Muse - The Resistance

Muse - The Resistance

The section of the year which I’ve been looking forward to/dreading the most has arrived. From now until the end of October there’s a parade of new music that I’m looking to buy. I’m going to be a very poor individual indeed.

First up this week, was Muse’s new Album, the Resistance. I’ve spun it a few times so I think I can make a coherent mini review.

Muse continues their arc from the more guitar driven songs of Absolution into the invasion of synths and more electronic elements in Black Holes and Revelations to the much more synth driven The Resistance. It’s a very solid album with a couple of dissapointing spots in it which hold it back.

The opening track Uprising firmly establishes it as as Muse album. It’s a straight ahead rocker with lots of energy and it’s something that Muse is very good at. There’s some analog synth action to be had on this track which sets up the tone of the album to follow. The same vibe seems to flow forwards into the second track Resistance, but the chorus is something that’s pretty different for Muse. This song has a bit of a U2 feel to it at times.

These two songs pave the way for my least favorite song on the album, Undisclosed Desires. There’s no guitar at all and it’s very…pop-y. It’s the weakest track to me. I don’t hate it, but I have a hard time getting into it. That may change as time goes on.

However, the album makes up for it with United States of Eurasia next. There’s some epic piano work on this one. The song structure reminds me very much of Queen. By far my favorite track of the album so far. Guiding light returns back to the heavy synth style and I think it’s quite cool. I think I need some time for this song to really click with me, but it’s promising.

Unnatural Selection is another more guitar driven rocker with some very strange and proggy sections and then there’s MK Ultra which switches back to a heavier synth sound while keeping up a higher energy level.

I Belong To You is a strange song. Some very nice piano throughout breaking in the middle to insert a piece of music by a french composer (Saint Saens) and after a short reprise of the main theme, it heads into the final 3 tracks of the album: the Exogenisis Symphony.

The symphony is really cool. Very beautiful and atmospheric and very different from anything Muse has ever done before. It retains a few signature Muse stylings of course, but it’s a sign of a band that doesn’t want to get pigeon-holed into a certain style after achieving some success with it.

Very solid album and it grows on me with each listen. One other thing I wanted to mention was that the bass work on this album is very nice. Muse has always had interesting bass lines, but these are out of the park good.

Next up, I’ll be picking the new Porcupine Tree album up on my way home from work (and scribblenauts for the DS…couldn’t resist that). I should have some thoughts on Porcupine Tree tomorrow. I’m a bit apprehensive because that album has gotten some mixed reviews.