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

BOOOOONUS PAAAAANTS

By BOOOOONUS PAAAAANTS
in Songs & Releases

Do you not like The Resistance?  

488 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you not like The Resistance?


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Hopix Hysteric

Hopix

Posted
Posted
Uprising - still love it, even more so now it's become monstrous live.

 

Resistance - never had massive beef with this song, the atmospheric intro and outro are a really nice touch, the verse, chorus, bridge and piano hook are excellent, though the pre-chorus does grate on me a tad these days.

 

Undisclosed Desires - a really welcome bit of experimentation from Muse with different styles that actually works incredibly well. I'm glad they didn't dwell on any of the sections of the song and draw it out, the way the second verse bounces straight-off after the chorus was an important decision when structuring it. I'm not fussed about it live though, it's too weak and doesn't fit well in the set.

 

United States Of Eurasia - again, I still love USoE. It's just a classic, OTT Musey piano song.

 

Guiding Light - Zzzzzzz, :vomit:. Never again please.

 

Unnatural Selection - a fair standard, uptempo, Muse-by-numbers rock track. Good riff, good vocals, good outro. The middle-section is what makes it though. Like Uprising, it's become monolithic live.

 

MK Ultra - the best song from The Resistance. Fast, skittery, edgy and heavy with an electronic/synthetic tinge to it, the direction in which I'd personally like to see Muse pursue.

 

I Belong To You - fast becoming my joint-favourite on The Resistance. It feels sow Showbizzy and honest, and I adore the French part despite Matt's horrendous pronounciation :LOL:. It feels so relaxed, jazzy and musical-esque, very theatrical. Also, I'm getting slightly irritated by those dismissing it as poppy or silly - it's a far far far more clever, sharp, witty and classy slice of pop than Muse have produced in ages, particularly when you compare it with Supermassive Black Hole, Invincible, Starlight, Uprising, Hysteria, etc.

 

Exogenesis - fairly standard Muse-come-classical. Excellent string-work, guitar work, glorious soaring vocals. I can't fault it, apart from it being spilt into three sections and being billed as a symphony. They should simply have put it on as one 13-minute track.

 

Uprising - 8/10

Resistance 7/10

Undisclosed Desires - 6.5/10

United States Of Eurasia - 7.5/10

Guiding Light - 2/10

Unnatural Selection - 8/10

MK Ultra - 9.5/10

I Belong To You - 9/10

Exogenesis - 9.5/10

 

= 7.44/10. Excellent stuff.

 

 

As usual Clunge. I completely agree. :)

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OneWhoGoes Escapee

OneWhoGoes

Posted
Posted

Uprising: 8 (good dark sounding voice)

Resistance: 2 (just crappy teeny stuff, the chorus in embarrasing)

Undisclosed Desires: 6 (strangely it's not bad)

United States of Eurasia: 1 (embarrasing to listen at, a non-sense shuffle of generic bits of different styles. I thought it was a joke when I first heard it)

Guiding Light: 7 (good ballad)

Unnatural Selection: 5 (New Born / Citizen Erased shuffle into a B-B-side-like song. And B-Sides are not in albums)

MK Ultra: 6 (Completely generic ending riff and awful structure, the main riff is good though)

I Belong To You: 1 (what the hell was that)

Exogenesis I: 9 (the best song of the album, mix of a dark ambient, falsetto, classical music and heavily distorted guitars, what Muse should be like)

Exogenesis II: 6 (a dissapointment after the first part, and not nearly as good)

Exogenesis III: 7 (after the long instrumental intro the voice doesn't fit, it's like someone completely preparing you to sleep, in a good way, and suddently waking you just to immediatlely going to sleep again, it makes no sense).

 

All in all: an extreme dissapointment.

 

Edit:

 

Neutron Fucking Star Collision (Love is Forever): Does negative rating exist?

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Novus Dies Escapee

Novus Dies

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I think Unnatural Selection is let down by it's similarity to New Born, a far better song. IMO. Plus Muse have used that song structure so many times, was very predictable when I first heard it.

 

MK Ultra I think is let down by it's failure to really kick in the chorus, everything around the choruses is what makes it.....just needed something else in there for me production wise, arrangement wise and musically.

 

The end riff, pretty neat stuff, would have been better if they just went way OTT at the end too with a real bowel breaker riff.

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spark_ Escapee

spark_

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Posted
I keep hearing about Unnatural Selection sounding like New Born, but I just can't hear their similarities.

 

Also, USoE is an absolute beast live.

Really? I've gotten the riffs mixed up in my head many times, I just hum it and then go "wait... is this New Born, or Unnatural Selection?". It's the first 3 seconds of the main riff which is almost identical.

 

Even now, as I think of it, I've gotten the New Born riff stuck in there again :facepalm:

 

---

 

Ratings...

 

Uprising: 6. It's OK, I feel. The second verse just feels a bit dry to me, I don't especially like the guitar line through there. I also don't like how they dropped off the drums slightly. The start is nice, the last chorus is good, ending is good. An OK song, as I said.

 

Resistance: 7.5 Could have been so much more if they had worked a bit harder on the "could be wrong" bit and made the chorus a bit more, erm... original? I don't know. An obvious major key change, still nice. Good song to just listen to but not really one to get overly excited about.

 

Undisclosed Desires: 7 - An interesting idea, I got really excited at first - minimalistic electronic drumbeat, slap bass, synth-strings. Lyrics, however, are a slight let down. Singing in the chorus doesn't really do justice to the song either, not as pure as I'd hope it would be.

 

United States of Eurasia: 8.5 - I think, personally, that's it's brilliant. I like that it doesn't take itself at all seriously. I like that he shamelessly quotes from Chopin for his harmonies because they are outstanding harmonies (cf. the repeated four-chord progression through "must we do as we told", and again "united states") and above all, and unlike others who quote classical music, he has the skill to pull it off. The Queen bit is a bit strange, yes. The Phrygian mode bit is just epic, though. I do like a lot how they're exploring chromatics a lot more in this album. The Nocturne, doesn't work 100% but he plays it really nicely, and shortens without simplifying so as to keep the harmonies - in fact, by adding a bit of strings, he makes them better. But above all, it's a killer live - the drums on the last bit, anyone? I like this song.

 

Guiding Light: 3 - Yeah. Lyrically poor, slow, dreary and kinda dry. Usually I don't mind slow songs but this wasn't meant to be a slow song, this was meant to be an inspiring, over-the-top, anthemic song. Sorry boys, didn't work.

 

Unnatural Selection: 6 - First off... New Born was better. My main issue with it is the rather simplistic drumline, which kinda just plods along. This song needs to be a bit quicker, a bit more energetic (I talk about the studio version, of course) and should have used just a little bit more distortion.

 

MK Ultra - 8: Best out-and-out rock song on the album. This is how you incorporate synthesisers into rock music. By blurring the line between the synth and the guitar. It has a couple of great riffs, big buildups, arpeggios. Lyrically it's pretty good, too, probably the best on the album-proper. Great song. (Just out of interest - I wonder if an orchestra would be capable of playing the pure-synthstring line that comes in after the chorus, and how it would sound. Don't know if it's possible, it's a really quick line)

 

I Belong To You - 7.5: I like this song more than I should. Lyrically, musically etc. it doesn't make much sense at all. But it just has this quirky, bouncy quality, and is such a naturally energetic song that you can't help but be taken in by it (you just have to gloss over certain bits). There is some really nice piano work as well.

 

That, I feel, is the album-proper, which I'd give a 7.5. Exogenesis, I feel, is it's own bit, being so different and self-contained. As a whole piece, I'd give it a 9.

 

Part 1 - 9.5. Beautiful. Brilliant. From the first, quivering string note, rising gradually, to when the bass-heavy big strings (cellos?) come in, and then the broken chord buildup, with the bass and drums slowly coming in, up to the vocal entry... which contains the most pure singing I've ever heard from Matt. The guitar solo is great, and it just becomes a wonderful soundscape by the conclusion, of string layers, bass, guitar and distortion. Lots and lots of distortion. Muse in top form.

 

Part 2 - 9: Also in top form. I cannot help but be absolutely blown away by that initial chord opening, starting off slowly, then you hear the octaves going down, and down, building up, and up, and up, until you have this massive string-backed cascade of noise just coming up. I said that Muse should do more chromatic work... this is why. The only reason this gets a lower rating than Part 1 is because I don't think the transition from the piano section to the vocals is executed as well as it could be, too big a jump.

 

Part 3 - 7.5: Yeah, I know. I just feel the beginning, though it's really quite beautiful, is too long. Takes too long to get going, I kinda get lost, and forget there's still a vocal section to come. I don't know how he could have made it shorter, given where the melody is taken from, and where the structure is taken from, but I just feel it's too long. Still. Excellent way to end some of their finest work yet.

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Minimal Escapee

Minimal

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Posted
Really? I've gotten the riffs mixed up in my head many times, I just hum it and then go "wait... is this New Born, or Unnatural Selection?". It's the first 3 seconds of the main riff which is almost identical.

 

Even now, as I think of it, I've gotten the New Born riff stuck in there again :facepalm:

 

:D

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musse Escapee

musse

Posted
Posted

the poll is quite tricky.. hahahaha

I really love The Resistance, especially because it is a 100% Muse product since they've produced it themselves.

I think the main problem is that people keeps thinking on the first albums as the best of MUSE and they aren't willing to accept new ideas.

It may not be perfect, but this is what MUSE is now and this is what they want to be playing and they do it absolutely well, there's no best live band out there.

Music is a very personal thing, there are songs that you don't like, but then something changes and you may be interested on it later on..

I guess supporting them on whatever they do is part of being a fan... they've got me!

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Minimal Escapee

Minimal

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Unnatural Selection: 6 - My main issue with it is the rather simplistic drumline, which kinda just plods along. This song needs to be a bit quicker, a bit more energetic (I talk about the studio version, of course) and should have used just a little bit more distortion.

 

Won't that make it a New Born?

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5clone Escapee

5clone

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Well they've always used keyboard synths since Origin, there is distorted bass in uprising the guitar is in all but two tracks I could go on but now my opinion. I do like the album but for a muse album it's probably the worst which is why I voted not really, I'm sort of mixed in my opinion.

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Railroad Escapee

Railroad

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Posted
the poll is quite tricky.. hahahaha

I really love The Resistance, especially because it is a 100% Muse product since they've produced it themselves.

I think the main problem is that people keeps thinking on the first albums as the best of MUSE and they aren't willing to accept new ideas.

It may not be perfect, but this is what MUSE is now and this is what they want to be playing and they do it absolutely well, there's no best live band out there.

Music is a very personal thing, there are songs that you don't like, but then something changes and you may be interested on it later on..

I guess supporting them on whatever they do is part of being a fan... they've got me!

 

AMEN to your entire post. :) (Including the part about the poll being tricky--I hope the "Not at All" option means that you actually like the album.)

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