Cosmic mystery meets raw emotion as the rock titans break new ground again.. Considering they’re a band whose music has always felt like it was trying to reach out to the cosmos, it is hardly surprising that the 10th album by rock titans Muse takes its title from a 72-second radio transmission picked up in 1977 and considered by many to be our alien cousins attempting to make contact. There is more than meets the extraterrestrial on The Wow! Signal, though. It’s an album where the cosmic mystery is cut with some of Muse’s most lyrically raw songs yet. As someone who has never been shy of asking the biggest questions—and putting his answers to the biggest sounds—singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy blends reflections on upheaval in his personal life with contemplatives about his place in the universe. It has resulted in one of Muse’s most captivating records in years, where there’s a poignancy at the root of even the most grandiose of moments. Of course, this is Muse, so there’s still rip-roaring rock operatics that sound like they should come with their own DEFCON rating (“The Dark Forest,” “Cryogen,” “The Sickness in You & I”), swirling, hook-heavy space pop (“Hexagons”), slick, melodious ’80s grooves (“Unravelling,” “Nightshift Superstar”), and orchestral epics (the tender, gripping closer “Space Debris”). After reminding themselves what a fearsome rock group they can be on 2022’s Will of the People, Muse are back at their expansive best. They’ve brought others into the fold too, live member Dan Lancaster working with them as a co-writer and producer and pop superstar Ellie Goulding lending a vocal to the devilishly anthemic “Hush.” It all chimes with the theme running right the way through The Wow! Signal: you can’t be alone in this universe. Ten albums in, Muse are still breaking new ground.