Archive for the 'Album Review' Category
The Resistance Review – Official “Review The Resistance” Winner #5
From muse.mu
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The Resistance reviewed by Taylor Owen.
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The Resistance is an album with no restraints. It grabs your attention with the first couple of songs and takes you on a long, tiring journey through its unique freedom that is unheard of in most modern rock (if you want to call it that) albums. I hear so many older bands that are influenced by the new musical style flying all over radio and MTV. They try to sound like this new type of rock and they usually lose the originality they once had. What makes The Resistance so special is that it doesn’t try to copy newer music. Muse seems to take what’s really popular today and somehow gives it a fresher, more original look. Of course, this is to be expected from Muse, I’m just telling you to somehow assure you that the album is amazing. In fact, I would make the bold statement of calling The Resistance the best Muse album yet. Due to its great, screaming message, The Resistance is yearning to be released to the public. The messages about love and resistance really spoke to me personally, and I’m sure they will speak to a much larger audience too. The music is definitely their most impressive; I think that Exogenesis, the 12-minute, orchestral epic, is their best song yet. To quell some fears that I have seen floating around the Internet, the dance songs aren’t bad. In fact, they fit the whole album perfectly. I’m sure that when The Resistance is released, you will make your own judgment, but, for me at least, it filled my head with wonderful ideas and made me change my perspective of music itself.
The Resistance Review – Official “Review The Resistance” Winner #4
From muse.mu
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The Resistance, reviewed by Natalie Sung…
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“The Resistance” boasts the typical power that Muse never fails to create, alongside new realms of beauty and fresh new tales. The album begins with “Uprising”, an upbeat charge of electricity. It possesses a beat that makes you want to hopscotch…in space. It’s experimental, in the way that Matt sports somewhat glam-pop vocals. The track name very much suits the song itself and its stretching chorus gives motion and movement. Uprising is closely followed by “Resistance”. Its stampeding percussion creates speed. The chorus is very appealing; it repeats the phrase “It could be wrong” which creates an immediate connection to listeners, as its duplication soon prompts us to reiterate those very words. The song is subtly but significantly cryptic. “Undisclosed Desires” succeeds the secretive track. Here is where Muse demonstrates their ability to be so diverse. Undisclosed Desires is a track so different it will throw you off guard. Rhythm and blues (R&B to many) emerges into mind. It gradually evolves into 80s glam-pop, although I half expected there to be some form of rapping. (I’d be game with a bit of Jay-Z.) The stop-start skipping nature to this track accompanied by violin staccatos flaunts attitude and is definitely one of the wow-factors of this album. Subsequent to this, is the great “United States of Eurasia/Collateral Damage”. I say “great” because whether you love or hate this track you will have undoubtedly heard of or taken part in the great global treasure hunt which eventually resulted in the disclosure of this very piece. Its poetic introduction provides an air of romance, quickly interrupted by a Queen-esque electric shock with a good helping of Arabian style phrasing.
The Resistance Review – Official “Review The Resistance” Winner #3
From muse.mu - 09 Sep 2009 21:41
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Today’s review of The Resistance comes courtesy of Dan Fry…
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Just where exactly does a band go after a revelatory experience with black holes? Back to Earth it seems. If Origin of Symmetry was Muse embarking on their space rock odyssey, The Resistance is them returning home, matured, concentrated and intent on kicking ass and taking names. Gone is the angst and insular self-obsession, no longer adolescent, no longer playing; they have landed back on this planet and they don’t like what they see.
There is no gentle introduction as we have grown accustomed to – ‘Uprising’s gears whir in to action as it grabs you by the back of the neck, forces you against the wall and pats you down for a wire tap, just in case you’re, you know, ‘one of them’. The agenda is set – rise up and take the power back. ‘Resistance’ melts in, a dreamy, echo-laden opening with clap of thunder drums, overtaken by a simple piano hook and disco beat. It builds to a satisfyingly chunky chorus, Captain Bellamy bellowing “Love is our Resistance!” and who are we to argue? But the Thought Police are on to him; soon love just won’t be enough.
Punchy stabs of synth usher in ‘Undisclosed Desires’, a laid back ‘Map of the Problematique’ gone all soppy. Matt sings in a low register “beauty is not just a mask / exercise demons from the past”. A sexy declaration of devotion and building a future together, juxtaposed with Timbaland style percussion.
The Resistance Review – Official “Review The Resistance” Winner #2
From muse.mu
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The second instalment of our Review The Resistance competition is below courtesy of Gavin Greene.
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The Resistance
Understated, Muse are not. A decade has passed since Showbiz; ten years in which this Devon three-piece have constantly evolved and developed, leaving boundaries well-behind, and winning over any doubters with each new album.
From the panoramic secret location of the playback, high above the bustling streets of London, the themes running throughout this album are very believable. From the opening track, and first single, Uprising, there is a definite ‘us’ and ‘them’, and an increasing sense of fear and impending despair. A foot-stamping, thumb-clicking opener, this tune wouldn’t sound out of place in the Tardis’ sound system.
Spooky, haunting synths herald the second track of the album, Resistance, while pulsing drums reverberate in the background. Bellamy incites paranoia from the start, wondering if ‘our secret’s safe’, with soaring vocals over a wandering piano, before a rousing chorus, which sees Howard and Wolstenholme joining in with vocal duties.
The Resistance Review – Official “Review The Resistance” Winner #1
From muse.mu
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Following our competition for you the fans to hear and review the band’s new album, the reviews are in and we’ll be posting them one a day on muse.mu this week. First up, a 10/10 review from Mr James Murphy…!
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For ten years now, Muse have produced music that pushes the boundaries, sometimes smashing through them at an alarming speed. The quality of music has only ever improved, growing in stature and boldness with each album. ‘The Resistance’ is no exception whatsoever.
It is strange how many ‘pinnacles’ have been suggested Muse have reached. (This is something of a compliment after a large section of the media dismissed them very harshly as a poor man’s R****head after the release of ‘Showbiz’.) ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ was never going to be bettered was the opinion of some when reviewing the album. Then came the two shows at Wembley. At the time it did feel like the end of something. An end to any straggling doubters maybe. But instead of sitting back and admiring their achievements, Muse have used all albums and the experience of monumental gigs that have gone before as a launch pad and by doing so have created something quite staggering.
It all begins with ‘Uprising’ which is a perfect first single too. A song that appears to be influenced by a magnitude of bands whether it be T-Rex, Goldfrapp or Blondie. It stomps its way out of the speakers in all its pomp-rock glory, before Doctor Who style synths give away that this album is broadcasting from space whilst the lyrics and incredibly catchy tune bring us back down to an angry, rebellious Earth.
“The Resistance” Fan Review
As some of you may know, there was a listening session for the lucky winners of the “Review The Resistance” competition. One of the winners have posted a rough review on what he heard.
At the top of a very very tall building in CENTRAL London. Don’t think I’m allowed to say exactly where as there are still sessions going on. We were sat on a long sofa close to windows overlooking East London. The windows had large MUSE logos stuck on them. We were each given an ipod which had been unlocked by the people from Warner who were present. We weren’t searched surprisingly. The ipods were connected to standard Sony headphones. We were then allowed to play the album as we wished for the next hour. So if we wanted we could skip Uprising and USOE as a couple of people did. I decided to listen to the whole thing as an album from start to finish.
Resistance:
Was unsure about this from the clip. Shouldn’t have worried. Begins with an intro similar to ‘Interlude’. Then piano with THE EDGE style guitar low in the mix (not as bad as it sounds fellow non U2 fans). Drums and bass come in with “airy” synth sounds and backing vox and verse. Then goes to the 30 second clip section (“it could be wrong” etc) WHICH TURNS OUT NOT TO BE THE FULL CHORUS. It immediately kicks into an epic guitar driven section of the chorus with Matt singing “Love is our resistance”.
Then there is more piano. Heavy on reverb.
“You’ll wake the Thought Police” direct lyric link to 1984.
“Take us away from here. Protect us from further harm”
Screaming over loud, pummeling drums and guitar.
Ends with synth sounds.
Undisclosed Desires:
Starts with plucked strings (violins etc, not guitar). They sound very processed. Growling synth bass and of course, slap bass.
Simple song structure. Definite single methinks.
Not much to add if you’ve heard the clip. If you enjoyed the clip you’ll love it.
There’s a middle 8 breakdown at 2:35.
The Resistance Review – “Jude Rogers” theguardian.co.uk
When is music too much? I’m not talking about the torrent of songs that surround us every day – I’ve argued how we should work with this excess. I’m being literal. I’m talking about songs being smothered with strings, bruised and bloodied by drums, and swaddled in vocals that are more multitracked than the approach to London Paddington. And I ask this, specifically, after hearing Muse‘s new album, The Resistance.
The Resistance will be the fifth LP in 10 years for the three-piece from Teignmouth, Devon. I interviewed the band recently, and Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard and Chris Westenholme talked eloquently about their home town’s quietness, and how it made their teenage selves yearn for clutter and clatter. Their music has certainly got more dramatic, with 2006′s Black Holes and Revelations being a particularly clamorous creature – as you might expect from a record that references extraterrestrial voids and the apocalypse in its title.
On first listen, The Resistance bristles with bombast, too. The upcoming single, Uprising, summons the ghost of Delia Derbyshire – the BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer who turned the Dr Who theme tune into a spooky feast of electronics – and plugs her into the mains. Unnatural Selection has a great bassline, which pummels the eardrums, while Undisclosed Desires sounds like Radiohead with a serious cob on. Then, of course, there’s United States of Eurasia, which has already been released online as an internet taster. Imagine George Orwell’s 1984 turned into a Bohemian Rhapsody for the modern doom-monger, and revel in the gloom.