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Muse

The Resistance

  • AMG Review of The Resistance

    Amg
    Andrew Leahey
    All Music Guide

    With 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.

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Review: Muse - The Resistance (* * *)
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Muse – The Resistance, Album Review
4 months ago

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
4 months ago

Written by: Robert Latham They have always been known for being a little different and English rockers Muse's new album does little to dispel these ideas as the band divulges an intriguing, intoxicating new orchestral side. The Resistance, the band's fifth studio album, is again testimony to Muse's evolution in becoming the pioneers of 21st century British [...]

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CD Review: Muse "The Resistance"
4 months ago

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
5 months ago

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
5 months ago

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)
5 months ago

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
5 months ago

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
5 months ago
Muse: The Resistance (Review)
5 months ago
Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - Undisclosed Desires by Muse
5 months ago

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
5 months ago
Muse: The Resistance
5 months ago

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
5 months ago

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 - Uprising - Video
4 months ago
Stream new albums from Muse and Bats
5 months ago

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
5 months ago

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 - The Resistance (* * *)
4 months ago
Review - Muse's The Resistance
5 months ago

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 >
YET ANOTHER REASON TO WORSHIP MUSE
5 months ago

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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Muse's new album tracklisting revealed via Twitter
7 months ago

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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New! Muse - Undisclosed Desires
5 months ago
Muse sur la tv francais c'est manifique bon vivre sil vous plates of meat.
4 months ago

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
5 months ago
Muse: "The Resistance" (album review)
5 months ago

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 >
New! Muse - "United States Of Eurasia"
7 months ago

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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Hear clips of the new Muse album
6 months ago

With the release of Muse’s latest record The Resistance due on Sept 11th, iTunes are streaming thirty second clips of the album here. The album’s tracklisting is as follows:UprisingResistanceUndisclosed DesiresUnited States of EurasiaGuiding LightUnnatural SelectionMK UltraI Belong To YouExogenesis Symphony part I (Overture)Exogenesis Symphony part II (Cross Pollination)Exogenesis Symphony par

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Muse new single “United States of Eurasia”, new album Resistance out 9/15, will play MTV VMAs 9/13
7 months ago

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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Mp3: Muse - Uprising x (UN) United States of Eurasia
6 months ago

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