Had a couple of hours to spare today, was a bit bored so threw together this little album review of Muse's latest. I haven't done anything like this since I was a nipper, so any constructive criticisms would be nice.
Muse - The Resistance
Having FINALLY purchased Muse?s fifth studio album, which several close friends have been anticipating for about? oh, every minute of the last 3 years since their previous offering (the rather brilliant Black Holes and Revelations), I eagerly sat down for a good ol? listen. What I found was a very different album from what I had expected - a rather confused and schizophrenic record, which can?t quite decide what it wants to be. One minute we are presented with some of the catchiest and most energetic pop-rock tracks of the year, the next we are treated to meandering, self indulgent piano solos which seem entirely disconnected from what came before. Although it has always been the case that Muse have managed to incorporate styles and influences from far across the musical spectrum all the way from Radiohead to Rachmaninoff, never before has it felt so inconsistent.
The Resistance opens with the lead single Uprising, a raucous stadium rock number with pop overtones which although a departure in terms of it?s timbre and tone, is still unmistakably Muse - the catchy hooks, well written sing along moments and, of course, Matt Bellamy raving about mind altering drugs, government control and? well, the usual bizarre, yet catchy, inclusive lyrics you expect. The album seems to continue down a more mainstream route than in say, Origin of Symmetry or Absolution, with the next two tracks (The Resistance and Undisclosed Desires) being very tightly produced, with some melodic vocals, which in some parts feels more reminiscent of Dance music or R&B than the alterna-rock we?re all so used to from these guys. But it?s a great direction for the band to be going in, and certainly more interesting than a lot of the big acts in rock this year. So far, so cool.
Then it all gets a bit strange.
We hit the fourth track of the album - The United States of Eurasia - starting quietly with vocals and piano from Bellamy, the song builds up to a riff and multitrack vocals sounding like they were sampled directly from Bohemian Rhapsody before working it?s way into Middle Eastern strings and surreal chanting. It?s so over the top, so ludicrously tongue in cheek, that it has an strange, almost mischievous charm about it - but here?s the thing - it just doesn?t work in context. We?ve just had a few very poppy, tightly performed intro tracks that sucks you into the album, before we hit the undeniably ridiculous (hell, I burst into laughter the first few times I heard the track) Eurasia and it just feels jarring. Then, to top it off, instead of just ending the madness there and jumping into the next track and hoping no one notices, instead, we enter into a very slow instrumental, with samples of children and planes seemingly added to in an attempt to build ambience, but it just adds absolutely nothing to the track and just feels pretentious. Eurasia could have worked and as a song in it?s own right is fun to listen to, but it just feels weak and out of place juxtaposed to the rest of the album.
Sadly, the next song seems to fall into the same trap - the self-indulgent Guiding Light seems to be written exclusively for live audiences and feels like a tacky power ballad, with it?s synth chords and a pretty feeble guitar solo to boot. I honestly find it difficult to force myself to listen to all the way through which is something I don?t say about many songs. After such a strong opening, these two tracks are a massive disappointment. The next couple of tracks, seems to be a throwback to earlier Muse albums - both are harder than most of the preceding tracks and contains some of the awesome guitarabatics we know and love, with some excellent build ups and a nice little breakdown 3 minutes into Unnatural Selection. The next track, I Belong to You feels more in line with the beginning of the album, with a very strong, almost Kaiser Chiefs-esque intro that leads much more naturally than Eurasia into a classical bridge, before hitting all the right notes on the way back out. Again though, it feels inconsistent - it feels like Muse have flip-flopped between sub genres on every couple of tracks or so - however, as a song, it feels a lot closer to the opening tracks of the album than the preceding few tracks and in a way, brings a little bit of much needed coherence to the album as a whole. Weird.
Which leads us onto the much hyped three-part rock opera symphony of Exogenesis. Now, I?ll admit, I was skeptical about the piece- after some of the songs heard before, I was expecting a proggy, plodding few tracks with little more than some intense piano solos with a little bit of guitar and some choice moaning from Mr. Bellamy. I couldn?t have been more wrong. The entire piece is beautiful, provocative and definitely more atmospheric, with not only excellently placed and lovingly performed guitar and piano, but a full bloody orchestra. It begins with a stirring string arrangement in the Overture, before some extremely dark guitar slowly works it?s way in, which accompanies the operatic sound of the track surprisingly well. Cross Pollination works in some excellent piano sections with a - and there is no other way of describing this - a totally awesome climax, before it eventually passes into the more melodic Redemption.
The entire symphony, when listened to altogether, is simply astounding. It has some of Matt Bellamy?s greatest vocal skills to date, the string arrangements are perfect for the morose tone and the piece is extremely evocative - out of all the songs on the album, these are the only ones that, to me, express a whole range of emotions - from the desperate, haunting darkness of Overture, we are slowly brought to the hopeful light of the aptly named Redemption. It?s simply astonishing how well the concept works. What irks me about it though, is that word again - coherence. The 3 tracks play off each other beautifully, as they should, but are at complete odds with the rest of the album. Really, Exogenesis could have, and probably should have been an album in it?s own right.
On the whole, The Resistance is an album that almost feels like less than the sum of all it?s parts. There?s some brilliant concepts nestled in there, but they don?t feel fully explored. The poppy, upbeat, solid fist pumping rawk of Uprising et al, contrasts almost surreally with the weaker, and less fleshed out prog elements of Eurasia and Guiding Light which in turn make the frankly ingenious Exogenesis seem an unbelievably epic after thought. Hmmm. The album gets my tentative approval, but some fans will be disappointed by the lack of a consistent theme and many will feel put out by some of the self indulgent numbers on there. But hell, the space rock epic may just be worth the admission fee.
Muse - The Resistance
Having FINALLY purchased Muse?s fifth studio album, which several close friends have been anticipating for about? oh, every minute of the last 3 years since their previous offering (the rather brilliant Black Holes and Revelations), I eagerly sat down for a good ol? listen. What I found was a very different album from what I had expected - a rather confused and schizophrenic record, which can?t quite decide what it wants to be. One minute we are presented with some of the catchiest and most energetic pop-rock tracks of the year, the next we are treated to meandering, self indulgent piano solos which seem entirely disconnected from what came before. Although it has always been the case that Muse have managed to incorporate styles and influences from far across the musical spectrum all the way from Radiohead to Rachmaninoff, never before has it felt so inconsistent.
The Resistance opens with the lead single Uprising, a raucous stadium rock number with pop overtones which although a departure in terms of it?s timbre and tone, is still unmistakably Muse - the catchy hooks, well written sing along moments and, of course, Matt Bellamy raving about mind altering drugs, government control and? well, the usual bizarre, yet catchy, inclusive lyrics you expect. The album seems to continue down a more mainstream route than in say, Origin of Symmetry or Absolution, with the next two tracks (The Resistance and Undisclosed Desires) being very tightly produced, with some melodic vocals, which in some parts feels more reminiscent of Dance music or R&B than the alterna-rock we?re all so used to from these guys. But it?s a great direction for the band to be going in, and certainly more interesting than a lot of the big acts in rock this year. So far, so cool.
Then it all gets a bit strange.
We hit the fourth track of the album - The United States of Eurasia - starting quietly with vocals and piano from Bellamy, the song builds up to a riff and multitrack vocals sounding like they were sampled directly from Bohemian Rhapsody before working it?s way into Middle Eastern strings and surreal chanting. It?s so over the top, so ludicrously tongue in cheek, that it has an strange, almost mischievous charm about it - but here?s the thing - it just doesn?t work in context. We?ve just had a few very poppy, tightly performed intro tracks that sucks you into the album, before we hit the undeniably ridiculous (hell, I burst into laughter the first few times I heard the track) Eurasia and it just feels jarring. Then, to top it off, instead of just ending the madness there and jumping into the next track and hoping no one notices, instead, we enter into a very slow instrumental, with samples of children and planes seemingly added to in an attempt to build ambience, but it just adds absolutely nothing to the track and just feels pretentious. Eurasia could have worked and as a song in it?s own right is fun to listen to, but it just feels weak and out of place juxtaposed to the rest of the album.
Sadly, the next song seems to fall into the same trap - the self-indulgent Guiding Light seems to be written exclusively for live audiences and feels like a tacky power ballad, with it?s synth chords and a pretty feeble guitar solo to boot. I honestly find it difficult to force myself to listen to all the way through which is something I don?t say about many songs. After such a strong opening, these two tracks are a massive disappointment. The next couple of tracks, seems to be a throwback to earlier Muse albums - both are harder than most of the preceding tracks and contains some of the awesome guitarabatics we know and love, with some excellent build ups and a nice little breakdown 3 minutes into Unnatural Selection. The next track, I Belong to You feels more in line with the beginning of the album, with a very strong, almost Kaiser Chiefs-esque intro that leads much more naturally than Eurasia into a classical bridge, before hitting all the right notes on the way back out. Again though, it feels inconsistent - it feels like Muse have flip-flopped between sub genres on every couple of tracks or so - however, as a song, it feels a lot closer to the opening tracks of the album than the preceding few tracks and in a way, brings a little bit of much needed coherence to the album as a whole. Weird.
Which leads us onto the much hyped three-part rock opera symphony of Exogenesis. Now, I?ll admit, I was skeptical about the piece- after some of the songs heard before, I was expecting a proggy, plodding few tracks with little more than some intense piano solos with a little bit of guitar and some choice moaning from Mr. Bellamy. I couldn?t have been more wrong. The entire piece is beautiful, provocative and definitely more atmospheric, with not only excellently placed and lovingly performed guitar and piano, but a full bloody orchestra. It begins with a stirring string arrangement in the Overture, before some extremely dark guitar slowly works it?s way in, which accompanies the operatic sound of the track surprisingly well. Cross Pollination works in some excellent piano sections with a - and there is no other way of describing this - a totally awesome climax, before it eventually passes into the more melodic Redemption.
The entire symphony, when listened to altogether, is simply astounding. It has some of Matt Bellamy?s greatest vocal skills to date, the string arrangements are perfect for the morose tone and the piece is extremely evocative - out of all the songs on the album, these are the only ones that, to me, express a whole range of emotions - from the desperate, haunting darkness of Overture, we are slowly brought to the hopeful light of the aptly named Redemption. It?s simply astonishing how well the concept works. What irks me about it though, is that word again - coherence. The 3 tracks play off each other beautifully, as they should, but are at complete odds with the rest of the album. Really, Exogenesis could have, and probably should have been an album in it?s own right.
On the whole, The Resistance is an album that almost feels like less than the sum of all it?s parts. There?s some brilliant concepts nestled in there, but they don?t feel fully explored. The poppy, upbeat, solid fist pumping rawk of Uprising et al, contrasts almost surreally with the weaker, and less fleshed out prog elements of Eurasia and Guiding Light which in turn make the frankly ingenious Exogenesis seem an unbelievably epic after thought. Hmmm. The album gets my tentative approval, but some fans will be disappointed by the lack of a consistent theme and many will feel put out by some of the self indulgent numbers on there. But hell, the space rock epic may just be worth the admission fee.
