"Reapers" is a song by English
rock band
Muse. It was released as the second promotional single from the band's seventh studio album ''
Drones
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
'', and was given a 7" single release, as part of
Record Store Day 2016, on 16 April 2016 as the fifth and final single from ''Drones''. It peaked at number 75 on the
French Singles Chart, 71 on the
Swiss Hitparade singles chart, 37 on ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''s
Hot Rock Songs, and became Muse's highest-charting single at the time on ''Billboard''s
Mainstream Rock Songs at number 2; it has since been surpassed on the latter chart by "
Won't Stand Down," which reached number 1 in May 2022.
Release
"Reapers" was released a promotional single for ''Drones'' on 29 May 2015. It was released as a
Record Store Day 7" picture disc vinyl on 16 April 2016. The A-side consists of the song's album version, while the B-side consists of a live performance at the
Gloria Theater in
Köln, Germany. The release also includes a fold-your-own
paper plane (marketed as a "paper drone").
Music video
A
lyric video for the song was uploaded to the band's official
YouTube channel on 29 May 2015.
A full video followed. ''
Rolling Stone'' called it "brutal and chilling ... fittingly blunt, depicting a man caught in the crosshairs of a drone and running for his life while a woman with red lipstick waits to pull the trigger."
Critical reception
In an album review for ''
The Observer'',
Kitty Empire commented that the pacy song "exposes the overlap between the unfeeling destruction of drone warfare and the unfeeling destruction wrought by people tearing each other apart," referring to Muse frontman
Matt Bellamy's break-up from fiancée
Kate Hudson. She also compared Bellamy to
Yngwie Malmsteen, noting that the song contains "meaty riffs."
Track listing
Digital download
7" vinyl
Personnel
Personnel adapted from single liner notes.
*Tom Bailey –
assistant engineer
Assistant may refer to:
* Assistant (by Speaktoit), a virtual assistant app for smartphones
* Assistant (software), a software tool to assist in computer configuration
* Google Assistant, a virtual assistant by Google
* ''The Assistant'' (TV seri ...
*
Matt Bellamy –
composing
*Mario Borgatta –
mix assistant
*Marc Carolan – engineering, mixing
*Tommasa Colliva – engineering,
additional production
*Martin Cooke – assistant mixer
*
Rich Costey – additional production, mixing
*Jacopo Dorici – assistant engineer
*Nick Fourier – assistant mixer
*
Robert John "Mutt" Lange – production
*Eric Mosher – assistant engineer
*Muse – production
*John Prestage – assistant engineer
*
Olle Romo –
additional programming
*Giuseppe Salvadori – assistant engineer
*Giovanni Versari –
mastering
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2016 singles
2015 songs
Muse (band) songs
Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Songs written by Matt Bellamy
Warner Records singles
British hard rock songs
Glam metal songs