Muse love taking risks, it seems. With The Resistance, and the recent 2nd Law, Muse have expanded their musical range and compensated some fans along the way. Though as a proud lover of Muse (especially their earlier music, Origin of Symmetry being their masterclass in music), The Resistance is one of their poorer releases, and that goes without question. Forgetting the Exogenesis Symphony (beauty defined), The Resistance has some risky releases from Muse, but still managed to be a solid release worthy of a 7 at bare-minimum for effort, and risk factor.

Opening with the wonderfully powerful, clearly messaged Uprising, a progressive rock anthem designed for the heights of stadium tours, The Resistance seems promising. Gritty guitars, sci-fi electronics, the works. Then comes Resistance, a song so worthy of single material, it goes without saying that Resistance is a solid track. Undisclosed Desires follows, an experimental track setting the boundary for singles the follow, including Madness from The 2nd Law. One of the weaker tracks, Undisclosed Desires is a love-or-hate piece. Personally, I feel the album track is fine, though live it falls to Matt's ego.

The album then take a small turn into piano-induced territory, with the brilliant (and Queen-influenced) United States of Eurasia. A beautifully striking piece, with some mastery piano work, one could never dislike such a perfect design. Though potentially ruining the flow of the album and making it difficult to progress, this is one track which will surely go down in history as one of Muse's finest pieces. Though followed with Guiding Light, we're back into cheese territory. Undoubtedly a difficult track to sit through, Guiding Light is a mess, with extra helpings of brie.

Now we're thrown back into the heavy stuff, with the flawless Unnatural Selection and the meaty MK Ultra, both driven by ridiculous but catchy riffs, impressive vocals, superbly arranged lyrics, and powerful bass surely to impress even the masters of rock. Two amazing tracks worth of Muse acclaim, and definitely some of the greatest works Muse have thrown out there in a good few years. This is what Muse are made of, right here. We're thrown into the deep end yet again, however, with I Belong To You, a piece so ridiculously out of proportion, you're not sure what to think. Personally, I think it's great. A fun track not meant to be taken seriously. Then we're given the Exogenesis Symphony, a beautiful, flawless, three-piece symphony of piano, strings, guitar and stunning vocals. If not the greatest achievement of Muse since Citizen Erased, a perfect end to a great album overall.

The Resistance won't be to everyone's liking, but it has elements so magical, it can easily put you under a spell. Whatever that spell may be, of course. You'll either love The Resistance, or despise it.

Overall Score: 8/10… Expand

A good Muse album, definitely not their best but contains some excellent songs and is very well structured, a good listen that I'd recommend to all Muse fans.

IT'S SO HARD TO RESIST THE RESISTANCE! What an epic mixture of symphonic rock, new prog and classic rock. Matthew Bellamy knows what he's doing and he does it right every time. Best things about this album? The entire concept of singing about Illumanti, Resistance, Undisclosed Desires, United States of Eurasia, I Belong to You and Exogenesis: Symphony (listen to this three-part song and you will fall in love with Muse).… Expand

UPDATED REVIEW!!! I decided to re-listen to the album, and this time I ended up really enjoying it. I am a fan of MUSE's work, and this is a must have for fans.

Making one stuff over and over again may get you to mainstream but may not rise your music advances the least thing to be cared about was the concept of this album far more complex but still better than Nickelback

A beautiful album. The classical music compositions are astounding! The orchestrations are amazing too!! "Undisclosed Desires" is sexy and so rock n' roll, and "United States of Eurasia" is soft and very beautiful. Geniuses.

Muse, being one of the best bands on the planet, have a let down with their new LP The Resistance. With Black Holes & Revelations there was some sort of progression and variety in those catalog of songs. Where The Resistance fails is it's power in creating something new and different; it is more "been there, done that."

One of the best albums of Muse, great sound as always, and the parts of Exogenesis closed this album in a great way. Amazing job, hope they'll continue like this.

It's funny how when a band starts to experiment, many just write it off of becoming commercial, which is actually quite the opposite of what Muse did here.

At the beginning, we are lead through Muse's entire discography, with Uprising going more with the power-ballads of Absolution and Resistance mixing those with other albums. Little by, little we begin to get bits and pieces of classical pieces, some taking on a full ending of a track, which all leads to Matt's dream of a symphony piece, bringing it all together in a grand finale.… Expand

This is incredibly bad, even for Muse. In this album, there is nothing that sounds like the band, everything sounds as if the songs had been taken from another band's record, and in particular from Queen's.

The resistance is still great but it is the weakest album from muse, a good amount of the songs feel like samples(like the last three songs) they couldve put more effort into this. Muse is a great band and their not at their full potential here. Uprising-10 Resistance-8 Unclosed Desires-9 United States of Eurasia-9 Guiding Light-8 Unnatural Selection-9 MK Ultra-7 I Belong to You -10
Exogenesis: Symphony parts 1,2,3- 6
total 76% out of a hundred=8 out of 10… Expand

This is very hard work Muse has done for their audience. What a great band, but listening to stuff like this, we start to wonder why rock is so underrated and why everyone goes and listens to stuff like pop and hip-hop.

With every subsequent listen this album just amazes me more and more. It starts out with two songs that, while not quite 'mainstream rock', have the usual rock and roll style. Undisclosed Desires is my surprise favorite, with a really jolting guitar rhythm that becomes almost addictive after a while. After that is strays almost into neo-classical territory with United States of Eurasia / Collateral Damage and I Belong to You, while also continuing with the progressive rock in Guiding Light and Unnatural Selection. Then it finishes with a literal bang with the massively ambitious Exogenesis Symphony, that could have, in the wrong hands, been unmeasurably awful. However Muse does it just right, and makes The Resistance an album that cannot be missed.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Great work. Muse delivers an album full of great songs. The main theme throughout the album is love (maybe Uprising as the exception) but it's not soapy. The music is beautiful and proves the excellent technical level that Muse members reached. Now on, they can do almost anything!… Expand

Ladies and gentleman - this is what I call a masterpiece. It's not easy to produce a song that would make me cry, but there are two from this album that actually made me cry. (Well, Chopin and Beethoven are my kryptonite, Bellamy must've known that). A bit of classical music, a bit of rock and a lot of power. Whether you like Muse or not - it is good to know this album. This is how history is made.… Expand

Questions have been raised over whether Muse had become too predictable. This album proved them wrong. There was the traditional rock sound, with graceful, piano fueled scores and a three piece symphony to finish. A very good album

The more I listen, the more I love it. Uprising, Resistance, and Undisclosed Desires are what get you hooked, but I enjoy the whole CD rather than just the 3 singles.

No, just no. This is not as good as the sounds of Origin of Symmetry, SHowbiz and Absolution... for me this is the second album in a musical depression.

I don't really know were to begin. Although Muse never fail to deliver i do feel this album lacks. Through track 1-7 you do hear the 'sound of Muse' , for the most part. With riffs from 'Unatural Selection' and the end of 'MK Ultra' reminding you why you love this band so much, and lyrical content from such tracks as 'Uprising' and 'Resistance' that make you want to march to the areas of the world that do not accept you for who you are and simply hand them the Muse back catalogue as a sign of peace. This album mostly offers stunning sound, creation and emotion that only bands like Muse can give.But the first negative i'd like to point out is the Exogenisis Symphony, but not for is creation, effort or simply fasinating composition but simply for the fact it's on the album at all. I feel it takes up what could have been another 3 rock songs. After track 8 i'm left wanting more individuals, more of that - what's coming next feeling, but instead i get one BIG masterpiece. That you would think would be a good thing, but this is not the case. The second negative i'd like to make clear is one track, and one track alone. 'I Belong To You', considering this is the last song on the 'album' (excluding the Symphony) it does not seal the package, it leaves me with a sence of - what the hell was that ? Muse are ROCK, they create rock music, rock music with a twist, with sounds not used by any another band, but 'I Belong To You' is just POP music, pop music that sells, pop music used in terrible films, it's lyrically bland, it gives you no feelings, no memories and no inspiration. Overall this album is worth the money and time. It's creative but not confusing, loud but not deafening, vocally impressive and an all round memorable album.… Expand

Some of the critics who reviewed this album seem to fit into the group of people who think that Muse is trying to be like Radiohead and instantly dislike them for it even though they aren't trying to be like Radiohead because neither band sounds anything alike and both are amazing for their own reasons. This album is incredible; the three part symphony at the end completely blew me away. Keep doing what you're doing Muse, obviously you must be doing something right since you just won the Grammy for best rock album, despite Rolling Stone asking "what is the point of Muse?" Yea, you can **** off Rolling Stone.… Expand

worst muse album, but still good
1st half is amazing uprising, resistance, undisclosed desires, but second half is not so good the only really good song is unnatural selection and exogenesis symphony was big disappointment

It is truly amazing how one band can go from furious, honest, passionate, aggressive, but often beautiful music to this sell-out, rip-off, sickening piece of pointlessness. This is one of the cheapest, laziest, most revolting albums I've ever heard, and from a band I worshipped as a teenager. It makes me sick. Not one original moment, and in particular the singles are totally hollow, lifeless, chart-seeking objects of utter shame (hopefully) for the band. 1.8 points awarded for 'MK Ultra' and some memorable moments, like the first minute of 'Resistance' (that is, before it shamelessly and ridiculously explodes into dancing on poor Freddie Mercury's grave, just like - oh I shudder to even say it - United States of Eurasia), and 0.2 points for sheer effort, particularly in 'Exogenesis' (but then again, it's always seemed to me that, because Bellamy starting writing the symphony long before the other songs, the rest of the album could just be filler, to make more money out of releasing his 'work of genius'). But, I was right, unfortunately, about 'BH&R' - that Bellamy was forgetting about the music and letting his immature obsession with very vague and half-hearted themes of opression, conspiracy take over, and blah, blah, blah, I'm boring myself even writing this. What a terrible album. I'm off to listen to the 'Dead Star / In Your World' EP I just bought and sing along with the words "MUSE DIED AFTER ABSOLUTION, MUSE DIED AFTER ABSOLUTION..."… Expand

The best album of 2009. The best concert I attended in 2010. I've been listening to Muse since 2003 when Absolution came out and they were a featured artist on Yahoo Music. I was blown away by them with songs like "Stockholm Syndrome" and "Time is Running Out." I am a sucker for magnificent, multi-layered, orchestral and ambient production. Muse has perfected it. And while they wrote great songs a decade ago, they are one of the rarest breeds who continue to grow and improve their near perfection every time they record something new. The Resistance opens with a relatively weak song for Muse with a repetitive, mundane beat in "Uprising," which made me concerned about this CD. Until I heard it...Within the construct of the entire album, every song melts into the next with perfect segueing. By the time I'm listening to "Undisclosed Desires," I am completely hooked. Their heavy Queen influence on "United States of Eurasia" is undeniable. From there, their symphonic brilliance carries throughout the rest of the album. Musical perfection.… Expand

The Resistance is different sounding from Muse's predecessor's Black Holes And Revelations and Absolution. They somewhat slowed down on the rock and went for more the singing. Matt Bellamy's voice has definitely matured form their previous album. A few great tracks are Mk Ultra, Uprising, Unnatural Selection, and the beautiful 3-part symphony Exogenesis. All In All, The Resistance shows another side of Muse that sounds really good. B… Expand

Honestly, I wanted to like Muse. But again, most of the songs just not fit in, or feel like rock 'n' roll songs. I can't really see how Muse can be a 'rock band' with all those electro/techno noises coming from around while playing the guitar and drums. Rock is about the passion and groove and what I hear at Muse is just a fail attempt at rock. Also, the singer's voice isn't really the best one I ever heard. But again, most rock bands sound like this nowadays, which is really sad. You can rate this review as unhelpful, because you are either a Muse fan or someone who likes this kind of music, but you're turning your backs to what rock 'n' roll should sound like. AC/DC? The Rolling Stones? Van Halen? Cream? Jimy Hendrix? Do these ring any bell?… Expand

The most classically themed album from the Devon trio, it falls heavily from being unoriginal, unexciting and uninspired but does manage to keep Muse's over the top attitude towards their own work which still makes it a worth while listen.

After Black holes & revalations i wondered if muse had lost it but they came back with an un-appreciated masterpiece. ignore Uprising and this is not commercialised one bit.Truly Great

this album is Muse's best. I had never heard of them until this album came out, and I was surprised at how good they were. Some people will just buy uprising, resistance, and undisclosed desires, but if you want the full experience, go buy the whole album.