[rating=3.00]
There’s no doubt from his growing resume, that Matt Bellamy desires Muse to become the biggest band in the world. Well until they drop their appetite for over-production and over-achieving (which in the end hurts them), Bellamy and Muse might still be clinging to two thirds up the musical food chain. Having raised the bar with each of their albums by pushing the envelopes of electronica and progressive rock, Muse, like Radiohead, strives to up the ante of what a rock band can accomplish in the studio and on stage.
The Resistance lives up to some pressure and expectations and the first two thirds of the effort is victorious with its classic rock flashes and hooks. The Gary Glitter glam beats in “Uprising,” ironically could make for the next big stadium anthem, alongside the title track which rivals a U2 number for bombast and décor. The dance track “Undisclosed Diaries” is a daring enough mix of beats and bass, but it’s the overtop production of “United States of Eurasia” that garners the Queen comparisons you’ve probably read about. Where the turbo charged guitars of “Unnatural Selection” follow the schmaltz of “Guiding Light,” Muse can mix catchiness with the best of the Brits and Americans.
Muse has strove for bigger than life the over-the-top notes, with Bellamy’s operatic voice almost being too high to be good. But it’s the pretentious three part "song" called "Exogenesis, " that concludes and kills whatever momentum The Resistance developed: thirteen minutes of a classic suite with no intensity. Sure it’s just the last bit of the album, but it makes up for a big statement of The Resistance. Muse certainly has the spark and ambition to become as big as they want, but they still have that underlying smarty pants gleam that makes them too progressive and over-indulgent in their sounds to make them the biggest band in the world for “everybody.”
