Album review: Muse, 'The Resistance'

This over-the-top English trio has long played to smaller audiences in the United States than it does throughout Europe, where Muse is considered among the biggest rock bands on Earth. (In 2007 it played two sold-out shows at London's 75,000-capacity Wembley Stadium.)

Yet singer-guitarist Matt Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard received a considerable boost on these shores last year when their song "Supermassive Black Hole" was featured prominently in the hit movie "Twilight." And last week came news that "Uprising," the lead single from the band's fifth full-length, had topped the U.S. alternative-rock radio chart.

In some ways, "The Resistance" seems designed for an American breakthrough: "Undisclosed Desires" rides a lithe R&B groove that could've come from a song by Nelly Furtado, while "Uprising" finds Bellamy sympathizing with folks who consider themselves victims of Wall Street greed. Over a thumping disco-glam beat he sneers, "It's time the fat cats had a heart attack," a line that's likely to draw a huge reaction later this month when Muse opens a string of U2 shows on the East Coast and in Texas.

On the other hand, much of "The Resistance" reflects how uninterested the members of Muse are in dialing down their appealing flamboyance to attract Daughtry and Nickelback fans. That arty intransigence often improves the band's music, as in "United States of Eurasia," which proceeds from a pretty piano-ballad intro to an Arabian-accented orchestral-rock climax.

Occasionally, though, it can make Bellamy and his bandmates sound like the world's most successful sourpusses. You don't have to make it all the way through "Exogenesis," the three-part symphony that closes the new album, before you start hankering for a Nickelback-style chorus.

-- Mikael Wood

Muse  
"The Resistance"
Warner Bros.
Two and a half stars

Comments

[Mike - Oxford UK]

I'm quite disappointed in this review, I was expecting objective reporting and a detailed analysis of why certain tracks were good or not. What we got was a fanboys biased view on 'what' is good music regardless of what anyone else may think. It's fair to say most people who will read this review have an interest in Muse already; it's quite insulting with that in mind to open your review with an immediate insult arrogantly proclaiming they're over the top. By all means dislike an album but back up your personal views with a proper argument.

I have nothing at all against American artists but using Nickleback as example of what is good music surely must be insulting to American's let alone us Europeans. The reason Muse are massive all over the world is they give us more than the standard 3 chord pop song. Without taking anything away from Nickleback they couldn't work a Chopin piano piece or symphony into their recordings. People want more then the bubble gum pop so prolifically released from the USA and UK music scene. This is where Muse excels, we're not happy just to accept what ever is commercially viable that week for the record companies to release (this week it's Lady GaGa - next week it'll probably be the yellow pages set to 'beats').

Personally I feel the album is worth 5 stars on technical ability alone let alone how the songs relate to the listener. But then again I would think that because being a musician who knows more then the 3 chords so favoured by the reviewer I’m clearly chatting rubbish.

Feel sorry for you America with reasoning like the reviewers, how about a swap? You can have our cringe worthy ‘star’ Jordan aka Katie Price and we'll sort him out for you. Peace

[Leo]

This supposedly educated reviewer is calling for a Daughtry/Nickelback chorus when reviewing an experimental rock band... hahahaha...
Go America!!

/Leo

[sue]

what about mentioning that adam lambert uses the muse song "starlight" in his set on the american idols tour? it introduced alot of people to muse.......and don't make fun of adam or american idol.......adam mentions muse all the time......

[Nickel...whaaaaat??]

nickelback, nelly furtado, lady gaga???!!! WTF!! i'm sorry for all the devoted american muse fans...but please guys. COME BACK HOME TO GOOD OLD EUROPE and play "la scala" in milan, or the "arena di verona" or every other inspiring venue and let these BLOODY AMERICANS listen to gugu-gaga-blabla-blublu...yeah, and nickelback.

[QUOTE]

A self-scored symphony, the only European rock band to win MTV awards amongst a sweep of hip-hop artists, best live show award for multiple years in a row, themes of global homogenization, a clearly evolving sound, critical analysis of who's in control of the world and love against all odds. And you wish to trade this for a pop-rock bands song about a slutty girl sucking on her thumb?

Posted by: Brad | September 15, 2009 at 10:04 PM

EXCELLENT POST!!! THANK YOU

[Rachel]

To all you Twilight fans who've like decided you're like totally huge fans of that British band Muse,Supermassive Black Hole is a crap song, as is their new album. If you want to like listen to like decent earlier material by Muse, you should like know that you'll like hate it because it like isn't poppy crap made to like appease you little teenyboppers.

[Ryan]

you should probably stick to reviewing pop bands or whatever it is you do when you aren't failing miserably at reviewing a real band. I completely agree with the guy who called you the Armond White of music reviews, haha.

[Jessie]

Your review sucks

[Jessie]

not only does this review suck and mean nothing at all. You have it all wrong, about them and what they are about and trying to say. The song Uprising has nothing to do with standing up to wall street is has everything to do with these Ogliarchs trying to control our lives and create a new world order. Maybe you should at least wikipedia MUSE before you write your dumb review and learn what they are about.

[Singe]

Mr. Mikael Wood:
if you understood anything about music and NOT the current agenda superficial media politics, you would have never written such a mediocre review: you are nothing but a mediocrity with hopeless expectations: one can never understimate the predictability of stupidity: and you just have proved it! MUSE is actually the only band on the face of both hemispheres, who brings something new and revives the past of the world's music. They are brilliant, they are not American, they kick everyone's ass through their aptitude and manner, and they are the real proof of musical expertise improvement.....I am too short to say, They Are Genuinely Genius!

[Ben]

Nickelback is probably one of the worst bands of all time. Muse is easily one of the top 15 bands of the decade. How can you compare them?

[Aaron]

Echoing everyone elses' comments - this was an awful review, even worse than the tat that Rolling Stone came out with recently.

Muse should not even be compared to hacks like Nickelback. This is a fantastic album, and shouldn't be dismissed because it isn't 3-chord simplistic crap.

[Jackson]

Ok. Wow. This review is awful. Obviously you don't know good music when you hear it. You can listen to any ordinary band to hear freaking Nickelback-type songs, but this Muse album is pure art. It's so epic! I don't know why you would want to trade out the most artistic album I've ever heard for some Freakin Nickelback!! Utter Incompetence, seriously...

[Justin G.]

Please don't ever write another review ever again Mr. Wood. Don't you dare compare Muse to Nickelback...thats just disgusting... Nickelback sold out along time ago...I can't stand their over-produced, over-used, and horrifically unoriginal song ideas... It's so very dull and follows the same stupid format every song.. I used to love them a handful of years ago, and I still like their old music.. but now..its just terrible...

[Andrew R.]

Nickelback? Are you serious? You need to go jump of a bridge you no-nothing degenerate.

[B Fly]

Seriously you have no business reviewing music. You might want to put your Nickleback album back on, and when you're tired of that put on your Daughtry. To compare MUSE to either of these bands was like comparing a cup-o-noodles to fine cuisine. Michael Wood, you're a joke.

[Doug in San Diego]

...You were hankering for Nickelback. And you admitted it. That's nice, but this isn't a 12-step program; it's a review.

Kimbo freaking nailed it, right there...made me laugh, thank you Kimbo. :)

I don't know yet exactly how I feel about Resistance...where it ranks in the Muse pantheon...I'm on my second listen through...but what I do know is thank god I can look forward to something new from Muse here and there in my life, because sometimes it seems like the only other music trying to stir something up anymore is hip hop, and I hate hip hop. Even "indie" is all starting to sound like either The Shins or Death Cab (no insult to either of them).

So I have Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, and Muse, and then the odd bit from here and there that tickles me (The Natural/Boxer).

Because it makes me feel something, that's why. Because I know it's going to make me feel something, and anticipating that is so, so good.

[Marc]

Wow a band without a 3 minute pop song gets a 2.5 star review. Muse is very talented and I'd even go as far as calling them progressive. Each album has showed vast maturity. Far better than any Daughtry or Nickelback record. I give the album 4.5/5 and would ask you to review other talented bands if you can be fair. The review selection is so typical. Britney, etc. Why not look outside the box and review a new release from Porcupine Tree (happen to be playing to a sold out show at Club Nokia Saturday night) or Dream Theater just played to 5,000 in L.A. two weeks ago. Two bands with mass popularity and no love from the press. Figures!

[Luke Sides]

I mean, some people just don't know what good music sounds like. I think Nickleback is great for people who like the same sound over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...yes, I am dissing it, but some people do like that. Muse is for more musically-inclined people, and it's obvious this writer is not one of those people. I think someone a bit more qualified should be writing these reviews.

[q]

I love how passionate everyone is about their music, SHEEESH!
I was going to rag on this review, but now I feel like defending the poor guy.
When Mikael Wood listens to Muse, he hears resemblances to Daughtry Nickelback and Nelly Furtado.
And I hear the spirit of Queen and Radiohead.

Oh well.
At least he gave it listen.

I think critic Wood was hoping, as is easy to do, that every song of theirs be like Supermassive Black Hole, when really that was a one shot deal and the rest of their songs are spacier, more complex and brooding. If anything, Muse is proving they're not a one-dimensional band...

The comments also bear that out.

[Paul]

Only talentless hacks and homosexuals like Nickleback, tosser.

[Craig]

Being an absolutely huge Muse fan I find myself pulling further and further away from this band. I am disappointed again by this album. Like BH&R they are just moving in a direction I don't really like. Yes the production is a thousand times better, and no you can't expect a band not to grow and change, but it's losing something for me - the emotion feels contrived to me. BH&R has some stinkers on it, and after listening through "The Resistance" a few times I'm afraid it does too. Maybe I need to stop thinking of them as a Rock band, and I'll enjoy it mor. To me they peaked with Absolution. Origin of Symmetry follows close behind, with Showbiz having great songs that sound better live (get the live disk "Hullabaloo").

[eric]

To take something so artistic and compare it to something so lame and fabricated shows your depth. Nickleback and Daughtry have to be some of the lamest bands out there. Muse= Real art!

[Patrick]

I hope someone didn't pay you real money for this drivel that you vomited onto a semi-respectable looking website.

Never mind the fact that it sounds like you have no clue what you are talking about, but you had the audacity to compare a great artist to the likes of Nickelback, the lowest form of rock on the planet.

Muse may not be well received by all the critics, but people who have learned how to enjoy music made by real artists will continue to enjoy their contributions to the world.

Also, please refrain from reviewing things that you have little or no prior listening experience with. It is painfully obvious.

[Colin Warling]

I don't think that Nickleback and Daughtry fans are Muse's aim. The only reason bands like Nickleback and Daughtry get any acclaim is merely the success of marketing. If you spent ten minutes with a group of decent musicians, you'd know that Nickleback is one of the biggest laughs and a joke to the musician community. At least Muse writes sophisticated yet catchy music behind well thought out lyrics, rather than cater to the young teen nincompoops who will someday show embarrassment to their purchasing of a Nickleback or Daughtry album.