Muse
The Resistance
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AMG Review of The Resistance
Andrew Leahey
All Music GuideWith its titanic guitar solos, symphonic suites, and multi-layered melodies, Muse's fifth album operates under the assumption that bigger is better. This is the very definition of a super-sized album, an album that takes its cues from Queen, its lyrics from science fiction novels, and its delivery from rock opera. It's also the first time that Muse has truly sounded like Muse, as few bands since Queen have so readily explored the intersection of bombast and extravagance. The Resistance is most certainly extravagant -- there are snatches of classical piano entwined throughout, not to mention bilingual lyrics, concert hall percussion, coronet solos, and song titles like "Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 2 (Cross-Pollination)" -- but it's also quite beautiful, capable of moving between prog rock choruses and excerpts from Chopin's "Nocturne in E Flat Major" within the same song. Presiding over the mix is frontman Matthew Bellamy, a man who seemingly aspires to be both Brian May and Freddie Mercury. He plays guitar, pounds the piano, and composes the album's orchestral parts, but his strongest asset is his voice, a sky-scraping tenor dripping with so much emotion that it's almost lewd. He croons, whispers, annunciates, and belts with confidence, a combination that makes him one of England's most dazzling singers in recent memory. And since a virtual mountain of voices is better than a single voice (remember: bigger is better), Bellamy also multi-tracks himself, creating towering stacks of harmonies during songs like "Resistance," "Undisclosed Desires," and the colossal "United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)."
The band's tendency to pile excess upon excess doesn't always yield strong results, and there's a fine line between, say, the anthemic beauty of "Guiding Light" and the bizarre Timbaland-meets-Depeche Mode ambiance of "Undisclosed Desires." Even so, The Resistance is by and large a fantastic record, culminating in a three-song suite that finds the group jumping from classical movements to guitar fretwork to sweeping, swaggering, operatic rock. Those songs occupy the final 16 minutes of the disc, and while they'd likely make a bigger impact earlier in the track list, their mere presence indicates that Muse is finally growing comfortable with its own aspirations. Black Holes and Revelations may be a more commercial record, but The Resistance is Muse's most realized effort to date.
Review: Muse - The Resistance (* * *)
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Almost by its very nature, Muse's music inspires drastically different reactions. Even the critical opinion seems to be quite divided , and though most everyone acknowledges the same strengths and weaknesses, how much you enjoy it seems to depend on which attributes of their music you choose to focus your attention. Or maybe, at least recently, it really just boils down to whether or not you lo...
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Muse – The Resistance, Album Review
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Don’t forget to rate this album at the end of the post MuseThe ResistanceWarner Bros. out September 14th76/100[Rating Scale]7.6 out of 10 starsThere has been so much said about this album. To get this right took a while; many listens and much contemplation.Most feel that Muse is an entity not to be ignored or [...]
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CD Review: Muse "The Resistance"
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Written by: Brian CampbellMuse - The Resistance (Helium 3/Warner Bros.) Muse’s latest, The Resistance, is brimming with soaring ostentatious melodies that tend that wander on Queen’s side of the tracks more often than not. It sounds epic without even trying, thanks in part to some of the tightest musicianship you will hear in the industry today. They often say that the sum is greater than the
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Review: Muse – The Resistance
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Muse’s new album The Resistance has been one of the most highly anticipated albums this fall. If I had to describe this album in one word it would be ‘epic.’ Muse tries to outdo themselves with adding more of everything to The Resistance —more classical arrangements, more guitars, more electronic infusion, more of the epic-ness [...]
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Review - Muse's The Resistance
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When it comes to Muse, I can safely call myself a late-bloomer. Having only "discovered" the band for myself within the past year has given me two very different ways to look at Muse. First, as a relative newbie, it tends to be easier to look at a new album as the highlight of a band's career. Kind of like that feeling when you find out about a band after 4 or 5 albums and that first album you...
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Muse: "The Resistance" (album review)
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When I first heard the raw neo-rock blast of Muse's Absolution I instantly fell in love with the record. When I heard the follow-up Black Holes and Revelations I was heartbroken. The album was an overwrought and overproduced self-indulgent prog rock wankfest.So I approached the UK trio's new album The Resistance with mixed feelings. Would it be the fresh, vibrant rock of Absolution or the
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Muse’s The Resistance is a little bit too ridiculous
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Hey, remember the good old days when Muse was being unkindly compared to Radiohead? A more rocking, less substance-y Radiohead? I sure do, and I enjoyed their output for the most part. The band is immensely talented, Matt Bellamy’s voice is a knockout, and they’ve produced some pretty great songs in their career.But their newest [...]
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record review: Muse - The Resistance
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Months and months ago, when Matt Bellamy was asked to describe Muse’s newest album, he stated that it was “a symphonic album … like a full collaboration with an orchestra. There's definitely a few things on the album which are segueing into each other and it's all very orchestral, but that could take over the album, so it could actually be kind of classical act basically, and move away from
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Muse: The Resistance (Review)
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The Resistance lacks the kickass histrionics and monumental spectacle of previous efforts that kept imitators away with a 10-foot obelisk.
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Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - Undisclosed Desires by Muse
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The concept is quite simple: a group of people listen to the same song and give their opinion as if they were in the same room listening to the radio at the same time. Stein said a bus is a bus is a bus, some said it was post-modernism, others said it was unreadable. Duchamp's The Fountain is called art by some, nonsense by others. Stein hit Duchamp in the nose and put it the wrong way up, Stei...
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Album Review: Muse - The Resistance
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Is it possible to enjoy a band's musical output whilst reserving judgement on their political stance? That's the conundrum I face every time I listen to Muse. They have produced music of grandiose magnificence and still remain one of the most outstanding live acts on this planet, but I simply can't agree with frontman Matt Bellamy's trenchant view that 9/11 was a Government inspired "con job". ...
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Muse: The Resistance
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ALBUM REVIEW: Muse – The Resistancewords: Jamie Miltonoriginally written for gigwiseTo expect Muse to produce a life-changing, serious piece of music is akin to expecting the British National Party get voted into power only to open the nation’s borders to Eastern Europe, akin to expecting Emile Heskey to bag a hat-trick in the World Cup [...]
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Muse: Resistance
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img: archamtllnad‘The Resistance’ has struck first. An album based on George Orwell’s literary classic ‘1984′ can only really make complete sense if you’ve read the book and you’ve read the lyrics. And whilst Muse’s fourth studio album pays homage to the work, its title track can be enjoyed without an in depth knowledge of how [...]
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Muse – The Resistance
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Muse are the great proponents of outlandishly exuberant modern rock; a skyscraping musical juggernaut teetering on that finest of lines separating the splendorous from the utterly ridiculous, forging compositions that are an irresistable blend of both. On record they possess an uncompromising attention to detail to produce exquisitely intricate, fantastical music, whilst their boundless [...]
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Stream new albums from Muse and Bats
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MCD have an exclusive 24-hour stream of the 5-star rated The Resistance album from Muse out in Ireland tomorrow. Listen here.Meanwhile, our favourite Irish science-obsessed punk hardcore band BATS have made their debut album Red In Tooth & Claw, available to stream in full exclusively at Sputnikmusic.RelatedVideo round-up: The Very Best, DJ AM, Oasis, The [...]
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Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - Undisclosed Desires by Muse
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The concept is quite simple: a group of people listen to the same song and give their opinion as if they were in the same room listening to the radio at the same time. Stein said a bus is a bus is a bus, some said it was post-modernism, others said it was unreadable. Duchamp's The Fountain is called art by some, nonsense by others. Stein hit Duchamp in the nose and put it the wrong way up, Stei...
More >
Review - Muse's The Resistance
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When it comes to Muse, I can safely call myself a late-bloomer. Having only "discovered" the band for myself within the past year has given me two very different ways to look at Muse. First, as a relative newbie, it tends to be easier to look at a new album as the highlight of a band's career. Kind of like that feeling when you find out about a band after 4 or 5 albums and that first album you...
More >
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Muse's new album tracklisting revealed via Twitter
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The last time English mindfuck-rock trio Muse dropped a record was 2006's Black Holes & Revelations - a record so ridiculously OTT that the definition of OTT had been rewritten altogether, which would have been necessary due to the brilliant 'Knights Of Cydonia' alone. This time, they seem to be trying to redefine 'ridiculous' as well.The band's new record, The Resistance, will be released in t...
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YET ANOTHER REASON TO WORSHIP MUSE
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Muse are one of the best active bands on the planet, and their new album, The Resistance, is one of the best of the year. Period.The band’s music would make them awesome enough, but apparently they’re righteous dudes, too. To wit: according to the Telegraph, when the band was recently ordered to mime a performance [...]
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New! Muse - Unnatural Selection
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Another new Muse song from the upcoming The Resistance. New Muse sounds more like old Muse on this track. Straight epic, grandoise rock that you'd expect from a band that loves singing about the end of the world. Lots of high flying electric guitars, layered voices straining to make the most dramatic chorus possible, and a song that rocks hard for 7 minutes. If you're more into indie rockstars ...
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Muse sur la tv francais c'est manifique bon vivre sil vous plates of meat.
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Muse on TARATATASort of a French version of Later with Jools Holland crossed with a kids pop show attempting an "NME" style review...http://muse.mu/news/article/531/muse-on-taratata/ So, a live set minus the "at the piano" reverence ..and the audience are absolutely gushing and having a great time,instead of trying to stay"cool".Host is a bit creepy,but to be fair,he's got to do a bi-lingual in...
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Album Review: Muse - The Resistance
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Is it possible to enjoy a band's musical output whilst reserving judgement on their political stance? That's the conundrum I face every time I listen to Muse. They have produced music of grandiose magnificence and still remain one of the most outstanding live acts on this planet, but I simply can't agree with frontman Matt Bellamy's trenchant view that 9/11 was a Government inspired "con job". ...
More >
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New! Muse - Undisclosed Desires
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Here's another leak from Muse's upcoming The Resistance courtesy of WAWSTSF. There are things about this song that I really like, and things about it that don't do anything from me. One thing that I've noticed is that the sound gets more and more heavily produced and less organic and raw. It makes sense, since Muse has such a huge, electronic, epic sound, but it takes away from those really har...
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Muse: "The Resistance" (album review)
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When I first heard the raw neo-rock blast of Muse's Absolution I instantly fell in love with the record. When I heard the follow-up Black Holes and Revelations I was heartbroken. The album was an overwrought and overproduced self-indulgent prog rock wankfest.So I approached the UK trio's new album The Resistance with mixed feelings. Would it be the fresh, vibrant rock of Absolution or the
More >
Muse new single “United States of Eurasia”, new album Resistance out 9/15, will play MTV VMAs 9/13
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Muse have put the finishing touches on their newest album, The Resistance. Due out on September 15th, The Resistance was mixed by Mark "Spoke" Stent (U2, Depeche Mode, No Doubt, Oasis) and features eleven new songs. You can listen to the first single "The United States of Eurasia" below in ...
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New! Muse - "United States Of Eurasia"
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Track:United States Of Eurasia
New track from Muse called "United States Of Eurasia". Courtesy of whoever that is in the shoutbox.Muse - "United States Of Eurasia"Pigeons and Planes
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Muse: The Resistance (Review)
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The Resistance lacks the kickass histrionics and monumental spectacle of previous efforts that kept imitators away with a 10-foot obelisk.
More >
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Muse Reveal Resistance Artwork
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As every person on the entire planet is no doubt aware of by now, Muse have a new record due out this year by the name of 'The Resistance'. September 14th is it's release date and whilst it has already had it's overly pretentious track-listing confirmed HERE, it's only now that the artwork has been revealed.
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 "The Resistance")
