Muse - The Resistance (2009) [Warner Bros.] // Grade: C+

Muse are a band who, much like their headlining tourmates U2, have been able to cross over and find much mainstream support and success, all while staying true to a sound that is a far cry from the watered-down radio rock that regularly permeates music television and the airwaves. Muses’ recent live American television debut on last week’s VMA’s was an energetic and welcomed deviation from the yearly evening of gossip, plastic pop and celebrity dick measuring. With a new album, The Resistance, out and the band in talks for soundtrack duties on the upcoming Twilight sequel, it’s not too early to peg Muse as the newest arena darlings for the coming year.

The Resistance, the fifth studio album from the English trio, fills the night air with electricity with the first chord of album opener and lead single “Uprising”. Muse has never been a band to shy away from the dramatic and The Resistance is the group’s most theatrical work to date. Listening like a rock opera, the heavily European and Asian music influenced album is arguably over the top, combining driving, expressive soundscapes in the vein of U2 with the exaggerated orchestral theatricals of Queen. The mid-point of “United States of Eurasia” sounds so much like Queen that it verges on crossing the line of acceptability.

For years Muse has been promising fans the unveiling of their progressive symphonic work, the “Exogenesis Symphony”. Over 13 minutes in length and divided into three tracks, the harmonious, heavily instrumental composition is an epic demonstration of the band’s musicianship, but tacked onto the end of already ridiculously excessive album it loses its effect, and Muse conclude The Resistance with an air of pretension.

The phrase, “too much of a good thing” is a well-applied descriptor for The Resistance. Thoroughly immersive, but overdone, The Resistance has all the makings of a rock opus if only Muse had been able self-edit better, leaving good enough alone.