Muse May Go Soft Rock On New Album Due In 2012

The rhythm section of the band Muse recently revealed in an interview that the album they are working on (that is currently slated for a 2012 release) may be a little less heavy than fans of the band would expect. Not that they are the heaviest band to begin with, but they are by no means easy listening...at least not yet.

NME recently spoke with Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard about the follow up to 2009's 'The Resistance'. Howard hinted that fans may want to prepare for a shift in the direction of the band saying:

"Matt [Bellamy, frontman] showed me a few chords recently. Who knows, it might be softer rock, but then it's up to me and Chris to make it heavy again. A heavy rock lullaby! But I'm sure it will move forward in some way."

Wolstenholme said they had been jamming while on tour and:

"We've got Reading Festival [plus the Leeds Festival, with them set to headline both] in August and maybe a few weeks off after that. So September, October time we’ll get into the studio and start writing and working on the songs."

Howard added:

"It takes as long as it takes really, because you have to love it before you can just chuck it out there and into the real world. But definitely next year."

Looks like phase two of the Kate Hudson 'destroy the band' plan is underway.

• Phase one: get knocked up by the frontman of the band.
• Phase two: ruin their music.
• Phase three: break up the band.
• Phase four: divorce frontman shortly after he re-forms band.

I'm just joking around but seriously, this is starting to head in the same direction as the Kate Hudson/ Black Crowes situation. Not that I have insight into how any of those events went down, this is all speculation (and bad speculation at that). I did kind of call this potential Muse meltdown earlier this year though.

Muse will also be playing a show in Los Angeles with Rage Against the Machine and Rise Against on July 30th at the Memorial Coliseum.