Artist: Muse
Album: The Resistance
Year: 2009
Grade: 2 pretzels
There was a time when I loved Muse. Despite their penchant for overblown, musical hugeness, their first three albums contained plenty of solid songs, more than willing to knock you into next week with their biblically proportioned riffage. The glory of Muse was that for all their awkward lyrics and forced melodrama, they could flat out rock, in a way which seems to be slowly disappearing from modern music. These three English gents could do things with a guitar, a bass and drum kit that could possibly be illegal in some states. Basically, Muse were corny, yet undeniably awesome.
And then 2006’s Black Holes & Revelations happened. While that album, in and of itself, is quite good, it signaled a shift in the direction Muse were taking their music. Polished within an inch of its life and so insidiously catchy that radio stations couldn’t help but play its singles over and over again, it proved that Muse were capitalizing on their steadily growing fan base. Black Holes was a full-blown, radio-ready modern rock album, with danceable tracks and glistening synths hiding behind every song. Muse’s ambition was taking over.
That process has taken another extreme step forward with The Resistance, Muse’s fifth overall album and, by miles, their most mainstream-accessible work to date (if you need proof, see their performance on last night’s MTV Awards. Not bad for an alternative English band). The pure rock elements that dominated solid albums like Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution have been all but completely excised from Muse’s music. Instead, slick, four-on-the-floor rhythms have taken over, coupled with riffs and hooks that burrow their way into your ear with every intention to stay there for eternity. Muse have continued to smooth every rough corner in their music down, occasionally to the point of absurdity.
When Black Holes experimented with dance-oriented songwriting (see “Supermassive Black Hole” and “Map Of The Problematique”), the results were strange, but still compelling. However, when The Resistance decides to chase the same motivations down the musical dead-end of a song like “Uprising”, the results are less than stunning. Drummer Dominic Howard sounds complete wasted, since he’s capable of so much more than stomping, clomping, four-beats-per-measure nonsense. Same goes for “Resistance”. And “Guiding Light”. And “MK Ultra”. The list just keeps going on and on. This album is dominated by dance-flavored rock and it gains little from any of it.
The other major theme on The Resistance is frontman Matthew Bellamy’s penchant for symphonic piano opuses. The album offers up not only the extravagant, Queen-meets-Lawrence-Of-Arabia-meets-Chopin mindfuck of “United States Of Eurasia”, it also features an honest-to-god symphony, “Exogenesis”, divided into three segments that close the album. Strangely, while the former is a catastrophic failure and a mockery of everything Muse have accomplished up to this point, the latter is actually a beautiful and contemplative composition. It sounds like the soundtrack to some epic sci-fi film that needs to be made immediately. By indulging in the most extreme of their ambitions, Bellamy and Muse have actually stumbled upon something great.
Sadly, The Resistance strikes out too many times early on to be redeemed by “Exogenesis”. The lyrics alone are cringe-inducing, second only to Green Day in this year’s battle for Most Awkward One-Liners Set To Music. Here are some choice examples:
“If you could flick the switch and open your third eye, you’d see that we should never be afraid to die.” --- “Uprising”
“Kill a breath for love and peace, you’ll wake the thought police.” --- “Resistance”
“EURA-SIA! EURA-SIA!” --- “United States Of Eurasia”
“Pure hearts stumble, in my hands they crumble.” --- “Guiding Light”
“The wavelength gently grows, coercive notions re-evolve.” --- “MK Ultra”
“When she attacks me like a Leo, when my heart is split like Rio, but I assure you my debts are real.” --- “I Belong To You”
Sadly, those are just the tip of the iceberg. Bellamy has cultivated this reputation as a wacky conspiracy theorist, but on The Resistance, he just seems to be singing vague accusations about governments controlling people. A high school sophomore who just finished 1984 could probably write lyrics with more grace than some of these. Bellamy’s words come across as limp sloganeering, aimed at impressionable youth who think they’re “rebels” or “punks.” While I’m sure some of these songs will be great for people who just want to pump their fists in their air, personally, I want more from my music. The elements of awesomeness have been not-so-slowly expunged from the Muse songbook, leaving only bloated, awkward stadium rock in their place. You’ve got to worry when a fifteen-minute symphony is the highlight of a much-anticipated rock album. Muse are sinking further and further into self-parody and I’m beginning to doubt if they can be rescued.
And then 2006’s Black Holes & Revelations happened. While that album, in and of itself, is quite good, it signaled a shift in the direction Muse were taking their music. Polished within an inch of its life and so insidiously catchy that radio stations couldn’t help but play its singles over and over again, it proved that Muse were capitalizing on their steadily growing fan base. Black Holes was a full-blown, radio-ready modern rock album, with danceable tracks and glistening synths hiding behind every song. Muse’s ambition was taking over.
That process has taken another extreme step forward with The Resistance, Muse’s fifth overall album and, by miles, their most mainstream-accessible work to date (if you need proof, see their performance on last night’s MTV Awards. Not bad for an alternative English band). The pure rock elements that dominated solid albums like Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution have been all but completely excised from Muse’s music. Instead, slick, four-on-the-floor rhythms have taken over, coupled with riffs and hooks that burrow their way into your ear with every intention to stay there for eternity. Muse have continued to smooth every rough corner in their music down, occasionally to the point of absurdity.
When Black Holes experimented with dance-oriented songwriting (see “Supermassive Black Hole” and “Map Of The Problematique”), the results were strange, but still compelling. However, when The Resistance decides to chase the same motivations down the musical dead-end of a song like “Uprising”, the results are less than stunning. Drummer Dominic Howard sounds complete wasted, since he’s capable of so much more than stomping, clomping, four-beats-per-measure nonsense. Same goes for “Resistance”. And “Guiding Light”. And “MK Ultra”. The list just keeps going on and on. This album is dominated by dance-flavored rock and it gains little from any of it.
The other major theme on The Resistance is frontman Matthew Bellamy’s penchant for symphonic piano opuses. The album offers up not only the extravagant, Queen-meets-Lawrence-Of-Arabia-meets-Chopin mindfuck of “United States Of Eurasia”, it also features an honest-to-god symphony, “Exogenesis”, divided into three segments that close the album. Strangely, while the former is a catastrophic failure and a mockery of everything Muse have accomplished up to this point, the latter is actually a beautiful and contemplative composition. It sounds like the soundtrack to some epic sci-fi film that needs to be made immediately. By indulging in the most extreme of their ambitions, Bellamy and Muse have actually stumbled upon something great.
Sadly, The Resistance strikes out too many times early on to be redeemed by “Exogenesis”. The lyrics alone are cringe-inducing, second only to Green Day in this year’s battle for Most Awkward One-Liners Set To Music. Here are some choice examples:
“If you could flick the switch and open your third eye, you’d see that we should never be afraid to die.” --- “Uprising”
“Kill a breath for love and peace, you’ll wake the thought police.” --- “Resistance”
“EURA-SIA! EURA-SIA!” --- “United States Of Eurasia”
“Pure hearts stumble, in my hands they crumble.” --- “Guiding Light”
“The wavelength gently grows, coercive notions re-evolve.” --- “MK Ultra”
“When she attacks me like a Leo, when my heart is split like Rio, but I assure you my debts are real.” --- “I Belong To You”
Sadly, those are just the tip of the iceberg. Bellamy has cultivated this reputation as a wacky conspiracy theorist, but on The Resistance, he just seems to be singing vague accusations about governments controlling people. A high school sophomore who just finished 1984 could probably write lyrics with more grace than some of these. Bellamy’s words come across as limp sloganeering, aimed at impressionable youth who think they’re “rebels” or “punks.” While I’m sure some of these songs will be great for people who just want to pump their fists in their air, personally, I want more from my music. The elements of awesomeness have been not-so-slowly expunged from the Muse songbook, leaving only bloated, awkward stadium rock in their place. You’ve got to worry when a fifteen-minute symphony is the highlight of a much-anticipated rock album. Muse are sinking further and further into self-parody and I’m beginning to doubt if they can be rescued.
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