It's canny: Leading the uncommitted down a drum machine paved path of catchy 1980s revivalism and straight into the path of an army of kids straddling the gap between entry-level classical and "Headbanger's Ball".Īnd "army" is right: Unity in the face of faceless post-industrial society grinding down beautiful stuff like love and friendship is perhaps Muse's great theme. Only then does The Resistance shift into the sort of fist-pumping, kitchen-sink prog you were probably expecting. It then segues into a middle section of hard (but not too hard) rock, nodding in the direction of grottier bands like Queens of the Stone Age or System of a Down without stripping away the sparkle. it opens with the most "pop" sequence of the band's career, a three-song sequence aping the stadium-grade synth-rock of Depeche Mode at their crossover height. Jumped ship yet?įor the wary or outright dismissive, however, The Resistance is also a very smartly sequenced album. It's the kind of all-caps, no half-stepping ART-ROCK that closes with a three-part mini-epic so shameless about its own classic rock bigness that it's billed as a "Symphony", complete with "Overture". If the The Resistance is "about" anything, aside from the conceptual malarkey encoded in the lyrics, it's about mastery, ego-security, etc. Throughout The Resistance, frontman Matt Bellamy is ready and willing to foreground his chops, be it tickling the ivories, hopping octaves, or tossing out increasingly tasteful solos. Called The Resistance, it appeared another experimental effort and one more step taken by the musicians towards perfection.By contrast, you never get the sense that Muse are anything less than in total control of their "difficult" music at all times. A new studio record by the British band arrived in the mid 2009. In March 2008, Muse issued a wonderful live full-length H.A.A.R.P., recorded during their powerful performances in London on the Wembley stadium. The live edition Live From Abbey Road was released the same year. This work gave a handfull of energetic hits - hard Supermassive Black Hole, surprisingly melodic Map Of Problematique, soft Starlight and historical Knights Of Cydonia. Their album of 2006, Black Holes & Revelations, became the real breakthrough in the world of alternative music. Soon after it they received the BRIT award. Despite of this fact, the musicians went on the Absolution support tour. Unluckily, Dominic Howard's father died the same evening of a heart attack. In July 2004, Muse gave an excellent performance at the Glastonbury festival. It was represented by such powerful and thoughtful singles as Time Is Running Out, Hysteria, Sing for Absolution, Stockholm Syndrome and Butterflies And Hurricanes. The work was devoted to such themes as the world conspiracy, theology and supernatural. The Absolution album saw light in 2003, and was even more experimental than its predecessor, Origin Of Symmetry. After it the musicians got down to recording their third creation Absolution. Muse released the concert record Hullabaloo and the collection of B-side songs Hullabaloo Soundtrack after they recommended themselves as skillful live performers during the Origin Of Symmetry support tour. In 2003, Muse successfully sued Nescafe for the unlicensed use of this composition in their advertisement. The song titled Feeling Good became the lead single from the Origin Of Symmetry, which saw light in 2001. Bellamy’s manner of singing changed as well. During the work on their second full-length Origin Of Symmetry the musicians used such unorthodox instruments as the organ and Mellotron, and experimented with the sound. The Showbiz disc had some autobiographic material and a comparatively soft sound.Īfter the Showbiz release, Muse actively toured all over the world. John Leckie, who worked earlier with Radiohead, The Verve, The Stone Roses and some other stars, produced their first attempt. Nevertheless, in 1998, the trio signed to the Maverick Records. However, it proved to be problematic for them to find a label for the record of their first album in Britain - as Muse was often compared to the British rock scene heroes Radiohead. Muse made a big fan base in a few years, giving concerts in London and Manchester.
They chose to become professional musicians and leave their native town Teignmouth after they won at the local bands competition. Their common prodigy changed several titles untill they decided to stop on Muse. Young musicians Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard organized the Muse trio during their colleage study.