Muse were inspired by Prince on The 2nd Law.

The British rock legends have embraced electronic music as well as funk on their new album, taking them back to their very earliest influences. "Yep, funk! What are we doing? But 'Panic Station' is a track that reminds me of my youth. Prince, Primus and Michael Jackson all influenced that song," drummer Dominic Howard said.

Frontman Matt Bellamy took a new approach with the track "Unsustainable" and despite many people being skeptical, he is pleased with the end results. "For 'Unsustainable' I wanted to write the idea electronically and when we came to record it, we did it with real, organic instruments and got a real orchestra in. We were trying to see if real instruments could make a sound like electronica. A lot of people were sceptical about it but it works."

Another new feature on the album is two of the tracks - "Save Me" and "Liquid" - are written and sung by bassist Chris Wolstenholme, who now feels confident enough songwriting after beating alcoholism. "It was the first time I felt confident enough to show the rest of the guys that I can write. It's not that easy when you're in a group that has already had so much success, I didn't want it to look like ego. At first the idea was for Matt to sing them, but in the end my voice worked better. Its personal music so I interpret it the best," he explained.