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Muse: Genre-blending astronauts

Joel Devyldere
The Commuter

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

It’s Muse. The technical rock legends from the United Kingdom bring it back to the studio in “The Resistance,” an epic fight-the-man album for the history books – sort of. The first single is “Uprising,” a fight song to energize the masses. The message seems strong and undivided, the music is go-get-‘em; however, this track is different from most of the other songs on the album.

Strictly speaking, the majority of the remaining tracks on Muse’s “Resistance” are strange and obscure. It’s a masterfully rendered spacey blend of pop, piano rock, electronica, industrial and opera. I think a better title would have been “Genre Blending for Astronauts.”

Of course, there’s still an industrial-sized dosage of that dark and tenebrous classic Muse in this CD. For instance, the lyrics are still intense. This time around, Muse fills space with desperate discourses of paranoia and secretive love. The poetic (and semi-operatic) crooning of lead-singer Matt Bellamy sounds as if he’s transmitting his vocal tracks as distress signals from behind the Iron Curtain.

“Is our secret safe tonight and are we out of sight?” He manages on the title track. “Kill your prayers for love and peace, [or] you’ll wake the thought police. We can hide the truth inside.”

Later on, he gets creative with “Undisclosed Desires.” “I want to reconcile the violence in your heart,” he asserts. “I want to recognize your beauty’s not just a mask. I want to exorcise the demons from your past. I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart.”

To top all of that off, the vocals on “The Resistance” come off a lot like Queen, especially “Exogenesis,” the three-track, mini space-rock symphony with which the album concludes. The vocals are lofty, the melodies are shifty and the bass lines are catchy and innovative.

This CD is at once a concept album and a macabre pop oddity. As a whole, this album sounds like something that would be ideal to listen to while sleeping on the moon.

The final prognosis: The album isn’t great, but it’s still Muse. These guys have made a worldwide name for themselves beginning in the underground scene and will by no means be finished there. Buy the first three tracks, and scrap the rest. “Uprising,” “Undisclosed Desires,” and the title track would’ve made a great record if packaged on an E.P., with a couple slower electronic tunes (“Track 8, I Belong to You” would be one of those). Overall, though, I’m giving “The Resistance” three out of five stars.

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