the 42nd best of the year. The album was listed on 41 in the NME albums of the year 2015. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, it won the award for Best Rock Album. It sold over a million copies worldwide in 2015, making it the year's 19th-bestselling album. It topped 21 international charts, including the UK Albums Chart (where it became Muse's fifth consecutive number-one album) and the US Billboard 200. Drones is a concept album following a soldier's abandonment, indoctrination as a "human drone", and eventual defection.ĭrones received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its instrumentation but criticised its concept and lyrics. The album was recorded between October 2014 and April 2015 at the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, and was produced by the band and Robert John "Mutt" Lange. After their previous albums incorporated orchestral and electronic music, Muse aimed to return to a more straightforward rock sound. Records and the band's own Helium-3 imprint. Drones is the seventh studio album by English rock band Muse, released on 5 June 2015 through Warner Bros.