Muse - The Resistance

[Saintandy666]

Just in the process of listening to a not-leaked-non-pirated version of the new muse album and so far all I can say is wow , can't wait till I get to exogenesis at the end.

[Baj]

meh 6/10

[Pancake]

*pop*

 

That ^ is the sound of Matt Bellamy disappearing up his own bum.

[Saint_Jonny]

I havnt listened to it yet, but jsut got it, looking at the track titles is is all just a classical album? I wish they could just do capable melodic rock, which imo is what they are bloody well best at. Not my fave band but would be nice if they could stick to what they are good at.

[Pancake]

I havnt listened to it yet, but jsut got it, looking at the track titles is is all just a classical album?

 

'Classical'? You mean like Bach or Brahms?

[Saint_Jonny]

'Classical'? You mean like Bach or Brahms?

 

well im not a music toff so I dont know the correct term, but you know...pianos and ****

 

Im on united states of eurasia atm, heard it before, ****ing love it, everything up to this point has been MEH however.

[Rory]

If the song The Resistance is anything to go by, it could be a contender for the worst album ever.

[Saint_Jonny]

you can just hear that the guy is in love with him self. Theres writing about your emotions or whatever and then theres this over done, badly sung pap.

 

5/10

[SuperMikey]

As a huge Muse fan, i'm bitterly disappointed by this album. And that's all I really have to say about it.

[Baj]

My personal opinion is that they missed a trick here.

 

They should have taken the best 4 "songs" from the album and released an EP. Then released the Symphony at the end as a separate entity, perhaps as a special dvd or something.

[Julian H. Cope]

My personal opinion is that they missed a trick here.

 

They should have taken the best 4 "songs" from the album and released an EP. Then released the Symphony at the end as a separate entity, perhaps as a special dvd or something.

 

You should apply to be their manager.

[Junction 9]

I really feel Muse have lost their way of late. Still the best live band I've ever seen but most of the the set I saw was stuff from the first 2 maybe 3 albums.

Most of their recent singles sounds to me like they could be used in Buck Rogers the musical. Shame.

[UniS]

Absolution was brilliant, in my opinion it was pretty much perfect and is my favourite album to this day.

Black Holes and Revelations was a let down - it sounded like someone had been given a synth and an effects box for Christmas. There are still two or three decent tracks on it, just about.

 

I've listened to this new album a few times now and it's definitely better than the previous dismal effort. But it doesn't really fit together...

 

'Uprising' is a bit tacky, with all the 'Come on's etc. Thankfully it's not as terrible as Supermassive Black Hole.

 

I like how 'Resistance' begins, sort of goes back to the quiet bits from Citizen Erased which is a good thing. But then it all gets a bit lovey-dovey which Muse have never done well, but it's got a decent tune to it.

 

I hated 'Undisclosed Desires' on first listen, but it's grown on me. Not a classic by any means however, but one of the better tracks and is quite interesting.

 

'United States of Eurasia' is a pretty decent song. Nice structure to it, but they fall into the cliched lets-have-a-rebellion teenage nonsense, and then it chops (hehe) to the Chopin at the end. It's a poorly played excerpt from a mediocre piece of Romantic period piano - and they rename it 'Collateral Damage'. Why? What's the point?

 

'Guiding Light' deserves to be deleted from the world. It's Muse trying to be Queen and it's like listening to a camel vomiting it's own faeces through its nose.

 

But then 'Unnatural Selection' goes back the Origin of Symmetry-esque energy and it works quite well, one of the highlights of the album that is let down by a dull interlude section and a cheesy synth-organ intro.

 

'MK Ultra' - apart from the silly name - is fairly decent, but they seem to run out of ideas of what to do with it and it peters out a bit.

 

'I Belong to You' is good. It's a bit unusual and they integrate the French thing into it quite well. The bass clarinet solo takes you by surprise a bit but it kind of works...

 

Then there's this 'Exogenesis Symphony'. For a start, it's not a symphony at all.

Secondly, it's got a stupid name. And thirdly, the string arpeggios in the first one sound like they were done for someone's GCSE Music Composition.

 

It doesn't fit into the album at all. Muse used to integrate the classical influence so well, but now it seems like they're trying to say "Hey, look at us, we can write for orchestra!" but they can't. The strings worked well in Absolution because they were arranged by a professional string composer - Audrey Riley (who conducts the orchestra on The Resistance, but seemingly didn't have any input into the arrangement as it sounds like it was done by a child)

 

The second track of it is just a pile of typical Muse w@nkery. And then the final piece is a bit of a damp squib, more basic string chords and generally a bit flat. The ending still sort of works - but I agree with the above that they should have released the stronger tracks as an EP, then had the Exogenesis seperately.

 

One thing I noticed from a technical point of view, and I think this may be down to the lack of a dedicated producer on the album (and in the mastering stage), is that the vocals are set far too forward in the mix. In MK Ultra it is very noticeable that the vocal has been processed with a different type of reverb from the rest of the track... a poor error that a real producer wouldn't have let slip. Even if they were trying to do it consciously as some sort of musical statement, it still sounds rubbish.

 

The secret to mixing and mastering is what you don't realise you are hearing unless you really listen to it (if that makes any sense... kind of putting little finishing touches without people really noticing), but Muse have put all these silly effects into the foreground and it detracts from everything else.

 

It's probably about on a par with Showbiz for me (albeit not because they are a similar style) but because it has a couple of standout tracks, a few listenable-above-average songs, but let down by the pointless, pretentious stuff of Muse trying to pretend they are super clever.

 

Anyway, they're my thoughts if anyone is vaguely interested! I know I wouldn't be.

[UniS]

I forgot to give a mention to the stupid plane sound effect after the stupid Collateral Damage thing.

 

Muse, listen to me. Stop it.

 

First you had horse noises and sirens in Knights of Cydonia.

Now you have the sound of a plane taking off after murdering a piece of Chopin.

 

You're not 10 anymore. It's not acceptable.

[Deppo]

Oooooooooooooh... this is awful. Pompous overblown music for angst-ridden teenagers (IMHO). The student Status Quo.

[Deppo]

Music for uppity virgins with a Freddie Mercury fixation.

[saint francis]

I'm sure I read somewhere that 44% of muse fans in the South East were virgins, the second highest proportion, just pipped to the post by Metallica fans. I'll see if I can find the link.

 

I like them, then again, I'm a complete bender and a virgin.

[Gigersaint]

They're a long way away now from their earlier great tracks such as "Plug in baby" still my fave.

[Trader]

United States of Eurasia sounds more like Queen than Guiding Light IMHO

 

Not a bad album - heard a lot worse

 

Speaking as an old git I'm just glad there are still bands like this around

[Rory]

I don't understand how a band as promising as Muse once were can get it so wrong after Origin of Symmetry.

[Ponty]

I like the echoey effect he gets playing the guitar whilst being so far up his own arse.

[Colinjb]

Heard it through a few times now. I'm glad that a band in the public eye are willing to try an album like this but I don't think it is entirely succesful.

 

United States of Eurasia sounds like a bad Queen rip off at times and is nowhere near as good as it's trying to be. MK Ultra is the best track on the album with Undisclosed Desires a close second.

 

When it's just Muse doing what they do best, pretentious and ambitious rock music it works. But the classical influences do not fit.... at all. Right, where did I leave my copy of Black Holes and Revelations.....

[Mr_Red]

I agree its a bit hodge podge but i still like it.

They were pretty damn awesome in Teignmouth too.

Can't believe someone doesn't like Supermassive Blackhole... I've no idea what its about but I "dance" like a nutter if its ever on in a club.