Matt Bellamy has tapped into his inner Meshuggah and delved deep into the world of extended range electric guitars by showing off his crazy new 8-string electric guitar – which takes center stage in a monstrous new Muse single.
“It’s time,” Bellamy wrote in a new Instagram post that shows him clutching an all-new custom-built Manson Oryx, which recently experienced some on-stage action when Muse debuted their as-yet-unreleased new single, Unravelling.
The Muse maestro and Manson Guitars owner is no stranger to experimentation – from building fuzz pedals and Koas pads into his signature guitars, to the mesmerizing mirror mask guitar that dropped last year – and now he’s wading into unchartered waters again… for him, at least.
The band have already dabbled with extended-range guitars. 2001 proto-prog banger Citizen Erased saw Bellamy dishing out drop A riffs. The song’s sequel, The Globalistfound him churning through gritted low riffs, and 2022’s Kill or be Killed had gung-ho riffwork in drop B. This time, he’s going even lower.
Unraveling had been teased on socials prior to the performance, with Bellamy hammering into the 8-string Manson while Chris Wolstenholme dons his LED-inlay-infused Status signature bass for the outing.
Now, the track has received its visceral live debut. It’s certainly no sugary pop ditty – and the new axe is largely to thank for that.
Playing in Helsinki, Finland, the band gave fans a taste of the new era of Muse ahead of European headline slots at Hellfest, Pinkpop, Open’er, and Mad Cool later this summer.
Even from a fan-filmed live clip, there’s an unmistakable snarl to Bellamy’s guitar tone and oodles of groove to the riff that merges a Tom Morello stomp with a Meshuggah-like grunt.
The song tactfully plays off light and shade, the riff preluding its seismic chorus before finally giving way for djenty bridge and a stank face-inducing halftime outro that really makes use of the lower octaves.
No release date has been mooted for Unravellingand it’s not yet clear whether the song is stand-alone or part of an upcoming album release. It has been three years since Will of the People, so a landmark 10th studio album from the stadium rockers is expected.
Posting about the guitar itself, Manson reveals the Oryx has a bolt-on neck with a gloss finish to match the body, with its headstock sporting asymmetrical tuners with a 5-3 layout. It’s also a shiny purple color, and has no inlays for a sleek look.
Away from Muse, Bellamy has been sharpening his guitar design skills since becoming a majority shareholder of Manson Guitar Works in 2019.
Outlining his vision for the firm, co-owner Adrian Ashton once told Total Guitar that he looks to harmonize innovation with playability.
“I find with a lot of wild guitars, it’s the guitar itself that lets the show down,” he says. “We always keep that as our core philosophy – whatever we do, no matter how wild it gets, it’s still got to be a great guitar underneath it all.”
That’s led to Fuzz Factory-laced production models, with Sustainiac pickups and some dazzling finishes all populating Manon’s latest M-Series models. The freshly launched Verona dropped after an exhaustive pickup design process, too.
“It had to capture that vintage clarity,” Bellamy said of the guitar’s all-important neck pickup, “and the clean, expressive tone that lives in Ry Cooder’s slide work.”
Knowing Bellamy, his flirtation with 8-strings won’t be the only guitar-fuelled weirdisms to be devoured if a new album is happening.
