The Elephant in the Room: The Resistance isn't that good

[tuftman]

Muse isn't progressive rock.

 

[/fail]

 

Without going to Wikipedia, or Musewiki or anything like that, what are they??

[irrelephant]

After hearing the previews I'm still expecting the album to be brilliant, hard to judge from 30 second previews but the tracks sound interesting and varied, Undisclosed Desires and Unnatural Selection sound like potential highlights to me.

[Novus Dies]

I'm really interested in hearing other Muse fans' input here.

 

I should start by saying I'm a big fan of Origin of Symmetry with Absolution at a close second, so Muse's epic songs and hard-rock jams are all very close to my heart. While of course it's too early to thoroughly judge the album, the previews iTunes now has to offer have given me grave concern that the band is headed in a direction completely opposite that of the OoS and Absolution days.

 

When "United States of Eurasia" was released, I was satisfied with the song's grandeur and thundering harmonic minor runs. "Uprising," however, raised a flag. The originality and authentic Muse-ness felt absent, replaced by a baseline that was a cross between Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" and Battles' "Atlas." The synth melody felt like a weaker version of Billy Idol's "White Wedding," and the minimal guitar felt thrown in, a mere appeal to the rock and roll spirit that attracted fans like me in the first place. To be quite frank, the song felt empty, and entirely absent the heart and soul that the band seems to put into every song they release.

 

"But that single is just a glimpse at the album," I told myself, "it's probably going to function like Starlight did in BHAR, as a device to draw in a wider consumer base." That was the rationalization I put into place, though I had a knawing at the back of my head at even a comparison to the album that I felt was a step in the wrong direction. Regardless, I held out hope, knowing (praying) that Muse would deliver. Then the iTunes samples came online.

 

I don't believe I'm the first to say it, but I want to start a discourse on it among Muse fans: The Resistance isn't that good. From the 30 second samples, I drew a small list of grievances, after of course I had wiped the tears from my face:

Where did the distortion from Chris's bass go?

Why all the keyboard synth? What was wrong with piano?

Where did the classical influences disappear to?

Where is the fuzz factory, the rocking Manson sound? Where is the GUITAR for that matter?

What is with this disco vibe?

What is with this electronica vibe?

Why has the political dissent encouragement in the lyrics been turned up to 11?

And finally, WHERE IS THE MUSE I HAVE GROWN TO LOVE?

 

Not here, I say. Not here. I will buy the Exogenesis Symphony, and that is probably all. Please let me know what you think.

 

You have a big long opinion on teh albumz?

 

WOW!

[Clunge]

Disliking an album you haven't yet heard?

 

Fail. Fail hard.

[Juuso]

Without going to Wikipedia, or Musewiki or anything like that, what are they??

I'd say they sail between rock and pop-rock. One could say they're "alternative" rock too.

[Boris]

Where did the distortion from Chris's bass go?

It's still distorted but the album's production is different so of course it sounds different. Still bad-ass though.

 

Why all the keyboard synth? What was wrong with piano?

1. Synths are cool.

2. Nothings wrong with piano - in fact there's a lot of piano in this album. I'm not sure what you're talking about to be honest.

 

Where did the classical influences disappear to?

........huh?........um....nowhere....they negatively disappeared - meaning they are more prominent than ever.

 

Where is the fuzz factory, the rocking Manson sound? Where is the GUITAR for that matter?

All over the place. Watch the Uprising making-of video...it's got TWO guitars...ZING!

 

What is with this disco vibe?

It's sexy and makes girls dance.

 

What is with this electronica vibe?

It's interesting and makes people scream out loud: "I'm totally digging this electronica vibe"

 

Why has the political dissent encouragement in the lyrics been turned up to 11?

Do you know who Mathew Bellamy is?

 

And finally, WHERE IS THE MUSE I HAVE GROWN TO LOVE?

....Burger King?... I don't know....I'm not stalking them.

[Furygirl]

Without going to Wikipedia, or Musewiki or anything like that, what are they??

 

Pwoper fuckin' rock 'n' roll.

[Victoroy]

Another OoS junkie =\

[Krnflakgrl]

I agree with everyone saying to wait for the full release. 30 sec clips tend to give bad first impressions. I'm not sure how they pick the clips but it's rarely, if ever, representative of the work as a whole. I REALLY think that we should wait and listen to it in its entirety before judging it. Even though the single songs are good too...they really can't be judged out of the context of the whole release-the way it was meant to be heard.

 

I "almost" didn't even listen to the clips because of this. And as for the progressive vibe..I was totally expecting it...I'm more excited than ever.

[Sventington]

I've only heard the two full length songs they've allowed out. I didn't really have high expectations for them after Black Holes and Revelations, so I'm not expecting much from this album. We'll see.

[Sir Quinton]

Muse isn't progressive rock.

 

[/fail]

 

Word. There's nowt progressive about sounding 40 years too late either (going off the two tracks I've heard).

 

Is there any way of hearing the clips without getting I-tunes or is that dodge city?

[SoulDrift]

Im all for change, but I guess what I'm trying to say is so far exogenesis dumps on the others (and you can it expect it to be MORE progressive than the others too), why make a 3part rock symphony then take the remaining 8 songs in the completely opposite direction?

Classical influenced rock is emotional, moving & motivational music, and muse do it well... The album had so much potential with the classical rock direction, but so far has seemed to work completely against that...

 

P.s. People who keep saying stop complaining and go listen to Oos or abs, stop being daft. People should offer their opinion on a bands music and musical direction whether good, bad or neutral. Forums are to discuss things.

 

Listen to the samples and pretend its the first time youve ever heard muse. I wouldn't be blown away... I think this album will struggle to be better than blackholes

 

Agreed. And I will continue to listen to OoS and Absolution, but if this album peters out the way the samples suggest, i won't be an apologist like I was during BHAR. (that was their 'going pop to reach the charts'..now it's 'gone pop because that's what they like now' which are 2 different things)

 

I hope I'm convinced when i hear the songs in full, or final mixes, or what have you..

[BOOOOONUS PAAAAANTS]

Well I'm glad that at the very least this is generating conversation, though it seems that I'm a part of a minority in my views on the new album.

 

I think a lot of you raise valid points; to be fair, it was like 1 in the morning when I wrote the post. Still though, I want to address some things:

 

First I did mention in my original post that it was too soon to legitimately judge the album, but regardless I certainly see what many of you have said about Muse songs within themselves going in very different directions. It is true that a 30-second clip of a Muse song can be disingenuous; I think someone gave the very good example of New Born. I'll conceed that.

 

As to the whole "Progressive Rock" argument, I think some of you are a little confused as to what progressive is referring to. The point of progressive rock is to introduce an audience to new styles and sounds; it is not simply a progression through time. If the latter was the case, EVERY BAND would be "progressive," because EVERY BAND changes its sound over time (or if they don't, they are not an exciting band). That progressive rock sound is WHY I fell in love with Muse in the first place--the use of the Whammy Pedal and Kaoss pad, Matt's falsetto, the harmonic minor scale and changing modes, the rock piano, etc. I fear they've lost this vibe after hearing "Uprising." As I mentioned, it reminds me of so many other songs; it doesn't feel so original, so Muse-y. Again I'll admit it's too early to judge the entire album, but the clips do nothing to change my opinion on that.

 

As to people questioning my taste, I would say that I'm as entitled to dislike the synth and like piano as you are to feel the opposite. I promise you, it doesn't make me narrow-minded to dislike the sound of the synth they're using. I'm pretty sure anyway.

 

As to my "list of grievances," I'll admit some of these actually hold no water. Again, it was late at night. In particular, of course there's a classical influence, between "United States of Eurasia" and the Exogenesis Symphony, and to ask for more is silly. And of course the lyrics have that vibe, it is Muse, etc. My bad on that one too. I think I'll stick by the rest though. Again, it's a matter of taste; it's OKAY that I don't like the electronica/"funky" vibe they're going with. It's also okay for you to like it, but please don't berate me for my opinion.

 

Keep discussing this though.

 

Oh and please stop telling me to go listen to Absolution and Origin of Symmetry. I'm already doing that.

 

Plus Unnatural Selection and MK Ultra sound like they could be pretty good.

[Juuso]

Word. There's nowt progressive about sounding 40 years too late either (going off the two tracks I've heard).

 

Is there any way of hearing the clips without getting I-tunes or is that dodge city?

[Hopix]

Without going to Wikipedia, or Musewiki or anything like that, what are they??

 

Their stuff like Prog, Alternative, Nu prog rock.

[Sventington]

Well, I gave the previews a listen. 2 or 3 of them sound good! Beyond that though...

[Sir Quinton]

 

Nice one cheers. Blimey, a lot, lot better than I expected, as expecting another snorefest of Stadium Rock. Liking the Disco vibe they've got going on in a few of the numbers, vocals workperfectly with it, which is a big suprise. Can't imagine them standing up to the likes of Gino Soccio, Dinosaur L, Cosmo Vitelli et al in full though.

 

First Impressions:

 

 

Uprising

Dire cheese fest

Resistance

Cool little beat

Undisclosed Desires

Muse actually sounding vaguely cool? Strange. Sounds a bit Playskool Dubstep but the vocals sound pretty fucking awesome despite the lyrics. The chorus is a rip off of an Annie Lennox song though, not sure which one.

USoE

The worst song I've ever heard in my life and it gets worse with every listen. Painful.

Guiding Light

Mundane Shite

Unnatural Selection

Queen rip off.

MK Ultra

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

I Belong to You

Nice beats and vocals at the start, goes downhill at the end though.

Exo Genesis

Got a feeling this will turn out to be a proper beast.

 

 

[Dunlop Volleys]

You can't POSSIBLY judge anything from 30 second snippets.

 

It's like when I go to show a mate a song and they check it out on iTunes with only the 30 second preview and you think 'well thats not really the full feeling of the song...'

 

Would be like me showing someone 20% of a picture to someone - just not the same.

[assasin124]

I'm really interested in hearing other Muse fans' input here.

 

I should start by saying I'm a big fan of Origin of Symmetry with Absolution at a close second, so Muse's epic songs and hard-rock jams are all very close to my heart. While of course it's too early to thoroughly judge the album, the previews iTunes now has to offer have given me grave concern that the band is headed in a direction completely opposite that of the OoS and Absolution days.

 

When "United States of Eurasia" was released, I was satisfied with the song's grandeur and thundering harmonic minor runs. "Uprising," however, raised a flag. The originality and authentic Muse-ness felt absent, replaced by a baseline that was a cross between Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" and Battles' "Atlas." The synth melody felt like a weaker version of Billy Idol's "White Wedding," and the minimal guitar felt thrown in, a mere appeal to the rock and roll spirit that attracted fans like me in the first place. To be quite frank, the song felt empty, and entirely absent the heart and soul that the band seems to put into every song they release.

 

"But that single is just a glimpse at the album," I told myself, "it's probably going to function like Starlight did in BHAR, as a device to draw in a wider consumer base." That was the rationalization I put into place, though I had a knawing at the back of my head at even a comparison to the album that I felt was a step in the wrong direction. Regardless, I held out hope, knowing (praying) that Muse would deliver. Then the iTunes samples came online.

 

I don't believe I'm the first to say it, but I want to start a discourse on it among Muse fans: The Resistance isn't that good. From the 30 second samples, I drew a small list of grievances, after of course I had wiped the tears from my face:

Where did the distortion from Chris's bass go?

Why all the keyboard synth? What was wrong with piano?

Where did the classical influences disappear to?

Where is the fuzz factory, the rocking Manson sound? Where is the GUITAR for that matter?

What is with this disco vibe?

What is with this electronica vibe?

Why has the political dissent encouragement in the lyrics been turned up to 11?

And finally, WHERE IS THE MUSE I HAVE GROWN TO LOVE?

 

Not here, I say. Not here. I will buy the Exogenesis Symphony, and that is probably all. Please let me know what you think.

 

times change.bands evolve.muse are very progessive.progessive means trying new things when it comes to music,new styles,experimenting and never doing the same thing twice.origin of symmetry is a brilliant album but that was then this is now.also dont judge an album on 30 second clips

[Dunlop Volleys]

times change.bands evolve.muse are very progessive.progessive means trying new things when it comes to music,new styles,experimenting and never doing the same thing twice.origin of symmetry is a brilliant album but that was then this is now.also dont judge an album on 30 second clips

Well put.

 

This album will be epic when heard in its entirety. [/blind muse faith]

[BOOOOONUS PAAAAANTS]

times change.bands evolve.muse are very progessive.progessive means trying new things when it comes to music,new styles,experimenting and never doing the same thing twice.origin of symmetry is a brilliant album but that was then this is now.also dont judge an album on 30 second clips

You missed my second post.

[Raiko]

I don't see why some people seem bothered by fans posting comments about their disapointments with the new album. It's such a departure from the old Muse already that it's not going to please everyone. On top of that, this album seems to be the most varied of the lot and so the album itself isn't likely to be the most popular album amongst fans anyways.

 

At the end of the day, every Muse fan is different. We're each fans of the band for different reasons. Those 30-second clips tell you a lot about how the album is going to sound and you can tell straight away whether or not the album is going to take your fancy. To those who are saying you can't judge a song by a 30 second clip, that's not whats going on here. People aren't necessarily saying a particular song is rubbish. It's just from the collection of clips they're not impressed with how the new album is shaping up.

 

If you could listen to 30 second clips of all the tracks from Origin of Symmetry, Absolution or BH&R you'd get a damn good impression of what those albums were going to be like, even if you couldn't judge particular tracks.

 

Saying that though, i'm personally still looking forward to this album. I much prefer BH&R to Absolution and The Resistance seems to be a jump further in that same direction. I can just appreciate that those who weren't big fans of BH&R are unlikely to enjoy much of The Resistance at all.

[Natalia]

I'm really interested in hearing other Muse fans' input here.

 

I should start by saying I'm a big fan of Origin of Symmetry with Absolution at a close second, so Muse's epic songs and hard-rock jams are all very close to my heart. While of course it's too early to thoroughly judge the album, the previews iTunes now has to offer have given me grave concern that the band is headed in a direction completely opposite that of the OoS and Absolution days.

 

When "United States of Eurasia" was released, I was satisfied with the song's grandeur and thundering harmonic minor runs. "Uprising," however, raised a flag. The originality and authentic Muse-ness felt absent, replaced by a baseline that was a cross between Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" and Battles' "Atlas." The synth melody felt like a weaker version of Billy Idol's "White Wedding," and the minimal guitar felt thrown in, a mere appeal to the rock and roll spirit that attracted fans like me in the first place. To be quite frank, the song felt empty, and entirely absent the heart and soul that the band seems to put into every song they release.

 

"But that single is just a glimpse at the album," I told myself, "it's probably going to function like Starlight did in BHAR, as a device to draw in a wider consumer base." That was the rationalization I put into place, though I had a knawing at the back of my head at even a comparison to the album that I felt was a step in the wrong direction. Regardless, I held out hope, knowing (praying) that Muse would deliver. Then the iTunes samples came online.

 

I don't believe I'm the first to say it, but I want to start a discourse on it among Muse fans: The Resistance isn't that good. From the 30 second samples, I drew a small list of grievances, after of course I had wiped the tears from my face:

Where did the distortion from Chris's bass go?

Why all the keyboard synth? What was wrong with piano?

Where did the classical influences disappear to?

Where is the fuzz factory, the rocking Manson sound? Where is the GUITAR for that matter?

What is with this disco vibe?

What is with this electronica vibe?

Why has the political dissent encouragement in the lyrics been turned up to 11?

And finally, WHERE IS THE MUSE I HAVE GROWN TO LOVE?

 

Not here, I say. Not here. I will buy the Exogenesis Symphony, and that is probably all. Please let me know what you think.

I too am a fan of OoS and Absolution, those 2 albums are at the core of what I love about Muse.

 

BHaR eventually grew on me... Assassin, City of Delusion, KoC sound like they wouldn't be out of place on Absolution.

 

As far as the new album goes, so far I have heard nothing that resembles Citizen Erased (my fave song), but it doesn't mean that it isn't there.

 

There is one thing I always do with Muse, more so than with any other band -- I keep my mind open for whatever they come up with. There is something unexplainable about the way they approach music, -- maybe it's their lack of fear of going too far (over the top), and I admire the band for that.

 

There is a reason all of us are here, on this messageboard, talking about Muse; perhaps their music means something to us, who knows?

 

If we didn't care, would we be here reading this?

 

And even if I end up hating The Resistance my love/admiration for the band and their genius will not grow any less.

[benhs1898]

I for one am worried about this album, but what people are forgetting to do is worry about THIS ALBUM. I am not worried about the band. If this ALBUM goes wrong, it simply speaks for the fact that it is the band's first time recording with the freedom of self-production. As far as I know, the band isn't dead, disbanded, or giving us the finger and going acoustic. They are living, growing, and CHANGING. I hope some of you will join me in bending and growing with their tunes as well, even if we do have to ignore a couple songs in between.

[Adreneline]

They are good, but not the greatest.

 

I am considering canceling the box set I pre-ordered and just ordering the CD/DVD combo.

 

A bit disappointed.