THE RESISTANCE

As you might have known through my reviews on Muse so far, I am actually not into the kind of its music even though it does not mean I don't like it. It's just a matter of longevity ... a test by which until how long I can keep the music in the future. The longevity tests that I have made for albums like Yes 'Relayer', Genesis 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway', King Crimson 'In the Court of Crimson King', ELP 'Tarkus', Gentle Giant 'The Power and The Glory' and many other legendary albums have succeeded in fact more than thirty (30) years and I still can enjoy them with no boringness at all. But I don't know with Muse, really. But, to say that the music is a mundane one, I don't think it's a wise standpoint, in my view. That's why when I got this UK pressing CD that was given to me by my sister Didy last week when she returned back from UK, I kept thinking how long can I survive listening the kind of music like this. I know that Muse is now a BIG thing in rock music industry where their albums as well as concerts were attended by thousands crowd. So I admire them on this.

As I am a prog reviewer, I have tried my best to view this album from a musical composition using five dimensions: melody, harmonies, complexities, change of style and structural integrity. This album ranks quite high on melody and harmonies, as well as structural integrity. I don't think you would challenge me on this because all songs contained here are basically melodious in nature. And I salute Muse on this skill. The harmonies resulting from the interaction among instruments, programming as well as vocals are also excellent. While the album moves the music in similar style from start to end with various melodies among songs, the album seems like cohesive as a whole. Therefore the album passes the test on structural integrity. The album scores medium on changes of style between one segment to another as some songs have good changes of style with smooth transition like 'Unnatural Selection'.

For some reason I enjoy this album very much despite there is very little complexity with the composition, but I enjoy it ...Well, sometime I need something easy and upbeat like this one. The opening track 'Uprising' is a simple composition with great grooves and interesting lyrics. The power of the album is basically on the solid message they convey to the world on various issues. The title track is also a nice composition. On 'United States of Eurasia' I can sense a heavy influence from Queen and eastern music. The melody on the eastern music is really nice and innovative. It's an excellent track and one of my favorites. Another fave is 'Unnatural Selection' which basically an excellent rocker with sudden change into an ambient bluesy styles in the middle of the track. It's really nice. 'MK Ultra' is also an excellent composition especially on combining guitar and keyboard, moving the vocal in energetic way with some musical riffs. The album contains an epic on 'Exogenesis' that comprises three movements with heavy influence of classical music.

Overall, it's hard to deny that this is an excellent album from Muse. Keep on proggin' ..!!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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