Album Review : Muse - The Resistance

Here at Muso's Guide, we like to review releases collaboratively from time to time. And the time has arisen once more; we locked three of our writers in a room with their headphones and you, the lucky reader, can now read what they made of Muse's latest magnum opus. And yes, that was meant to be contradictory.

Peter Harris' take: Matt Bellamy is like that kid that we all used to know from our schooldays; the really clever kid that got straight As but used to think that WWF wrestling was real. Bellamy's still on the faux conspiracy path, this time apparently taking inspiration from the love story of George Orwell's 1984. But there's such a lack of depth and conviction to the lyrical themes, he might as well be talking about Bourbon biscuits.

The greatest problem with The Resistance, however, is the band's decision to produce the album themselves. Without an impartial quality controller overseeing matters, the previous overblown nature of Muse's output becomes at some points laughably preposterous which is not helped by the horribly synthetic production quality - too much knob twiddling here.

There's also a lawyer-bothering amount of 'borrowed' music from other bands such as Queen, Abba and System of a Down. For heaven's sake, 'Uprising' sounds like Gary Glitter's take on the Doctor Who theme! At least they've made an effort to pilfer their own back catalogue too and reproduce plenty of past melodies and ideas.

The overall result is an album which sounds like it's being performed by a Butlin's Redcoat tribute act called 'BeMuse'.

Jonno Hopkins' take: Muse are like the boy from your school music lessons. While you’d agonize over fingering ‘Walk of Life’ by Dire Straits on keyboard, he’d be busy composing multi-layered orchestral masterpieces, often with time to conduct a Jean Michelle Jarre-esque lightshow. Annoying and ostentatious, but essentially brilliant. As is The Resistance.

Only occasionally does it grapple to reach the blistering heights that graced earlier Muse albums. However, they’ve certainly not lost any of their high-falutin' swagger. ‘United States of Eurasia’ and ‘Unnatural Selection’ are simply and unashamedly brilliant. The final three tracks are epic in their demeanour. Muse are rarely prudent with their scope. They continue to do grandiose like Nirvana did modesty. Obnoxiously good when jangly guitars become tiresome.

Helen Szczupak's take: One listen is enough to recognise that this album is trademark Muse through and through. A fine development from where Black Holes & Revelations left off; the sound engulfs and encapsulates meandering through electro space beats and piano melodies through to classical symphonies.'Undisclosed Desires' touches on a hint of Depeche Mode's 'Enjoy The Silence' whilst 'Unites States of Eurasia' is much more epic, creeping right through to the eerie opening chords of 'Unnatural Selection' that becomes surprisingly upbeat.An undeniable success, but you didn't honestly expect anything less, did you?