Muse - The Resistance

I've often described Muse, one of my favorite bands and the winner of the "Stew Cedarleaf Best Show of Lollapalooza 2007" award, to friends as "Queen for the 21st century." With their release of The Resistance, every music writer in the world is using the same analogy.

This album is a rock opera to be sure, with strings and epic compositions all over the place. Matthew Bellamy's voice soars as only he can (I dare you to try to sing along to a Muse song), and the album closes with a three part suite composed like a symphony. What's missing, however, are the blistering guitar riffs that make me love Muse. Older Muse songs like Hysteria, The Small Print, Map of the Problematique, and Exo Politics rock as hard as anything out there on the strength of killer riffs. The Resistance features some excellent guitar work (particularly Uprising and MK Ultra), but its not as consistent, with the band favoring strings and piano more often.

At the end of the day, it sounds like Muse might be reaching a little too far here. I love these guys, and this album is good, but it's not as awesome as Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations, their last two releases. They've got their rock opera, now let's go back to making bad ass arena rock. It is growing on me though, so maybe after a couple more listens I'll put this album up alongside their two masterpieces. Check out the tracks and video below.

Muse - Uprising
Muse - United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)

Undisclosed Desires - Muse