Muse – “The Resistance” Review

Muse is possibly one of the most hyped-about bands this past decade, blowing up overseas with the album Showbiz, while waiting until the release of Absolution to explode in the states.  Songs like “Time Is Running Out” and “Hysteria” dominated U.S. charts only to be continued in 2006 with “Supermassive Black Hole.”  It’s obvious to say, though I’m sure other elitist music-snobs (much like myself) will disagree, Muse is one of the most original bands to hit radio in what seems to be a very long time.

Personally, Showbiz is by far my favorite album from this group.  I consider myself a fan,  but not enough of one to listen to them on a frequent basis.  The song “Muscle Museum” from Showbiz, however, is constantly found in my playlists.  Their new album is coming out soon, and I know a ton of you are really excited.  I have been privileged enough to take a good listen to it this early in the game.  Don’t worry, I’m not the type to say “well they’ll never be as good as Showbiz” or “I just like their old stuff better, the stuff that was out when no one knew who they were.”  Fuck that noise.  People like that bother me, unless the music of a certain band was clearly better years before their fame smacked them in the temple with a cricket bat (Atreyu, System of a Down, Green Day)…  Just kidding (no, I’m not).  Seriously though, when people say things like “Nine Inch Nails will never be as good as they were when The Fragile was out” or saying that the only good Dillinger Escape Plan was Calculating Infinity and everything else sucked, it’s pointless.  The reason Nine Inch Nails will never be the same as they were during the days of The Fragile is because Trent Reznor was a completely drug-addicted maniac on the verge of suicide.  And he’ll never be as angry as he was during the days of The Downward Spiral either, so quit expecting another one!  Bands evolve, and as they do, their music changes.  When bands grow and their music stays the same, it ends up being a horrific train-wreck downfall that brings tears to your eyes as you are forced to watch it, torturing yourself as you hope for something different (by the way, thanks 311, now I don’t even care about your new album).

With that being said, it was obvious listening to Showbiz that this band was meant for a bigger sound.  It was an absolutely massive album.  Guitars blazed alongside monstrous vocals with some of the catchiest bass lines I may have ever heard backing it up.  As the band continued to write and put out hit albums, their sound seemed to get larger and larger.  This album has some of their largest songs by far, ending with a huge three-part symphony orchestrated by Matthew Bellamy himself.  The rest of the album, surprisingly, seems more stripped of effects and computer-generated keyboards than previous albums, yet still having just enough to satisfy the fans that loved it.  This can be said for much of the album.  While each song builds up into what seems to be an imminent explosion of rock and keys, Bellamy seems to hold back at the last minute as if to tease you each time.

My opinion: this album is good, and there are songs on here that will blast onto radio, but outside of it’s near-perfect production, I find it to be somewhat bland for Muse.  The songs are good, but only good.  The ending symphony is pretty sweet, but I don’t feel its something I’m going to run to my friends saying “holy shit, you gotta check this out.”  They are more the quality of, “hey man, did you check out that new Muse album? What did you think of the symphony?”  While you both will agree that its good, the conversation will most likely stop there.  It’s not something to go much into detail about.  Allegedly, the three-part ending took Bellamy quite some years to complete…ouch.  Though it’s bland for Muse, it’s still better than a lot of shit that has come out lately.  I give it a score of 4 out of 5.