Album review: Muse: 'The Resistance'

MUSE: 'The Resistance' (Warner Bros)

A little over ten years ago, three snotty-nosed, fresh-faced young upstarts from Teignmouth, the actual arse end of the real nowhere, quietly nudged a record into the hands of indie's (spit) makers and shakers. 'Showbiz', as it was modestly titled, was met with much indifference and bemusement (pardon the pun) from an unforgiving, self-obsessed media, who likened it to 'Bends-era Radiohead and brushed the band aside in favour of pretentious nobodies like Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Add N to (X). Well, more fool them. Right from the start, the potential for world domination has always been within Muse's grasp: from the impassioned colossus that is 'Muscle Museum' to the tender dramatics of 'Unintended', you just had to open your eyes, to bother to look a little closer. Naturally, less than a year later, the band were making some of the most outstandingly gargantuan noise to ever have come out of a studio. In subsequent records 'Origin of Symmetry' and 'Absolution', Muse provided us with the kind of music that makes you feel stoked to be alive, that makes life an enriching, emboldening experience. All that from just three men, their guitars, drums, a piano and the occasional satellite (have you seen their live shows? Geez!) With such an impressive resume, what do we now expect from Teignmouth's finest, ten years on? Well, more, to put it bluntly. Loads more. Bigger. Harder. Faster. Stronger. Taking over the multiverse instead of just this poxy little universe. Music that it doesn't feel right to listen to unless you're surfing naked on the back of a comet or watching a million-strong battle from atop the highest mountains on Mars. Got that guys? Good. Well get on with it then.

And to be fair to the boys, they pretty much did. 'The Resistance' is an unquestionably grandiose record, full of outrageously big and ludicrous ideas and pompous, hyperbolic sounds. It's a massively gaudy work that proudly wears its stark splashes of primary colour on its sleeve; from the almost tacky brashness of its cover to the forty orchestral musicians put to work on the symphony (yes, you read that right) that closes it, everything about the album is bold, dramatic and wonderfully obvious. Muse embrace their campness rather than shying away from it and as such, they harness the same sort of genius-in-stupidity that propelled Queen to mega stardom. Indeed, at times, they don't sound too far removed from Freddie Mercury's band of merry men: 'United States of Eurasia' has shades of 'Flash' in its fantastically OTT chorus, and the closing whoosh of an aeroplane flying overhead is just the kind of stupendously dumb gimmick that Mercury would've loved.

Interestingly, while there is a rather paranoid political allegory running rampant all over the record - just listen to the brilliantly euphoric call to arms of the title track and the Goldfrapp meets 'Supermassive Black Hole' stomp and swagger of first single 'Uprising' for proof - Muse temper its apocryphal naysaying through personalisation, telling a delightful little love story at the same time. As a motif, this implies that love saves and redeems, thereby offering us a solution to the bleak proselytising that begun with 2003's 'Absolution.' It's hard not to be moved by the simplicity of the message, especially in lieu of the complexity of the album, and it produces some truly beautiful moments, not the least of which is 'I Belong To You' which, despite featuring a rather dodgy beginning, quickly morphs into a paradoxically monumental, yet tender, musical maelstrom.

There really is no doubt that this is a technically excellent record. You cannot help but be over-awed by the depth of skill and craftsmanship that has gone into its quite superb construction: 'Exogenesis', the symphony, provides perhaps the best example of this, clocking in at eleven minutes of absolutely mind-bending, breathtaking over-indulgence. However, at times, 'The Resistance' does have a tendency to feel a little cold, as if heart and soul have been temporarily sacrificed in the quest to be sonically impressive. It's certainly the band's most focused album but this threatens to be its downfall: Muse are at their best when they're messy and sprawling, not concentrated and thought-out. 'Absolution' and 'Origin of Symmetry' work so well because they're out of control, whereas 'The Resistance', for all its bombast, feels distinctly refined. Some have criticised its lack of guitars, but this is not necessarily the cause of the problem; too often, Muse seem to be checking themselves, making sure they don't give too much away, and do so by quite literally ripping themselves off. The aforementioned 'Uprising' is not only 'Supermassive Black Hole' but the mid-section of 'Knights of Cydonia'; 'MK Ultra' is the less interesting cousin of 'Exogenesis' and 'Assassin' and 'Unnatural Selection', heralded as the most Muse-like song on the album, is disappointing for precisely that reason (it's effectively just 'New Born' crossed with 'Dead Star', and not as good as either.) Regrettably, when they do try something dramatically different, as in the softly, softly R 'n' B stylings of 'Undisclosed Desires', they end up sounding like Craig David which is certainly no good thing.

Perhaps Muse are simply trying too hard; while the musicianship and production here are second to none, the album sometimes feels a little over-thought. Certain tracks lack the passion that usually imbues their work, and as such they feel rather tame in comparison to virtually anything on 'Origin' and 'Absolution.' When they get it right, of course, they blow you away: the gargantuan 'Exogenesis' is phenomenal, 'United States of Eurasia' is deliciously camp and 'I Belong To You' is painfully beautiful; indeed, 'The Resistance' is quite a brave record. The band's sound is evolving in an interesting way and the piano-centric route they seem to have adopted is actually quite welcome, as it further embraces the unashamed bombast that has always been at the heart of their genius. It's just that, while the pomp and circumstance sweep you along, once the dust has settled, you're left feeling unsure rather than amazed. (7/10)