Originally posted on 20/9/09
Muse have always been a band who were insanely talented, and didn't bother to try and hide it on their albums. Right from their beginnings in Showbiz where Matt Bellamys balls hadn't dropped, through the prog-rock of Origin of Symmetry to the paranoia and pianos of Absolution to the all-round showing off of Black Holes and Revelations, they have always churned out albums that are infallible, each getting better as time went on.
Sadly, they appear to have peaked.
From opener Uprising to the ridiculous symphony at the end, The Resistance feels like something made by a band too scared to continue the progression through their albums that made them so great in the first place. Gone are the insane solos like Invincible, the throbbing bass of Hysteria and the drumming of Assasin, and replacing it is what it would sound like if Gary Glitter and Queen had children. And let's not mention Gary Glitter and children in the same sentence again. The album opens with Uprising, which channels everything fron Doctor Who, to shoddy basswork, to clapping and to shouts of hey! towards the end (hello Gary Glitter). A case of opening nerves perhaps? It would seem that way, as this is followed by Resistance, by far the best working on the album, a perfectly crafted slice of brilliance, which seemingly assures us Uprising was a wee gay blip that'll be played on the tour for the album and then forgotten.
Then we have Undisclosed Desires. Less said the better.
United States of Eurasia brings back all the lovely paranoia from Absolution, telling us how Europe + Asia + the top of Africa can combine and take over the world. Wonderful, if it wasn't Bohemian Rhapsody. I wont say sounds like it, because it is it. And it's bloody horrible. Then once we've finished channeling Freddie we get some Arabian snake charming shite with more glam rock clapping in the back which is just.... wrong. As is shouting euraSHA over and over again. And another one before we're done, some wee piano thingy is thrown on the end which makes no sense and adds nothing to the song. Other stuff like Unnatural Selection (too long) Guiding Light (a diet Invincible) and MK Ultra (uh) all sound like bad cast-offs from Black Holes and Revelations. Then we get to I Belong to You (+French shite) which sounds both awful for the lyrical content "she attacks me like a leo/when my heart is split like Rio" and for the musical stuff, as it has this weird thing in the background that sounds like the theme tune for a French childrens programme. About a cat. Who's a detective.
After this abhorrance comes the Exogenesis Symphony. Anticipation for this was high, with rumours of a full orchestra, a 15 minute Space Rock solo going on the album, but in the end they settled for something Matt Bellamy composed himself, fair enough. One snag. It is shite. Butterflies and Hurricanes is how to combine band/voice/orchestra, a three part symphony which is bad, and boring, is not how to do it. It sounds like something that the band had been toying with for a while, realised that if it wasn't on this album it would never go out, so rushed it out and it sounds worse for it. Part III for instance is just..... nothing.
This leads into the main problem with the album which is that it doesn't sound like an album. Albums, and Muse have been one of the best examples of this, are supposed to mean something. They are supposed to be a group of tracks to say whatever you like, to put forth a message, to tell a story, to express yourself, which The Resistance ultimately doesn't. It tries, but it doesn't manage it. Matt Bellamy read 1984 before writing stuff for this album. And perhaps the reason the album felt ruined for me is because i'm currently reading that for English and I bloody hated the first reading round, but while artists normally borrow themes from things like this, The Resistance takes 1984, batters it against the lyrics and keeps flogging it like oh-so-many shitty Mario games in varyingly ridiculous settings. It could have built on 1984, kept the theme of two people fighting against an all-consuming power for the most basic of human emotions (love btw) but it does this so blatingly obviously, the allusion (hallo Advanced English!) becomes a complete ripping off, and it sounds worse for it.
The Resistance sounds like a group of songs from 3 camps
1. The 1984-ripping-off: tracks 1-6 + 8
2. The stuff that wasn't good enough for BH&R: tracks 6-8
3. The guy who's there but doesn't quite know why: Exogenesis.
The Resistance has high points (or point singular, in Resistance) but it is far outweighed by its problems. Which is the ultimate let down, considering what came before.
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