Muse--The Resistance

I've probably mentioned this a couple of times before, but Muse is one of those bands that is a guilty pleasure for me. Except that I don't feel guilty about it at all... even though I think I should. Most of my love is for the band's Origin Of Symmetry release, which just has solid track after solid track, but the two albums following it have had their highlights as well.

I am also going to mention that I've always imagined that if I were a closing pitcher, or a champion boxer or wrestler or something... that I'd come out to "New Born". Not just because it has a dark piano intro, but because they transition so nicely from that into Muse's typically bombastic and crazy yet awesome and loud rock sound.

Since they're going more towards an orchestrated-pop-with-a-bit-of-electronica route, their ability to rock out like crazy is pretty much downplayed on this latest album. Even the leadoff track "Uprising" (which is one of the few here that actually feels guitar-oriented) feels sort of neutered. "Unnatural Selection" is certainly loud and fast (apart from that middle section which slows it down for a bit), but it lacks that extra punch that their better numbers have.

So what I'm saying is that I hate this.

Well, I really can't say that I hate it, since I'm currently listening to it for the second time. But honestly, I don't think there's really much here that could even rank up there with their best stuff. The problem is that nothing is really catchy. I mean, even if it isn't bombastic, loud, and played and crazy virtuosity, the band can still pull out something embarrasingly catchy like "Starlight". Here, nothing jumped out and grabbed me, outside of "United States of Eurasia," which everyone hates because it's a Queen ripoff. But it's kind of catchy... and somewhat interesting. That's good, right?

"Resistance" and "Undisclosed Desires" are both kind of awkward (with "Resistance" actively trying to cause pain with the "it could be wrong" chorus and a bass line that sounds strangely off). Since that's two of the first three songs here, that's not a good start. Then we get stuff like "Guiding Light" and "I Belong To You/*French stuff I can't be bothered to copy and paste*", which all sound somewhat embarrasing (the latter is this bouncy piano driven number, with a melody that sounds nice, but it doesn't mesh with the piano at all). So that's four songs that kinda take the energy out of the listening experience. And the rest of the material isn't enough to compensate for them.

The closing "symphony" is kinda cool, but you know.