Bruce's Music Review: The Resistance by Muse

 (Before I begin, let it be known that this is just my opinion. If you disagree, hey, that's fine. Don't kill me)

 The most common dictionary definition of the word ‘Pretentious’ is as follows: PRETENTIOUS (Pri-ten-shas. Adj.) 1. Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified. 2. Making or marked by an extravagant outward show; ostentatious.

Do you remember when Muse were arguably one of the best Hard-Rock bands of the 2000’s? All three members of Muse are immensely talented, displaying that fact on albums such as 2001’s ‘Origin of Symmetry’ and the 2006 powerhouse, ‘Black Holes and Revelations’, which was my favorite record of that year. After rising to the status of performing in sold-out stadiums, Muse seemed as if they were content with waiting a good while to release a follow-up to 2006’s ‘Black Holes and Revelations’. It’s been three years, and Muse has decided that it is rightfully time to release ‘The Resistance’, which officially comes out tomorrow.

I should make this point clear before we go any further in the review: I have never listened to a record – or a singer for that matter – more full of both himself, and his own idiot ideology, than Matthew Bellamy on this record. Everyone who is familiar with Muse, and their work, probably knows by now that Bellamy is a bit of a nutcase; he believes in aliens, conspiracy theories, and other George Orwell-esque ‘A DYSTOPIAS-A-COMIN’ SOON!’ bullshit. However, this never really seemed to affect the music of Muse until now. Remember “Starlight”? That song was incredible: it was simple, straight to the point, had great instrumentation, and it displayed Bellamy’s ability, without diving too much into his troubled head. Sure, Black Holes featured an occasional nonsensical political track, like most of their albums, but most of the record was pure Prog/Hard-Rock, and good Prog/Hard-Rock at that, most importantly, without an agenda. However, on ‘The Resistance’, one can almost see the shoving of bullshit ideals down the metaphorical throat just from the record’s title alone. Where Bellamy’s ideology may have been cute and whimsy in the past, (Aw, look, a rock star who thinks he knows how the world should work; ain’t that cute?) it is complete over-kill on ‘The Resistance’, and you’d have to be deaf to ignore it.

Beginning with “Uprising”, Bellamy initiates his slow decent into mediocrity. Lyrics such as “Keep the truth confined.” And “They will stop degrading us.” Followed with “We will be victorious.” make it seem as if Muse are warriors in some sort of on-going war that the rest of the world just isn’t privy to. Sure, Bellamy’s vocals soar as they typically do, but when he’s using the rhyme scheme of the song for such putrid lyrics as, “Rise up and take the power back, it’s time that, the fat cats had a heart attack.” I can’t help but wonder why I even bothered noting the odd (From my notes) “Football/Soccer/Pub-esque chanting interspersed through the chorus.” The record continues with the title-track, “Resistance”. An opening synth that reminds me of the intro to Daft Punk’s Insterstella 5555 starts this one, and I must admit it isn’t bad. Bellamy’s paranoia continues, with lyrics such as, “Will they find our hiding place? Is this our last embrace?” but the decent Queen-style harmonized chorus of “It could be wrong, it could be wrong.” Makes up for it. The melody and the music are decent enough on this one that I’m willing to forgive the mention of “Thought-Police” and the lyric, “If we live a life of fear, I’ll wait a thousand years, just to see you smile again.”

“Undisclosed Desires” is the “Supermassive Blackhole” of the record, except with a synth as the dominating instrument; it’s a decent song. “United States of Eurasia” is a complete piece of fucking trash that goes on for nearly six minutes. This is the point of the record where Bellamy’s bullshit became too much to handle, and I had to take a break from listening. “And these wars they can’t be won. And do you want them to go on, on and on? Why split these states when there can only be one?” Cries Bellamy, trying to turn this bullshit into some sort of epic akin to “Bohemian Rhapsody”. I’m curious, what war exactly is he talking about? “Guiding Light” is generic, but not awful by any means; here Bellamy at least tries to keep it somewhat formulaic. It even has a pretty nice guitar solo on it toward the end.

“Unnatural Selection” -- a title that lets you know exactly what’s coming -- features the return of the glorious Soccer/Pub chanting of “Uprising”. At nearly seven minutes, Bellamy uses every cliché in the book that he hasn’t already exhausted or stolen from Rage Against the Machine: the song begins with a soft megaphone vocal, ramping up to a rock tone, and then continuing with some great pessimism about whatever the fuck Bellamy has actually been talking about for the past five songs. Returning are Bellamy’s lame assonance focused lyrics, such as “New age, end of destruction and rampage.” And my favorite so far, “No chance for fate, it’s unnatural selection. I want truth.” This is not what Joe Strummer had in mind when he wanted music to be more ‘real’ and focused on worldly issues. Next is “MK Ultra”, with more war talk and Bellamy continuing to complain and criticize the evil fascist that exists only in his mind; “How much deception will you create?” 

Skipping, “I Belong to You”, which in my notes only had “Elton John?” written to its side, let’s move on to possibly the worst thing about the record so far. Bellamy and the rest of Muse -- although we know by now who has the most influence on the song-writing – decided that it was a wondrous idea to have a song titled “Exogenesis Symphony”, and split it into three parts, each around four minutes of length. The first part is entitled “Overture”, the second “Cross-Pollination” and the third, “Redemption”. In my notes, I wrote “GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK” after listening to “Part 1: Overture” so you can imagine how I feel about the lovely three-part epic that ends the album.

I have a question for Muse: What happened? Quirkiness amongst lead-singers is nothing new, neither is asinine ideology, (Johnny “Rotten” Lydon says ‘sup.) but this is too fucking much. One may present the argument that Bellamy’s nonsense shouldn’t matter if the music is good, which is a valid point. However, most of these songs are slow ballads, and they force you to listen to every-fucking-word of a singer who has believed that “Time is running out.” since 2001, but at least then the ballad surrounding that ridiculous claim actually sounded good. I once had an English teacher question my ideology when reading a story that I had wrote in the twelfth grade. He said that the writing was competent, but what was I trying to say? The story involved an idea of people losing relevance as they age, something that isn’t completely untrue. However, his point was that if we all lose relevance, why write? Why bother telling stories? Why bother attempting to do anything at all if a slow decline is all we’re working towards?

Summation: An artist’s mindset, and beliefs, can fuse into his or her work and detract from it greatly. Such is the case with Muse’s ‘The Resistance’. This is not a concept album; this is the bullshit that Matthew Bellamy actually believes. The problem is, these beliefs are so stupid, that only the most left of liberal-hipsters are the types of people who actually think this way. When analyzing the techniques Bellamy uses in his verses, and the meter of the songs, you can tell that musical exploration was not the main focus. Perhaps if the album was more varied, you could make the argument that Muse actually wanted to create a solid record here; however, every-single-fucking-song smashes you over the head with the same propaganda-style warnings as the song that came before it. If the music were good, all of this would be an aside, like it was on Muse’s past records. However, on 'The Resistance', Bellamy has taken his ideals and pushed them in front of everything else, including his great talent, choosing to take ideas from the novel 1984 by George Orwell and simply lace them with Queen-style piano epics that are more boring and generic than the ideas themselves. Gone is most of Bellamy’s excellent guitar work, and most of the band-dynamic that made Muse so great in the first place. There are maybe two to three songs on the record that are alright, but I can safely say that after listening to 'The Resistance' I am no longer a fan of Muse.

 (Before I begin, let it be known that this is just my opinion. If you disagree, hey, that's fine. Don't kill me)

 The most common dictionary definition of the word ‘Pretentious’ is as follows: PRETENTIOUS (Pri-ten-shas. Adj.) 1. Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified. 2. Making or marked by an extravagant outward show; ostentatious.

Do you remember when Muse were arguably one of the best Hard-Rock bands of the 2000’s? All three members of Muse are immensely talented, displaying that fact on albums such as 2001’s ‘Origin of Symmetry’ and the 2006 powerhouse, ‘Black Holes and Revelations’, which was my favorite record of that year. After rising to the status of performing in sold-out stadiums, Muse seemed as if they were content with waiting a good while to release a follow-up to 2006’s ‘Black Holes and Revelations’. It’s been three years, and Muse has decided that it is rightfully time to release ‘The Resistance’, which officially comes out tomorrow.

I should make this point clear before we go any further in the review: I have never listened to a record – or a singer for that matter – more full of both himself, and his own idiot ideology, than Matthew Bellamy on this record. Everyone who is familiar with Muse, and their work, probably knows by now that Bellamy is a bit of a nutcase; he believes in aliens, conspiracy theories, and other George Orwell-esque ‘A DYSTOPIAS-A-COMIN’ SOON!’ bullshit. However, this never really seemed to affect the music of Muse until now. Remember “Starlight”? That song was incredible: it was simple, straight to the point, had great instrumentation, and it displayed Bellamy’s ability, without diving too much into his troubled head. Sure, Black Holes featured an occasional nonsensical political track, like most of their albums, but most of the record was pure Prog/Hard-Rock, and good Prog/Hard-Rock at that, most importantly, without an agenda. However, on ‘The Resistance’, one can almost see the shoving of bullshit ideals down the metaphorical throat just from the record’s title alone. Where Bellamy’s ideology may have been cute and whimsy in the past, (Aw, look, a rock star who thinks he knows how the world should work; ain’t that cute?) it is complete over-kill on ‘The Resistance’, and you’d have to be deaf to ignore it.

Beginning with “Uprising”, Bellamy initiates his slow decent into mediocrity. Lyrics such as “Keep the truth confined.” And “They will stop degrading us.” Followed with “We will be victorious.” make it seem as if Muse are warriors in some sort of on-going war that the rest of the world just isn’t privy to. Sure, Bellamy’s vocals soar as they typically do, but when he’s using the rhyme scheme of the song for such putrid lyrics as, “Rise up and take the power back, it’s time that, the fat cats had a heart attack.” I can’t help but wonder why I even bothered noting the odd (From my notes) “Football/Soccer/Pub-esque chanting interspersed through the chorus.” The record continues with the title-track, “Resistance”. An opening synth that reminds me of the intro to Daft Punk’s Insterstella 5555 starts this one, and I must admit it isn’t bad. Bellamy’s paranoia continues, with lyrics such as, “Will they find our hiding place? Is this our last embrace?” but the decent Queen-style harmonized chorus of “It could be wrong, it could be wrong.” Makes up for it. The melody and the music are decent enough on this one that I’m willing to forgive the mention of “Thought-Police” and the lyric, “If we live a life of fear, I’ll wait a thousand years, just to see you smile again.”

“Undisclosed Desires” is the “Supermassive Blackhole” of the record, except with a synth as the dominating instrument; it’s a decent song. “United States of Eurasia” is a complete piece of fucking trash that goes on for nearly six minutes. This is the point of the record where Bellamy’s bullshit became too much to handle, and I had to take a break from listening. “And these wars they can’t be won. And do you want them to go on, on and on? Why split these states when there can only be one?” Cries Bellamy, trying to turn this bullshit into some sort of epic akin to “Bohemian Rhapsody”. I’m curious, what war exactly is he talking about? “Guiding Light” is generic, but not awful by any means; here Bellamy at least tries to keep it somewhat formulaic. It even has a pretty nice guitar solo on it toward the end.

“Unnatural Selection” -- a title that lets you know exactly what’s coming -- features the return of the glorious Soccer/Pub chanting of “Uprising”. At nearly seven minutes, Bellamy uses every cliché in the book that he hasn’t already exhausted or stolen from Rage Against the Machine: the song begins with a soft megaphone vocal, ramping up to a rock tone, and then continuing with some great pessimism about whatever the fuck Bellamy has actually been talking about for the past five songs. Returning are Bellamy’s lame assonance focused lyrics, such as “New age, end of destruction and rampage.” And my favorite so far, “No chance for fate, it’s unnatural selection. I want truth.” This is not what Joe Strummer had in mind when he wanted music to be more ‘real’ and focused on worldly issues. Next is “MK Ultra”, with more war talk and Bellamy continuing to complain and criticize the evil fascist that exists only in his mind; “How much deception will you create?” 

Skipping, “I Belong to You”, which in my notes only had “Elton John?” written to its side, let’s move on to possibly the worst thing about the record so far. Bellamy and the rest of Muse -- although we know by now who has the most influence on the song-writing – decided that it was a wondrous idea to have a song titled “Exogenesis Symphony”, and split it into three parts, each around four minutes of length. The first part is entitled “Overture”, the second “Cross-Pollination” and the third, “Redemption”. In my notes, I wrote “GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK” after listening to “Part 1: Overture” so you can imagine how I feel about the lovely three-part epic that ends the album.

I have a question for Muse: What happened? Quirkiness amongst lead-singers is nothing new, neither is asinine ideology, (Johnny “Rotten” Lydon says ‘sup.) but this is too fucking much. One may present the argument that Bellamy’s nonsense shouldn’t matter if the music is good, which is a valid point. However, most of these songs are slow ballads, and they force you to listen to every-fucking-word of a singer who has believed that “Time is running out.” since 2001, but at least then the ballad surrounding that ridiculous claim actually sounded good. I once had an English teacher question my ideology when reading a story that I had wrote in the twelfth grade. He said that the writing was competent, but what was I trying to say? The story involved an idea of people losing relevance as they age, something that isn’t completely untrue. However, his point was that if we all lose relevance, why write? Why bother telling stories? Why bother attempting to do anything at all if a slow decline is all we’re working towards?

Summation: An artist’s mindset, and beliefs, can fuse into his or her work and detract from it greatly. Such is the case with Muse’s ‘The Resistance’. This is not a concept album; this is the bullshit that Matthew Bellamy actually believes. The problem is, these beliefs are so stupid, that only the most left of liberal-hipsters are the types of people who actually think this way. When analyzing the techniques Bellamy uses in his verses, and the meter of the songs, you can tell that musical exploration was not the main focus. Perhaps if the album was more varied, you could make the argument that Muse actually wanted to create a solid record here; however, every-single-fucking-song smashes you over the head with the same propaganda-style warnings as the song that came before it. If the music were good, all of this would be an aside, like it was on Muse’s past records. However, on 'The Resistance', Bellamy has taken his ideals and pushed them in front of everything else, including his great talent, choosing to take ideas from the novel 1984 by George Orwell and simply lace them with Queen-style piano epics that are more boring and generic than the ideas themselves. Gone is most of Bellamy’s excellent guitar work, and most of the band-dynamic that made Muse so great in the first place. There are maybe two to three songs on the record that are alright, but I can safely say that after listening to 'The Resistance' I am no longer a fan of Muse.

i havnt listened to this yet so i cant comment to much on what youve said. but i have been a big muse fan (especially origin of symmetry) and i think as theyve gone on they have gotten more ridiculous.  i dont think they've gotten up themselves however, they know they need to not be taken entirely seriously and thats a part of their style, this comes across heavily in their live shows.  knights of cydonia was really ridiculous and what i've heard from 'the resistance' seems like a natural progression from that.
 
that was a good read though, i really want to listen to the album and see how i like it, though i have become less of a muse fan in the past couple of years.

after just listening to the album front to back, i realize i do not like new muse at all.

I've been listening to it and it's definitely not their best, I actually think it's their worst yet. I really like Resistance and MK Ultra though. Origins of Symmetry is still my favourite album by them.
 
Great review as well, a very entertaining read and I enjoyed it.

I've always liked your music critique. 
I don't always agree with you, but you are very good at articulating your pov and making me respect that opinion.
This does not sounds too promising. I had high hopes seeing as I absolutely loved Black Holes And Revelations.
So far i've only heard The Resistance and I can hear what you mean. It's like a slightly more mature and well read RATM lyrics so far.
I'll dl the album and give it a few more listens before I decide if I actually want to buy it, because this is causing me much trepidation.

I listened to this a few days ago, and within minutes I was contemplating if Muse was the most pretentious band I knew.
 
I wasn't too keen on "Black Holes..." at first, though I suddenly started to appreciate a lot of the tracks sometime last year. I hadn't listened to them since though. While I was sceptical at first, I ended up enjoying "The Resistance" which surprised me, or at least managed to get through it without facing boredom. Can't guarantee that i'll ever listen to it again though.
 
The lyrics are often bullshit though. He's always going on about how 'you can save them' or 'save us' or whatever. I'm not the biggest Queen fan, but a lot of it really reminds me of them and it's really distracting.

MEH. I can't believe this. I was really looking forward to this album, too. After listening to a few tracks and reading your review, I have decided not to spend my money on it. So long, Muse.

Lots of interesting and valid points in the review, especially when discussing Bellamy's naive intellectual input. It's just the music side of thing that is very biased, a lot of the music on the album is very good. It is current and very easy to source but this is the way good pop music should be, familiar and accessible. It just befits their status with their huge record label: Warner. I am also sad with this latest contribution but it is Muse's choice and if they're more interested in chasing the buck than caring about integrity or pushing the boundaries of music it will just make me appreciate radiohead's artistic choices all the more. Thank you for the review.

Nice review, your comments pretty much echo what ive heard almost everywhere which really is a shame as i loved Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution. Kind of got the hunch that this would happen after Black Holes though..

United States of Eurasia, in my opinion of coarse, could(and should) go down as one of the worst songs in the last ten years. I can't wait to listen to the rest.

After having someone telling me that he wrote great, frighting lyrics, I'm glad others think they're as terrible as I do.

I never really cared about an artist/band's point of view in politics or anything like that. Only when it's something really against what I believe like Nazism. I like most of the album. The songs are great. I think, Bruce, the problem lies with your clash against what the singer thinks rather than the album itself.

I've been losing so much respect for Bellamy after BHaR... Absolution was their greatest album. It was so subtle - now Bellamy is just smearing his voice over everything. I'm not done listening yet, but Uprising is... well... really bad.

I used to love Muse when Origin.. came out, but recently Bellamy has been getting on my tits. The way he sings is just too much..
Having said that, I have seen them live and they were completely awesome.

They should have named this album "1984".
It seems with this, for one: Matt is singing too much, and when he's singing it doesn't have that typical slurring of the words.
                                        two: they're trying to sound too much like Queen.
 
Undisclosed Desires sounds like a Backstreet Boys song.

Forgot to add:
 
The review was awesome, pitchfork should hire you. And then you should turn the job down because they are intolerable douche-bags.

Let me just say that I wouldn't buy this. Which is what I do when truly like someone's music. Not this time though.

i agree with what you said, i still believe that their are some pretty good songs on that album, better whether my opinion stays the same over time isn't clear. I was hoping for a "Plug in baby" esk  song but none have stud out so far. Maybe muse are having that "problem" stage in their career like what Metalica has been going through in what seems like forever.

Can someone reccomend me a good entry point for Muse? I liked "Plug in Baby" from GH5 but that's about all I've heard other than KoC.

I still think Black Holes and Revelations was excellent.

Awww, bugger. If this is the case, my missus is going to be bummed. She was really looking forward to this new album!
 
Man, now I'm going to have to go record another better album and pretend it's by Muse just so her world doesn't come crashing down.

Those songs you posted of their new CD are pieces of shit.

Yeah, that sucks. I really like Muse, but this new album is pretty bad. I can't even say I care for the album's title track either.

'Tis unfortunate.

I am relieved that I am not the only one that thinks their new album is terrible.
 
I rather liked Muse before this, though I hadn't listened to them in a while. Don't think BHaR is that good though.

I could see this album coming from a mile off - they released Black Holes and I knew this downfall was coming. Lets hope they release Origin Of Symmetry 2.

Needs more guitar wankery rather than vocal wankery. Bellamy has a good voice but he just does the same shit over and over again and it's pretty tiresome.
 
I agree with MementoMori. More of the old shit please.

Is it so wrong that I like Undisclosed Desires? It makes me feel inexplicably nostalgic... I think the strings are kinda like a Croc: Legend of the Gobbos level. The music in the level I mean, not some weird "musically designed level" malarky
 
so strange.

 While I respect your opinion and think it was marvelously articulated, I have to say I disagreed. Yes, Matt Bellamy is fast becoming the second Bono with his preachy under-tones and the lyrics weren't his best but honestly, I love the album. I can't say why, lord knows it isn't the opus I was expecting but I like it quite a bit. I think mainly because of the catchy rifts and haunting vocals. I don't have very well founded reasons and it's making me feel like a bit of a failure as a Muse fan. I was expecting more but I still like what I got.     

Good review, I know Matt Bellamy can be an uppity douchebag sometimes, but the man is a talented musician and I enjoyed the album, I may buy it tomorrow. 

" Is it so wrong that I like Undisclosed Desires? It makes me feel inexplicably nostalgic... I think the strings are kinda like a Croc: Legend of the Gobbos level. "

after listening to it, Resistance is the biggest highlight easily, though the album dies from track 4 on

Oh no! Someone put political commentary in my music! The horror!! *Sarcasm*

"  (Before I begin, let it be known that this is just my opinion. If you disagree, hey, that's fine. Don't kill me)