BAND: Muse
ALBUM: The Resistance
RELEASE DATE: September 14th
For those of you unfamiliar with Muse...get familiar. The British trio is probably the biggest band to hit Europe since U2 (who they're presently touring with as well), and with good reason.
If you're an American and you've heard of Muse, most likely it's because you know one of three songs: "Knights of Cydonia", "Hysteria", or "Starlight". All got major radio play and all are great songs, but you need to continue your education and pick up this latest album, because it blows away everything else the band has ever done.
It seems that Matthew Bellamy, probably one of the most well known lead singers in the world today, decided long before he started on this album that it was going to be the band's masterpiece. You can easily notice it in the way the album plays out from beginning to end. I don't want to call it a concept album, but in some ways it's similar....some of the songs fade into each other, and the tempos vary a lot from song to song...but more than that it is an album with a message...that one day (maybe the near future with the way things are going right now) the world must unite or humanity will fail.
The album starts with the grungy new single, "Uprising", which introduces the album to the public (it is also the first single, and it's getting a lot of airplay). It's very much an anti-establishment song...just listen to the lyrics:
Interchanging mind-control,
Come, let the revolution take its toll,
If you could flick a switch and open your third eye,
You'd see that we should never be afraid to die
Rise up and take the power back,
It's time that the fat cats had a heart attack,
You know that their time's coming to an end,
We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!
They will not force us,
They will stop degrading us,
They will not control us,
And we will be victorious!
It's a powerful song...the power chords are riddled with heavy distortion and Bellamy's voice rings with a rallying charisma from the start. From there the album continues with some revolutionary ballads...a possible future single, "Resistance", followed by "Undisclosed Desires"...which is a song for those of you who like the hip-hop beats and heavy bass. It is probably my least favorite track on the CD, but is still very good.
The fourth track may be the bands greatest creation. "United States of Eurasia" may be my favorite song of the year. It mixes a lot of different sounds, but I believe that Muse took a lot of inspiration for this tune from Queen. That's right...Queen. It's not just the classical grand piano to begin and end the tune...it's Bellamy's voice...and it's very apparent in the small Brian May-ish guitar riff when the lyrics "there can be only one!" (Highlander?) are sung coming out of the second verse. The song may just end up being Muse's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
NOTE: A word on "United States of Eurasia". I found this excerpt on Wikipedia about the treasure hunt that took place around the world to release this song...one of the coolest promotions I've ever heard of. They hid pieces of the song in 6 different cities on 6 USB drives and the fans that found them had to upload them onto the bands website to release a free download of the song. Which is now available. Pretty cool.
The fifth and sixth songs on the album are both fantastic and continue the overall premise of the album. "Guiding Light" is another song the brings out Bellamy's strong vocals, while "Unnatural Selection" may be the most guitar-ridden track on the album. The next two tracks slow the pace down a bit before the incredible ending.
The final three tracks on the album are all one song entitled "Exogenesis", but is separated into three parts..."Overture", "Cross Pollenation", and the finale, "Redemption". Apart from each other the songs are all good, but together they really have that composition that makes it a work of art. "Redemption" is the perfect close to the album...it builds and builds and builds and then slowly fades out with another comforting piano part.
FINAL THOUGHTS: The bands sound is at its peak...its a mix of instruments and sounds of all genres...guitars, drums, synths, keys, bass...and its all done by three amazing musicians. Matthew Bellamy has the strongest, most powerful voice in rock music today and his heavily distorted, grungy, guitars are similar to the style of Tom Morello at points. Chris Wolstenholme plays some incredible bass parts throughout the album...particularly his bass line in "Resistance" is very prominent, and sounds like it was played by [Red Hot Chili Peppers'] Flea himself. Finally, drummer Dominic Howard may be one of the most underrated drummers in rock. Howard's fills in "Unnatural Selection" are awesome...heavy hitting snare, lots of crash symbols, overabundance of energy.
All in all...one of the best albums of 2009. This is the album that shoots Muse to superstar status. Mark my words...this tour with U2 will be the final non-headlining tour of their career.
If you want more Muse...they have their own Wiki.
Here are the first two singles off the album..."Uprising" and "United States of Eurasia"...
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