I sort of feel as though I may be bombarding you people with post after post; I apologise. I've just had a reasonably large succession of things to talk about recently. It's Tuesday today, so at the very least you'll have a WHOLE Wednesday free of reading material!
Right now, though, ou're here to hear me talk good stuff. To the review!
The Resistance by Muse.
I've loved Muse for a long time now. When I was first listening to them, even people in England were saying "Who?". This was during the days when everyone compared them to Radiohead because Matt Bellamy is English and has a high voice.
From Showbiz - a fairly enjoyable alternative rock effort, packed with a few gems - Muse progressed forward, as any worthwhile band tends to. Origin of Symmetry was the album that caused a lot of people to discover Muse as a band they wanted to hear more of, mostly due to New Born being released as a single. It felt more complete and you could tell that with such epics as Citizen Erased and the searing Microcuts, Muse had started to define their own style. Not wholly original, but not entirely alike to anything at the time.
Absolution sacrificed the sheer number of memorable single songs for a more cohesive, single sound. It worked brilliantly. I still love Origin of Symmetry a bit more, but Absolution was easily their most ambitious album at this point. Even though it wasn't packed with memorable songs, it did contain the flawless Butterflies and Hurricanes, as well as the scattered sharpness of Stockholm Syndrome. Absolution saw a re-release in the States six months after its original release and, as expected, Muse were never to be a small band again. Black Holes and Revelations came next and whilst Muse continued the ambition, it felt as though they had compromised their sound; I hated Supermassive Black Hole when it came out, though it has massively grown on me. The album felt stilted and a bit patchy, but still very good. It even contained what could be considered Muse's best song in Knights of Cydonia. It certainly contains some absolutely dynamite guitar work from the brilliant, yet overrated, Matt Bellamy.
So, here we are. Album number five, The Resistance. Let's get down to business and what everyone's been asking me: "David, what do you think of The Resistance?/Is it good?".
My answer is that it's not bad. It's worth a listen. Uprising is a decent album opener, but I simply cannot get past the fact that it sounds far too much like White Wedding by Billy Idol. Not the whole song, mind you, just one of the keyboard melody lines. That's the story of my experience with this album, you see. There are so many things I'd enjoy if there weren't just as many things I can't get past.
Resistance is a good song, with a twinkly piano intro that drags me back to a time when they had all kinds of lonely-sounding b-sides (Do We Need This?, The Gallery and Shine to be exact). Unnatural Selection has a pretty dynamite guitar riff at the beginning and changes flavour enough to keep me interested. The sound is reminiscent of Absolution-era Muse, I noticed. MK Ultra is the only other song I really enjoyed besides the three part finale; all the rest I had issues with for reasons I'll explain soon.
I never really cared for Matt Bellamy's lyrics, let that be said. Truth be told, I don't really pay attention to lyrics in general. If I like the lyricist, I'll make the effort to read them on their own; but they never affect my opinion of a song in any way. It's music, not words. I buy music for music. Regardless, this album's lyrics STINK of that just-out-of-college smugness that a lot of people have. The lyrics of this album really bring Matt Bellamy's fascination and belief of conspiracy theory to the forefront, and it sort of makes me lose respect for the guy.
I won't get into it here, but in a nutshell I'd say that conspiracy theorism is ludicrous and stupid. It's one of the things that attaches itself inescapably to this album, and I can't ignore it. Additionally, Muse seem to have levelled out in a way that doesn't really work for them on this album.
Every song seems to be one of their influences as performed by them. It doesn't feel wholly like Muse anymore, it feels like Muse-Play-Queen or Matt Bellamy Plays the Hits of Chopin. Matt Bellamy even goes so far as to include a piece of Chopin's Nocturne in E Flat Major on the end of United States of Eurasia. Speaking of that song, it's the prime example of what has gone wrong for the band. They seem way too concerned with incorporating their own influences that it's become ridiculous. There are points in this song where I started to worry if Brian May was going to sue them for copyright infringement, or Freddie Mercury's estate would come a-knockin' at the House of Muse asking for royalties.
The last three songs - the Exogenesis movement - are suitably epic and rather astounding, with Matt Bellamy turning in a heavenly vocal performance. One that may possibly be his best. Yet again, though, it just feels like Muse doing classical adaptation; not Muse playing Muse. To that end, including crunchy guitar in a song full of orchestration is great, but it won't convince me of progression.
I would love to say they are much better than to be reduced to this, but I really am not sure if I can anymore. I don't think Muse have anywhere left to go, personally. They will not go back to writing the punchy, memorable alternative rock monsters of yesteryear; but they clearly do not have it in them to progress on their own steam. To a more casual and less demanding mind, this album may be seen as a massive progression. To the likes of me, at the risk of sounding pretentious, it's borderline kareoke.
To summarise: The Resistance is very enjoyable, it has some tracks you may like or love. It is definitely worth a listen, you've nothing to lose in doing so. Unfortunately, it is so peppered with influence instead of inspiration that despite its good graces, it reaches almost pantomime levels of parody.
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Before I go, I'd like to give you a couple of heads-ups:
1). I've done calculations and it seems I may have as many as seven or eight comics to buy on Thursday. Considering that it's tiresome to review six in a day, I may do the Thurs/Fri split again. The entire weekend will be free and you probably won't see another review until Tuesday, maybe even next Thursday. Regardless, thanks to everyone who is reading this. I've received a great amount of positive feedback and that's very much appreciated considering how new the blog is.
2). On a similar note, I have a MAJOR update. In the near future I will be making an update of unprecedented proportions. I kid you not, people, this is a BIG deal for such a new blog as mine. Keep your eyes peeled.
That's all for now, true believers.
Until next time, peace.
-The Mast
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