Yay MuseWeek! :awesome:

 

THE RESISTANCE

 

Tracklisting:

Uprising

Resistance

Undisclosed Desires

United States of Eurasia

Guiding Light

Unnatural Selection

MK Ultra

I Belong to You (+Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix)

Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)

Exogenesis: Symphony Part 2 (Cross-Pollination

Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption)

 

Singles:

Uprising

Resistance

Undisclosed Desires

Exogenesis: Symphony

United States of Eurasia (downloadable single)

 

 

Information

The fifth Muse studio album, The Resistance, was released on September 14th 2009. Like previous Muse albums it draws from a wide range of genres and influences, including glam rock, R&B, disco and classical. The Resistance sees the return of instrumentation previously used on Origin of Symmetry, including a church organ (Unnatural Selection) and llama toenails (United States of Eurasia). Matt Bellamy summarized the album as having "an emphasis on rhythm and contemporary R&B at the start. Then it gets epic and strange, then it becomes contemporary classical music.” The Resistance is often described in relation to Orwell’s 1984 because of it’s references to love and resisting oppression.

 

-Thank you Musewiki! I have used a lot of your information in this review :kiss:

 

I’ll be honest, this is not my all time favorite Muse album nor do I think it’s Muse’s best album. Yet, there’s something about it that I just love. :awesome: It’s also the first Muse album I ever heard. :heart: It’s quite obvious to me that while Muse tried different directions, they poured all their creative energy, heart, and soul into this album. It’s really evident in the Exogenesis Symphony, but it’s everywhere. So let’s share the MUSE LOVE! :love:

 

Track by Track

 

 

 

Uprising- A solid opener, Uprising makes use of a lot of synthesized parts, heavy guitars, shouting, stomping, and clapping. Lots of fun to air guitar, head bang like Chris, and sing to. :awesome: Said by Matt to be inspired by protests he had seen, it is completely about resisting (sorry there’s no other word I can think of to describe it. :P) some government force. With the chorus “They will not force us/ They will stop degrading us/ They will not control us/ We will be victorious” and the lines “Rise up and take the power back/ It's time the fat cats had a heart attack/ You know that their time's coming to an end/ We have to unify and watch our flag ascend” it would seem that Muse really want to change something. :P

 

Resistance- Title track of the album, this song is about love. :heart: This was the first Muse song I ever bought. :blush: This is one of the very 1984-y songs, and Matt said that it is supposed to describe Julia and Winston’s relationship. “Love is our resistance/ they’ll keep us apart and they won’t stop breaking us down”. Using both piano and guitar this song is exciting and ends with a bang, creating a great mood for the rest of the album. :awesome:

 

Undisclosed Desires- Along with I Belong to You, this is one of the “funky” tracks of The Resistance. It’s very much influenced by R&B. Instrumentally, this is one of the oddest songs Muse have ever tried. Matt doesn’t play piano or guitar, instead he uses the Keytarcaster, Chris plays slap bass, and Dom used a drum machine. This is actually one of my favorite tracks off the album because it always makes me smile and I can do some Jersey fistpumping with it! :awesome: “I want to exorcise the demons from your past/ I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart”. Matt said this is one of his favorite songs off the album, and he was convinced everyone would hate it.

 

 

The music video is my favorite, and also involves some really hot Matt and Dom. :sneaky:

 

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United States of Eurasia- This song is so Muse. Always trying something different, surprising, and IN YOUR FACE. :awesome: This song starts out very quietly, with just Matt, a piano, and some strings, but quickly moves onto to some great anthemic lyrics “And must we do as we're told?/ Must we do as we're told?” and an excellent string part mixed with the music. This is one of the best songs on the album. It took a lot of influence from Queen (specifically Bohemian Rhapsody) with the “EURASIA! SIA! SIA! SIA!” part. I love how it ends with the quiet piano piece Collateral Damage, because it really reminds me of Butterflies and Hurricanes. Collateral Damage also helps your brain recover from the awesomness of this song. :D

 

Guiding Light- In my opinion, this is the weakest song on the album. I used to really not like it, but it’s starting to grow on me. By itself, it doesn’t really compare to USoE. But, make your own opinions, as I know people who absolutely love this. Matt has said that they intentionally made this one cheesy (“When comfort and warmth can't be found I still reach for you/ But I'm lost, and crushed, and cold, and confused/ With no guiding light left inside”). This song is really uplifting though, and there is something about it that gets in my head for days.

 

Unnatural Selection- I cannot express how much I love this track. :heart: It, along with MK Ultra, is one of the “rockers” on the album. Matt plays a fast, heavy guitar riff and Dom plays steady drums. It slows down in the middle, and then in the end it speeds back up to its previous tempo, providing some more interest to the piece. The chorus, “Counter balance this commotion/ We're not droplets in the ocean” makes for some great lyrics and “I want the twuth!” is just :awesome:. I really like how this song has a frantic pace to it (excluding the middle part, of course), and I love how heavy and rough the guitars get in the slow middle part.

 

MK Ultra- This is the other rocking piece. :heart: Not played live enough, imo. Very electronic and “spidery” sounding, this song also slows down in the middle. It was also recently used in a video for human trafficking awareness.

 

I Belong to You (+Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix)- The other funky song in the album. The bass clarinet solo is really different for a rock song, but it fits with this one. The French part of the name translates to "My Heart Opens Itself To Your Voice", and Matt sings a part of the song in French (with apparently terrible pronunciation! :lol:). I like this song, but I don’t consider it to be one of my favorites. The “ooooh”s are fun to sing along to though. :wacky:

 

Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)- Here starts the shining star of the album. It was so surprising for me to hear a string orchestra in the middle of a rock album, but Muse have done it, and done it well. :wacky: The whole symphony is so unbelievably pretty. It is about acceptance that a civilization will end. :thinking: Matt’s lyrics are almost indistinguishable, and almost take the spot of another instrument rather than simple vocals. When played live at Wembley and several other gigs, Muse released a “UFO” above the crowd with an acrobat hanging beneath it, similar to the ones for Blackout at 2007’s Wembley gigs.

 

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Exogenesis: Symphony Part 2 (Cross-Pollination)- My favorite of the three Symphonies, this one is a bit more quiet, serious, and mellow. “Spread, our codes to the stars/ You must rescue us all/ Tell us, tell us your final wish/ Now we know you can never return/ Tell us, tell us your final wish/ And we’ll tell it to the world” This song is, according to Matt, talking about a civilization’s desperate attempt to send astronauts to populate other planets in a last hope.

 

Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption)- So absolutely beautiful. It makes me all emotional, and it’s very rare that a song does that. “Let's start over again/ Why can't we start it over again?/ Just let us start it over again/ And we'll be good/ This time we'll get it... Get it right/ It's our last chance to forgive ourselves” are the only lyrics in this song, yet Matt sings them with so much emotion and the piano is so pretty it’s hard not to be moved. This song fits perfectly as the last in The Resistance. It’s epic and beautiful, and it ends the album very well (even though I always feel so sad after hearing it :bigcry:) It leaves me wanting more Muse! :P The whole Exogenesis Symphony is just so unique, I love it. :heart:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! :shy: :awesome: Sorry for any spelling/ grammatical errors. :uhoh2:

You did a great job, Christina! :nice:

 

This isn't my favorite album of theirs, but I still like how Muse tried a few new styles. I think the Exogensis Symphony is quite fantastic, and I'd personally love to see them (or just Matt?) compose more instrumental pieces with a full symphony.

 

I like Undisclosed Desires. A LOT. The melody and lyrics are sexy. The first three seconds with the string plucking and drum machine completely grabbed my attention when I first heard it. :wideeyed: I love the vocal layering during the chorus, and Matt vocalizing in the background in the last chorus. Sometimes, I still can't help but laugh when he sings "PLEEEEAAASE MEEE". :lol: Overall, it's great to see the boys trying a new style, whether it works or not (we'll leave that up to the listeners' own opinions).

 

I Belong to You is such a fun song. I love like the handclaps, jazzy piano, clarinet, and how Matt sings the "oooohhh" at the end of each verse/chorus/thing (the way his voice climbs up the scale).

showbiz i really love your track by track(sorry i forgot ur name:blush: )

altho most really older have a problem with this album but i love it.

uprising gets the the mood started and i love the video too,

i have been listening to muse since 2005 but this video made me a matt fangirl

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsJ3lP2QNlg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsJ3lP2QNlg[/ame]

 

Resistence is the most beautiful song matt has ever written, it is so lovely. for me it also represents my believe that love conquers all:love:

undisclosed desires a really wonderful cheesy muse song. i love it and has the best muse lyrics(for me atleast)

United States of Eurasia i hated this song when i heard it for the first time but when i bought the album i really fell in love with it,

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and this video really helped

Guiding Light i have mixed opinion on this song and somedays i love it and there are days i feel killing them for writing a rubbish song:\

Unnatural Selection and Mk ultra these songs are the best and are really good rock songs:cool:

I Belong to You (+Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix) i love this cheesy song, it is soooo CHEESY and CUTE. i just love it, i thought this would be their cheesiest song and then they wrote NSC:sad2:

Exogenesis: Symphony 1,2 and 3 i like that matt at last used his classical influences on a album:love:

and i somehow alway think of this 3 part symphony being abt confusion and how we humans hate eachother but we know we can survive without eachother either.

and the last part redemption always makes me cry:bigcry:.

in this album at last Matt knows how to over come the political,social and emotional problems and i think he realized if you have love in ur life everything becomes better

Ah...and here we are today with The Resistance, the album which both helped break Muse out into the mainstream beyond just Europe and divided the core fanbase in the process. That's not to say this album can't rock when it wants to. It just doesn't want to enough. Likewise, it's slipped down into the slot of my least favorite Muse album (originally I had it equal to BH&R), but it still gets plenty of playtime from me and lots of sing-alongs in the car.

 

I think it's a solid yet inconsistent album. I probably like the latter 6 tracks more than I like any of the first 5 tracks on the album. It starts off which a series of pop-rock songs (Uprising is a proper anthem that appeals to basically everyone, while Resistance is decent too), then delves into some lesser tracks that are either over-produced (Undisclosed Desires), over-the-top ridiculous (United States of Eurasia), or just cheesy pieces of garbage (Guiding Light).

 

Fortunately, all becomes right again with Unnatural Selection, which is a candidate for my favorite of the album and is a legitimate rocker both on record and live. MK Ultra continues the trend, and I Belong to You - while quirky and odd - is too charming not to love. And Exogenesis is beautiful through and through, meant to be listened as a whole rather than piece-by-piece.

 

This is the first tour I got to see the band live on (3 times in total) and I can't wait to see them again for LP6. Let it also be known that Undisclosed Desires is the only Muse song that works a lot better on record than it does live (seriously, it's a snoozer live). USoE, on the other hand, works much better live.

 

And thanks for the write-up! :thumbsup:

Great post Christina! :awesome:

 

When The Resistance came out, I couldn't stop listening to it. It did take a while for some songs to grow on me such as Undisclosed Desires and I Belong To You. But I think it is a great album even though it is my least favourite of theirs.

 

My top 3 songs are MK Ultra, USoE and Exogenesis (it's is a masterpiece). :heart:

 

I remember when I first saw Muse, it was a couple of weeks before The Resistance came out, and they played Resistance, Uprising, Undisclosed Desires and United States of Eurasia (Matt messed up Collateral Damage :lol:) it was really strange going to see my favourite band and not knowing the lyrics or the songs. :lol:

You did a great job, Christina! :nice:

 

This isn't my favorite album of theirs, but I still like how Muse tried a few new styles. I think the Exogensis Symphony is quite fantastic, and I'd personally love to see them (or just Matt?) compose more instrumental pieces with a full symphony.

 

I like Undisclosed Desires. A LOT. The melody and lyrics are sexy. The first three seconds with the string plucking and drum machine completely grabbed my attention when I first heard it. :wideeyed: I love the vocal layering during the chorus, and Matt vocalizing in the background in the last chorus. Sometimes, I still can't help but laugh when he sings "PLEEEEAAASE MEEE". :lol: Overall, it's great to see the boys trying a new style, whether it works or not (we'll leave that up to the listeners' own opinions).

 

I Belong to You is such a fun song. I love like the handclaps, jazzy piano, clarinet, and how Matt sings the "oooohhh" at the end of each verse/chorus/thing (the way his voice climbs up the scale).

 

Thank you!

 

As much as I'd love another Exogenesis, I feel like if they did it it just wouldn't be the same. :\ I absolutely love Undisclosed Desires too, like you said it's so sexy. :sneaky: I Belong to You used to be one of my least favorites on the album, but again I'm starting to love it. :wacky:

 

showbiz i really love your track by track(sorry i forgot ur name:blush: )

altho most really older have a problem with this album but i love it.

uprising gets the the mood started and i love the video too,

i have been listening to muse since 2005 but this video made me a matt fangirl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsJ3lP2QNlg

 

Resistence is the most beautiful song matt has ever written, it is so lovely. for me it also represents my believe that love conquers all:love:

undisclosed desires a really wonderful cheesy muse song. i love it and has the best muse lyrics(for me atleast)

United States of Eurasia i hated this song when i heard it for the first time but when i bought the album i really fell in love with it,

and this video really helped

Guiding Light i have mixed opinion on this song and somedays i love it and there are days i feel killing them for writing a rubbish song:\

Unnatural Selection and Mk ultra these songs are the best and are really good rock songs:cool:

I Belong to You (+Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix) i love this cheesy song, it is soooo CHEESY and CUTE. i just love it, i thought this would be their cheesiest song and then they wrote NSC:sad2:

Exogenesis: Symphony 1,2 and 3 i like that matt at last used his classical influences on a album:love:

and i somehow alway think of this 3 part symphony being abt confusion and how we humans hate eachother but we know we can survive without eachother either.

and the last part redemption always makes me cry:bigcry:.

in this album at last Matt knows how to over come the political,social and emotional problems and i think he realized if you have love in ur life everything becomes better

 

Thanks! I'm Christina. :wacko:

 

I love your descriptions as well, especially the part I bolded! :lol:

 

I thought I was the only one that like Undisclosed Desires, seems I'm not! :awesome:

 

Ah...and here we are today with The Resistance, the album which both helped break Muse out into the mainstream beyond just Europe and divided the core fanbase in the process. That's not to say this album can't rock when it wants to. It just doesn't want to enough. Likewise, it's slipped down into the slot of my least favorite Muse album (originally I had it equal to BH&R), but it still gets plenty of playtime from me and lots of sing-alongs in the car.

 

I think it's a solid yet inconsistent album. I probably like the latter 6 tracks more than I like any of the first 5 tracks on the album. It starts off which a series of pop-rock songs (Uprising is a proper anthem that appeals to basically everyone, while Resistance is decent too), then delves into some lesser tracks that are either over-produced (Undisclosed Desires), over-the-top ridiculous (United States of Eurasia), or just cheesy pieces of garbage (Guiding Light).

 

Fortunately, all becomes right again with Unnatural Selection, which is a candidate for my favorite of the album and is a legitimate rocker both on record and live. MK Ultra continues the trend, and I Belong to You - while quirky and odd - is too charming not to love. And Exogenesis is beautiful through and through, meant to be listened as a whole rather than piece-by-piece.

 

This is the first tour I got to see the band live on (3 times in total) and I can't wait to see them again for LP6. Let it also be known that Undisclosed Desires is the only Muse song that works a lot better on record than it does live (seriously, it's a snoozer live). USoE, on the other hand, works much better live.

 

And thanks for the write-up! :thumbsup:

 

No problem! :awesome:

 

And I know exactly what you mean with the inconstancy of the album, it flows from song to song, yet the songs are all so unique it must have been hard for them to piece it together. :thinking:

 

Great post Christina! :awesome:

 

When The Resistance came out, I couldn't stop listening to it. It did take a while for some songs to grow on me such as Undisclosed Desires and I Belong To You. But I think it is a great album even though it is my least favourite of theirs.

 

My top 3 songs are MK Ultra, USoE and Exogenesis (it's is a masterpiece). :heart:

 

I remember when I first saw Muse, it was a couple of weeks before The Resistance came out, and they played Resistance, Uprising, Undisclosed Desires and United States of Eurasia (Matt messed up Collateral Damage :lol:) it was really strange going to see my favourite band and not knowing the lyrics or the songs. :lol:

 

Thanks! :wacky:

 

That must have been odd! :lol: At least you got a taste of the upcoming album though. :P

 

It's funny, because it seems to me like most songs on this album have pairs. Like songs they go with. :thinking:

 

Uprising and Resistance

Unnatural Selection and MK Ultra

Exogenesis Symphony

Undisclosed Desires and I Belong To You

 

And then Guiding Light and USoE all by themselves. :lol:

i agree with everyone who said the resistance is not their best album! Uprising is a great opener, i love undisclosed desires and the resistance:love: but i have mixed feelings towards USoU, sometimes i think it's too much and others it reminds me of muse's earleir stuff and love it, i don't really like guiding light but it gets stuck in my head sometimes, unnatural selection is my favorite off that album:heart:, MK ultar is really good, i didn't like i belong to you at first but it grew on me, and Exogenesis Symphony is phenomenal, their best work imo, i always listen to all 3 parts together and tear up during redemption:wacky:

great post Christina:nice:

Thank for that awesome post! :nice:

 

I really love this album :D It's easier to say the songs I like the least :lol: I don't really like Guiding Light and I Belong To You :\ but the other songs are just amazing!

 

Who can resist not to "punch" the air during Uprising live? :awesome: And Undisclosed Desires was the first song I knew all the lyrics...And Unnutural Selection and Mk Ultra which I just start jumping in my room like crazy every time I listen to them! And those 3 ending brilliant symphonies?? Imo, It's a very good album...Although I like BH&R a lot, I think I prefer this one :)

i think most ppl hate their attempt at poppy songs(undisclosed and IBTY )

It's pretty poor :\ Uprising is great and I have a thing for I Belong To You :disappointed:

The Exogenesis Symphony's pretty neat as well.

^^ I think they are only trying new stuff and I respect them a lot for that! :) Their albums are all very different, just compare this one with Showbiz, it's like from two completely different bands!

:curtain:

 

I'm sorry that Muse Week is happening at a rather stressful time for me but I'll read all your posts later. :disappointed:

 

Wish I could participate more!

All threads have the tag "museweek" btw, so if anyone of you wants to find the threads again, just click on "search" on the bar where New Posts button etc is and select "tag search", you'll find them all listed there. :nice:

Or just use the regular "search thread titles only" - search. :)

 

:escaping3:

The Resistance, it's Museweek's Monday.