 | Tracklist:
1. Uprising
2. Resistance
3. Undisclosed Desires
4. United States of Eurasia / Collateral Damage
5. Guiding Light
6. Unnatural Selection
7. MK Ultra
8. I Belong to You / Mon Cœur S'ouvre à ta Voix
9. Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture)
10. Exogenesis: Symphony Part II (Cross Pollination)
11. Exogenesis: Symphony Part III (Redemption)
Release Date: 2009 | |
| | other reviews | TotoCoppola (5)
One of the greatest cd's of Muse... | erasedcitizen (4.5)
... | BenHeller (4)
An album that combines outrageous rock bombast with an operatic tragedy that can be both incredible ... | Ryan Munthe (4)
Waking up the out-of-touch hipsters, courtesy of Matt Bellamy.... | scyther (3.5)
... | alexfionda (3.5)
A solid pop album but where is my muse?... | red0 (3.5)
Epic, bombast, pure album rock straight from 1975; flaws and all, The Resistance is still a solid al... | Genrebender12 (3.5)
Muse-The Resistance... | Lachlan (3.5)
This is an album showing maturity but also the boring side-effects that plague maturity. It's a reve... | Mark3Kyungsoo (3)
If Muse is a new band to you, it's a good first album to listen to.
but to all you die hard Muse ... | Alex Silveri STAFF (2.5)
Everywhere at once and nowhere at all, The Resistance is epically, gloriously and magnificently harm... | Lee Bradbury (2.5)
The Resistance is futile.... | Andrew B. (2.5)
A disjointed, disorganized mess that ends up imploding on itself.... | Skillbinator (2.5)
... | Klekticist (2)
Meandering and lengthy, Muse find themselves without direction or inspiration... | SowingSeason STAFF (2)
Amidst a sea of glamour and fame, Muse implodes with this directionless, self-indulgent record.... | Ross Delany (2)
"While Black Holes and Revelations took the pace down a couple of notches, The Resistance comes peri... |
On 91 Lists
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| Summary: Muse's biggest album by no means equates to their best. |
15 of 20 thought this review was well written
The world needs to stop believing in Matthew James Bellamy.
The past six years have seen Bellamy and his band, Muse, transmogrify from a respectable alt-rock group on the brink of something big into what can only be described as a juggernaut of Europe’s music scene. Nearly half a million MySpace friends, a whopping 116 million plays on Last.FM (and counting), appearances on big movie soundtracks, the ability to fill British and Australian stadiums in a snap…Muse are kind of a big deal these days.
Trouble is, though, it’s not really working out in their favour.
Yes, even their first two albums (1999’s Showbiz and their piece de resistance, pardon the pun, 2001’s Origin of Symmetry) painted the picture of a band aiming for a future in the stars. 2003’s Absolution expanded upon this even further. But by the time the band had actually launched themselves into the galaxy on 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations, they had completely forgotten just what had inspired them to do so in the first place. As a result, the album was an inconsistent effort, with Bellamy’s ever-expanding messiah complex protruding from several nooks and crannies. Even so, the band were trying new things and it was by no means a bad record.
Sadly, there are no more excuses. There is nothing for Bellamy and co. to hide behind on The Resistance. Muse have made the complete transformation into stadium rock of the most symphonic (read: over-indulgent) kind, and there is no turning back. This is an album that is all head and no heart – a contrived quasi-concept release that will keep the band at the very top of their game but strip them of all their credibility in the process.
Those sweeping string arrangements, those thickly-layered harmonies, that atmospheric piano and warbling synthesizer…sure, it’s all very pretty, and incredibly well produced. Still, what does it all mean? Over the course of the entire record, every excess layer of instrumentation proves to serve little more purpose than gratuity. And not even in a fun over-the-top way in the spirit of A Night at the Opera-era Queen (a band who have served as more than a passing influence here, especially on the bombastic “United States of Eurasia”). More in a “look at what we can afford”, highly pretentious way that ultimately becomes uncomfortable and irritating to listen to.
That’s not even mentioning how much of the talent and precision that the rhythm section of this band has is lost in translation here. The title track sees drummer Dom Howard pushed to the back of the mix as opposed to his usual driving-force style of drumming, and he’s essentially a ghost on single Undisclosed Desires which follows it. Bassist Chris Wolstenholme, a fantastic musician in his own right, fares slightly better in terms of actually being heard amidst the pomposity – but not by a lot. As a matter of fact, his most distinctive moments on the record are where everything else stops and he can clearly be heard; notably in admittedly-catchy opener “Uprising” where the track breaks down in a vein similar to Battles’ warped rock shuffle “Atlas”. Given how much these two have contributed to the sound of Muse in the past, it’s really quite a shame they are passed up in favour of orchestras, grand piano, singing in French and, at one point, the sound of an aeroplane flying overhead. No joke.
Much like Black Holes, Bellamy’s lyrics take on the character of a romantic soldier who doesn’t want to be a part of the science-fiction war that is taking place. Most of the tracks deal with dreaming of a greater tomorrow, insisting that “they” (whoever They may be) will not win or defeat “us” (whoever We may be) and just genuinely preening about whilst spouting pseudo-inspirational tripe like “Love is our resistance!” (“Resistance”) and “You are my guiding light!” (“Guiding Light”, which serves as this album’s hugely cheesy sequel to Black Holes’ “Invincible”). Not to mention the kind of rhyming that would make 21st Century Breakdown-era Billie Joe Armstrong blush with lines like “The fat cats had a heart attack” from “Uprising”. Lyrically, the entire affair feels like an afterthought
The tracks that follow the KISS principle to the core (keep it simple, stupid) end up succeeding the most. “Unnatural Selection” could have been on the cutting floor of Absolution, with some stellar guitar and an energetic chorus – despite needing some editing near its end, it’s arguably the best track here. Its successor, “MK Ultra”, streamlines the entire album’s melodrama into a far more accessible and enjoyable fashion. Sadly, this momentary joy does not last – try making it through the final three tracks (the “Exogenesis Symphony”) without once uttering the phrase “What wankers”.
The Resistance is going to be huge. Magazines will rave, sales will skyrocket, even more stadiums will be filled. However, more now than ever will this success be undeserved – whatever Pink Floyd-lite concept Bellamy comes up with next, it’s going to take a lot to bring them back from this effort. Resistance is exactly what is needed to bring these three back down to earth.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
F-f-fiiiiiiiiiiiiirst.
So I've been listening to this all morning on the ABC.net.au stream. Started writing as I went along and boom.
Come and get me, Alligator.
Digging: Kate Miller-Heidke - Nightflight | | | Album Rating: 2.5
pretty great review, even though some more description of exogenesis would be neat.
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I really like the review. yet to listen to the album.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
here is nothing for Bellamy and co. to hid behind on The Resistance
And missing a few punctuations but solid review.
I disagree. Slightly.
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
Fixed the "hide" part, thx babe
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
Oh, and:
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/geo/muse_resistance/
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
i agree. this may have persuaded me to even drop my rating.
Digging: Suis La Lune - Riala | | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
Good review, I obviously agree with the rating, but I disagree with your opinions on the songs. "Unnatural Selection" and "MK Ultra" just bore me like nothing else. They should have really fleshed the symphony thing out into an entire album, because none of the other tracks really should be more than B-sides and frankly 13 minutes isn't much of a symphony.
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
i agree. this may have persuaded me to even drop my rating.
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
btw the review was great
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haven't even heard the album and i agree
Digging: Hop Along - Get Disowned Digging: Hop Along - Get Disowned
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I actually like this quite a bit. Maybe it's because I had such low expectations of it.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
Great review. Still haven't heard any of this, waiting for a physical copy to arrive (I ordered when i had high hopes a few months ago)
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Another great review DavID. I'm hoping like hell you are being harsh. Not good news about the rhythm section though.
| | | Album Rating: 2
album is terrible and even worse
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i actually like it kinda
| | | Album Rating: 3
rolling stone will probably label this as the masterpiece of 2009 and the best album muse has ever written blah blah blah etc. etc.
Digging: Meshuggah - Koloss | | | Album Rating: 3.5
album is not terrible. lyrics suck more than a well paid prostitute though
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good review, took guts to write this
| | | Album Rating: 2
took guts to write this
no evrybody knows this is the worst muse
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