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Album Details
- Artist: Muse
- Album: The Resistance
- Label: Warner Bros./Helium 3
- Year of Release: 2009
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: tosnob on 2009-10-07
RecommendWhen I first heard the raw neo-rock blast of Muse's Absolution I instantly fell in love with the record. When I heard the follow-up Black Holes and Revelations I was heartbroken. The album was an overwrought and overproduced self-indulgent prog rock wankfest.
So I approached the UK trio's new album The Resistance with mixed feelings. Would it be the fresh, vibrant rock of Absolution or the mundane drivel of Black Holes?
The answer is some of both. The album opens up with the monotonous "Uprising" which sounds like it could be a filler track from any recent Depeche Mode album.
The band do restore faith with a slightly new direction. The title track is highly textured, featuring a piano intro before morphing into a dramatic rock out, Queen rock opera style. It's not the only instance of the that style being used. "United States of Eurasia" boasts big soaring vocals with musical arrangements designed to heighten the drama. This works better with Muse's all-encompassing fuzz sound than it did with Green Day's recent played out attempts.
Even this can get a bit tedious. By the time "Guiding Light" rolls around one is begging, just begging the band to write a song that has even one memorable line. It seems as though the band all of a sudden lost the ability to write a chorus as gripping as that of "Hysteria" or a riff that stays with you for beyond the opening bars of the next track.
Singer Matthew Bellamy's vocals are undeniably passionate and convey a broad range of emotions over the course of the album. Unfortunately, there never seems to be a focus, direction, or even a source of those emotions, thereby rendering them less than fully effective.
The Resistance gets marks for the roller coaster atmosphere, however there are still far too many Rush-like moments for this album to be completely enjoyable.
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on 2009-10-05 Dylan147 Said:
I've read a lot of reviews for "the Resistance" and to be honest i think everyone is being a bit to harsh on Muse. I think this album is a great effort.
So it starts off with the single "uprising"......which is kinda like eating a couch. It's just a great 5 minutes of ......badness. But, then we move on to track two which i think is a very catchy little song. It has the great harmony to Bellamy's voice " he could be wrong" and then a very climactic finish. Next up track three. A nice melody in the chorus aside this is just terrible, But i do give Muse credit for experimentation.
So, now were on to the song sung by Queen. " united states of Eurasia". It's .......Good! Lovely indian style music backed up by a great rock and roll beat. "Guiding light" is the next song. And it seems Muse are trying to recreate "Invincible". Usually i hate when bands try to do this but this song is just barely good enough to get into my good books.
At long last! we've gotten to the heavy song on the album. But, doesn't that riff just sounds Like the "New Born" Riff with a few extra notes added in. I'll leave that for you to decide. "Mk Ultra". What a great opening riff. One of the albums highlights. Oh God! i just remembered what song is up next. " I belong to you is better than some songs but that's kinda like saying getting run over by a car is better than getting run over by a bus.
Now were at " Exogenesis symphony". I love it. A great farewell to a pretty average album.
When you listen to this album you just get pretty annoyed. It has some great moments but usually they are followed by something terrible. This had so many chances to turn itself from being a good album... to a great one.
Rating: 7/10
on 2009-09-14 Archelon Said:
Good review mashkin, 'The Resistance' is not a terribly creative record (especially the Queen moments!) and it's a harsh back-to-earth-with-a-bump for most big Muse fans. They're only human, but we don't all need to know that, do we?
Rating: 5/10
Review:
on 2009-09-14 mashkin Said:
In 2006, Muse unleashed their most outstanding record of their lives. And in 2009, they released The Resistance which in my opinion disappoints me. I gotta be honest, "Black Holes and Revelations" was one of my favorite albums that i have heard in my life and the new one failed to impress me because this album is a little bit overdone.
In "Uprising", the songs starts off with the pretty catchy beat and synth-driven intro and then Matthews vocals starts off pretty much in the same way every song did. When the chorus comes in, I think you just heard "Queen". In "United States Of Eurasia", which has the Ballad-like introduction. And when chorus comes in, I think you just heard "Queen" again. I mean, pretty much every song in this record has just almost the same choruses in it and that is why I think it's a little bit overdone.
But, "The Resistance" had it's moments, The "Exogenesis: Symphony" series of songs puts a little art into the album and I gotta praise them for that. Quite creative I think.
Rating: 5/10
