But it's only after Undisclosed Desires has offered Depeche Mode the chance to beef up New Life with an extra disco twist that hyper-space really beckons.įorsaking the subtle understatement of Knights of Cydonia for something a little more, well, out there, United States of Eurasia blasts schoolroom memories of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four through the filter of Bohemian Rhapsody with a brazenness that would make Mika blush. Next up, the title track posits a theoretically grisly but in practice quite palatable hybrid of U2 and David Guetta. Uprising - the album's first single - is a deceptively conventional glitter-stomp melange of the Dr Who theme and Blondie's Call Me. The Resistance's bold flight from the constraints of human reason takes a little while to get up to warp speed. While it's no surprise that Muse have chosen the latter course, the wholeheartedness with which this album hurls itself into the abyss of cod-symphonic astral pretension is to be commended. Either retreat into their shell and record that acoustic set of 19th-century West Country folk songs, or continue along the trajectory laid out for them by the wilfully apocalyptic Black Holes & Revelations - ie to infinity and beyond. * What do you think of The Resistance? Post your comments below.A fter the bombastic apotheosis of 2007's two-night stand at the new Wembley Stadium, Muse had two options. Judging by The Resistance, Muse are so far out in space any rescue attempt would be an impossible mission. you must rescue us all," an earnest Bellamy pleads in the middle of it all. For once on the album, Muse settle into a style long enough to do something with it. Along with the near unlistenable theatrics of I Belong To You, it proves Muse are now completely devoted to being as over-the-top as they can be.Īll that, and we haven't even got to the Exogenesis, an emotional and affecting three-part symphony that closes the album and acts as its saving grace. It's trying to be a fists-in-the-air festival anthem, but you'll probably just roll on the ground laughing. Then there's United States of Eurasia, the first single released in six parts in an online treasure hunt that finds Bellamy belting out his best Freddie Mercury impression over the kind of histrionics usually favoured by piss-take bands like The Darkness. Unnatural Selection is a garage-rock chuggalong referencing both System of a Down and Marilyn Manson, Undisclosed Desires is an R&B number complete with slap-bass that should have Timbaland asking for royalties, and you haven't heard front man Matt Bellamy sing till you've heard his chilling falsetto on Guiding Light. They had the same attitude and intent on previous albums, but here Muse never settle on a style long enough to hold your attention.
It's certainly ambitious, and occasionally sounds like the soundtrack for an alien invasion yet to happen.
The album's 11 tracks reference everything from defunct pomp-rock act Queen to hip-hop producer Timbaland and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with a hefty dose of orchestral bombast and classical string arrangements thrown in for good measure. The Resistance - Muse's hyped fifth album that comes after the British trio's epically awesome Black Holes and Revelations from 2006 - is pompous, ridiculous and probably the most bonkers crazy album you'll hear this year.
Is it the album of the year? Or a ridiculously overblown statement by a band that has finally flagged Earth away and started beaming its music in directly from Mars? A BIT OF EVERYTHING: Muse's new album is all over the place.