 | 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 ... | David James Young (2.5)
Muse's biggest album by no means equates to their best.... | 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.... | 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: A disjointed, disorganized mess that ends up imploding on itself. |
3 of 3 thought this review was well written
Regardless of one’s opinion of their music, it’s impossible to deny that Muse is one of the most ambitious modern rock bands. From their inclusion of Rachmaninov-esque piano leads to their constant need to significantly change their sound from album to album, the band has always done what their contemporaries have feared to even attempt. Considering this, saying that their latest release, The Resistance, is their most aspiring thus far is quite a significant accolade. Unfortunately, it seems that for the first time in their career, Muse overestimated their abilities and tried to create an album that they simply aren’t capable of making.
In it’s runtime of almost an hour, The Resistance is filled with ideas. Fearless, hard-rockers, tender ballads, seductive pop songs, rousing anthems, and even a full-fledged symphony are all crammed into the record, and yet none of these ideas are ever fully developed, causing the whole album to feel disjointed and unfocused. Muse schizophrenically jumps from one style to the next with no warning or delicacy, causing the listener to quickly become confused and lost amidst The Resistance’s innumerable mood swings. Due to the lack of musical, lyrical, or tonal consistency between, The Resistance feels like a collection of songs, rather than one unit.
To further alienate listeners, The Resistance lacks the spontaneity and ease found in the band’s past releases; instead, most of the album sounds forced. Muse tries to mix first lightweight pop (Uprising) and then Bohemian Rhapsody-worship (United States Of Eurasia) with serious political commentary, and this same Queen reverence is then mingled with a (horribly misinterpreted) Chopin nocturne. Later in the album, an upbeat, romantic ditty transitions into a rendition of a Saint-Saëns opera. Such moments are frequent throughout the album and, unsurprisingly, none of these endeavors are successful in the least.
Let’s pause for a moment to talk about Matt Bellamy’s performance of the two aforementioned classical pieces. Chopin’s nearly flawless Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 is one of the composer’s most famous and frequently-performed pieces. The bittersweet, loving nocturne also happens to be Chopin’s most often misinterpreted composition, with countless over-sentimental and insincere performances made by immature performers. Bellamy’s performance ranks among the worst. He is content with over-elongating every pause, remaining dynamically flat, and abusing rubato. Consequentially, the nocturne’s beauty is all but entirely gone. The sound of children’s laughter, static, and jet engines over top of Bellamy’s defecation on the nocturne makes the whole thing pretentious beyond belief. The Saint-Saëns opera fares slightly better, if only because Bellamy and his accent don’t entirely destroy the composition. Unlike the perfectly superfluous performance of the nocturne, the Saint-Saëns opera manages to be somewhat enjoyable.
Despite these flaws, The Resistance contains some redeeming features. Uprising, while lyrically vapid and rather generic, is an enjoyable and addicting hard-rocker. The title track, MK Ultra, and Unnatural Selection are obvious highlights, and rank among the band’s best material. The Symphony, while rather pretentious, is quite beautiful and shows Muse finally succumbing to Bellamy’s affinity for classical music. Lastly, I Belong to You is a pretty fun, if not very memorable tune. And yet, between these moments of salvation, the album meanders and succeeds only in boring (and in the case of Guiding Light, annoying) the listener.
The Resistance is certainly not without some virtue, and when one only listens to one song from the album at a time, it manages to be somewhat enjoyable. However, when listened to from beginning to end, Muse’s latest release is a colossal, overblown, pretentious failure that never becomes half of what it aims to be.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 2.5
Haven't reviewed in a very long time, so I'll be in need feedback. Wasn't sure if I should give this a 2.5 or a 3, listened to Bellamy fuck up the nocturne, and bumped this down.
Digging: Addaura - Burning for the Ancient Digging: Addaura - Burning for the Ancient | | | Album Rating: 2.5
double posters are stupid.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Totally unneccessary review, but it's a good one, pos'd.
Digging: The Walkmen - Heaven | | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
just reviewed this myself and i agree with lots of your ideas.
"Due to the lack of musical, lyrical, or tonal consistency between, The Resistance feels like a collection of songs, rather than one unit."
^right on
One thing I'd add that I really stressed in my review was the simple lack of instrumental ingenuity; sure, there are some cool piano peices and intriguing symphony orchestration, but it lacks the technical skill of Stockholm Syndrome's guitar riff or Butterflies and Hurricane's classical section.
also, well written, pos'd
Digging: mewithoutYou - Ten Stories Digging: mewithoutYou - Ten Stories | | | Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off
Good review. I agree that the album isn't cohesive at all as most tracks being underdeveloped.
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
fr33convict i quoted you on the first comment after my review of this
| | | Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off
haha thanks i guess.
| | | Album Rating: 3
Good review, album sucks major compared to the previous 3.
Digging: Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction | | | Album Rating: 2.5
Another Resistance review??
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
it's like CTTS accept for an album that deserves even MORE hate
| | | Album Rating: 2
we get it this album is shit lets move on now
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enrique approves
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when is this one going to be released in the UK?
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
^ lol jk (?!?)
Digging: Kate Miller-Heidke - Nightflight | | | Album Rating: 2.5
He's jk
Digging: Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight Digging: Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight | | |
i am jk, sorry
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
yr funeh
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Can we please stop talking about this now
Digging: Between the Buried and Me - Colors Digging: Between the Buried and Me - Colors
| | | Album Rating: 2 | Sound Off
Only if you'll sleep with me
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Done and done
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