The Resistance

I don’t know how many of you reading this would have listened to Muse’s latest album, or any of the albums for that matter. If you haven’t at least given them an honest go, then shame on you!

I think it’s fair to say that Muse are one of Britains most interesting bands, they straddle that awkward line between Mainstream Megastars and Space Opera Rockers, a line we all so often fall foul of ourselves no doubt.

You’ll no doubt have noticed I used the word ‘interesting’ rather than ‘good’ and you’re probably thinking smugly to yourself “You’ve just used the word ‘interesting rather than ‘good’ so I guess what you mean is ‘rubbish’?” Well no, I don’t mean that at all, and stop being so smug, it’s unbecoming.

I use the word ‘interesting’ because they are, quite simply ‘interesting’. The band is a strange anomaly you don’t see very often, a well known and pretty well accepted band, that just do what they want. This is a band that pulls Coldplay-sized gigs, fill stadiums and probably sign girls’ boobs too. Unlike any of those other ‘Stadium’ bands, however, Muse actually do something new with each album, and it’s, well, ‘interesting’.

If you love music, and you like to hear a band trying something genuinely different, then you owe it to yourself to at least listen to them, give them an honest go. Lucky for all of you who haven’t listened to them, they’ve just released ‘The Resistance’! What timing! If any of you who are reading this thinking ‘Okay, I’ll bite, I’ll give them a listen, so I should start with the latest album, yeah?” Well the short answer is no. The long answer is absolutely not.

Don’t get me wrong, the ‘The Resistance’ is a good album, but sadly, it’s just not as good as the past three albums. If you really do want to start with this album, I suggest you listen to the first 4 tracks, then skip to the last 3 as the middle of this album is just really quite dull. Midway through the album they seem to do away with shouting about universes and robots and whatever. Instead Matt just kind of whines about some broad or something. That’s not what Muse are about, and you shouldn’t think they are.

And here’s the rub, it must be a bloody nightmare being in Muse, the last three albums were just stupidly good (if you’re still wondering, start with Absolution) and each of them were distinct and different. So when you’re output is just as good as it has been, and you release something that’s only ‘good’ and not ‘excellent’ it really sticks out.

I know this is an awful thing to say, but ‘The Resistance’ is for the fans, so that they can go “Bloody hell, those other albums were amazing!”

To sum it up, Muse has released a good album, but when you stand it next to their previous output, it’s just not good enough. I still can’t stop listening to it though, and you know why?

It’s because they’re ‘interesting’.

This is where you should start with Muse

Martin

Tags: matt bellamy, muse, new album, the resistance