Muse released their fifth album “The Resistance.” The album took the No. 1 spot in 16 countries including the United Kingdom and topped out at third on the billboard charts in the United States.
The album continues the progressive musical arc that Muse has been on since their first album “Showbiz.” With each album their sound gets more and more electronic and broad and their message gets increasingly dramatic and political.
The most consistent element has always been the soaring and pitch-perfect vocals of the band’s frontman Mathew Bellamy and the beautiful keyboard runs he composes for their multi-layered sound. While this band used to favor crunched and heavy rock guitar it seems more and more that Muse is choosing strings and mellow synth options over heavy guitar riffs.
It was hard to imagine a single that could be more cinematic and broad than “Knights of Cydonia” from their previous album “Black Holes and Revelations but Muse has certainly shot for the stars with their new single, United States of Eurasia.” The song features an incredibly diverse mixture of musical styles. It begins with a simple piano medley common in many contemporary styles; but from there progresses through a choral breakdown Middle-Eastern influenced chord progressions and a classical piano interlude (a must for any epic Muse song). The band manages to tie the segments together by first sketching the concept of the song out and then completing the illustration.
Most of the songs clock in at above five minutes making it a little too much for the average popular music listener. Maybe after 2006’s super-pop hit “Starlight” Muse has decided to differentiate themselves more from mainstream artists. There is no “Starlight” equivalent on this album so listeners probably have to switch over to an actual rock station to catch this album on the radio.
While the progression of Muse’s music is to be expected it is always tough to adjust with each new album. This one is no exception as Muse challenges their fans to accept new styles of music in order to get their fix of Bellamy’s amazing compositions. “Undisclosed Desires” sounds like it could have come straight out of a hip-hop producer while the 3-part symphony “Exogenesis” explores the band’s more abstract side with an orchestral accompaniment all the way through the almost 15-minute odyssey.
Most Muse fans are pretty dedicated so they probably already own this album. For the casual music listener this album probably isn’t the right place to be introduced to Muse. Try “Absolution” or “Black Holes and Revelations” for a less stressful introduction. For those more adventurous listeners looking to broaden their horizons give this album a try. Make sure you forgo your 21st century habits though as this album is meant to be enjoyed from start to finish not cherry-picked from iTunes.
