By: Cameron Coats  

               After their breakthrough album in 2006, Black Holes and Revelations, alternative rock group Muse had big expectations to fill.  Their newest album, The Resistance, seems to fall short of the high standards of the last though.  The Resistance is filled with echoing songs reminding listeners of harmonic groups from days gone by.  After sitting down and listening to the album, I realized there was really not to much to report on each individual song because there is one fatal flaw in this album: all the songs sound too similar.  After listening to the first single off the album, “Uprising”, I began to think that Muse had been able to channel the sound of Black Holes.  “Uprising” is a stadium rock song that gets the listener singing along, energetic, and ready for the rest of the album.  The second track is arguably the best song off the album, the title track “Resistance”.  “Resistance’s” main drawing point is a catchy chorus led by singer Matthew Bellamy and Christopher Wolstenholme along with their guitar and bass.  Next up, “United States of Eurasia” sounds like a track that could have been recorded by the group Queen with its ghostly harmonies and piano.  The most pop-like song on the album would have to be the laid-back “Guiding Light” with its light guitar strains.  “Unnatural Selection” feels like a toned down version of “Uprising” that isn’t quite as stadium friendly.  “Undisclosed Desires” and “MK Ultra” have good, slightly unusual, beats thanks to Dominic Howard’s guidance on the drums.  “I Belong to You” is also another song led by Bellamy on piano.  The album ends with the three part Exogenesis Symphony, Part One: Overture, Part Two: Cross-pollination, and Part Three: Redemption.  Doused with piano, all the songs off this album give off a sense of captivity with lyrics of oppression and revolution.  The main problem with the album is that every song just sounds the same, and while the album flows together, it gets dull after awhile with no real variety on the album.  The final word on The Resistance is that it is overall a forgettable album with a few bright spots that just tried too hard to repeat the big hits off of Black Holes and Revelations.