In a world focused on selling singles, Muse is apparently not scared of releasing an album designed to be listened as a whole. In fact, Howard hails the process of recording an entire album as "art form," to be listened to from start to finish. And, with that directive, Howard says it was frontman Matt Bellamy who created the storyline.

The album's first track follows a person who's lost hope and becomes swept up by "darker forces," explained Bellamy in a BBC interview (via NME). As the album progresses, the person becomes brainwashed by the military thereby becoming a drone, but eventually fights to free himself from the mental shackles in songs like "Revolt" and "Defector." The album comes to a head with the whopping 10-minute track "Globalist," about a dictator who starts World War III as a means to find love.

When compared to Pink Floyd's The Wall, Howard smiles and admits, "I suppose the album is a bit of a concept album, yeah. It's probably the most conceptual album that we've done."