Having mainly recorded Showbiz with a Gibson Les Paul guitar, Bellamy recorded Origin of Symmetry using a custom Manson guitar equipped with a built-in Fuzz Factory, a fuzz distortion effect. It was the first of many collaborations between Bellamy and Manson, and Bellamy purchased a majority share of Manson in 2019. Bellamy used the Fuzz Factory effect on many of the riffs on the album. The band experimented with new instruments and dynamics. Dominic Howard expanded the standard rock drum kit with items including a balaphone and animal bones on "Screenager". Release Origin of Symmetry was released on 18 June 2001. It was originally scheduled for release in the United States through Maverick Records, who had also released Showbiz. However, Muse left Maverick when Maverick demanded Bellamy rerecord the album with less falsetto. The album was not released in the US until 2005. Origin of Symmetry was remastered and reissued as part of the Origin of Muse boxset, alongside Showbiz, demos, live performances and other material. The box set was released on 6 December 2019. The Japanese edition of the album features the bonus track "Futurism" which is placed before "Megalomania". This track is also tagged onto the end of the tracklisting on digital editions. Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX On 18 June 2021, the album's 20th anniversary, Muse released a remixed and remastered version, Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX. A collaboration with the producer Rich Costey, who worked on several later Muse albums, it features a "more open, dynamic and less crushed sound". The new mixes also restores elements that were originally muted or obscured, such as string sections on "Space Dementia", "Citizen Erased" and "Megalomania", and a harpsichord on "Micro Cuts". The album features new cover artwork by Sujin Kim. The Pitchfork critic Jazz Monroe described the reissue as "definitive ... even more colossal and timeless". Critical reception Origin of Symmetry received mainly positive reviews. Roy Wilkinson of Q praised it as an "astonishing record... where extra-terrestrial fascinations meet the classical world's more unhinged impulses", adding that "comparisons with Radiohead that dogged Muse's early career now seem all but obsolete". Roger Morton of NME called the album a "reinvention of grunge as a neo-classical, high gothic future rock, full of flambéed pianolas and white-knuckle electric camp ... It's apparent that Muse can handle their brutal arias." Q named Origin of Symmetry one of the best 50