Friday Album Reviews: Muse | The Resistance

This week we are reviewing the new album from Muse.  I have enjoyed this band over the past few years for many different reasons.  1.  I love the voice of the Matthew Bellamy—I get all of the things I like about Thom York from the band Radiohead but without all the pretension.  2.  They write some great lyrics.  3. They rock!  The band only has three musicians and yet they put out some heavy sounds.   The latest is their third studio album and as such it combines the best parts of the previous two records while moving forward in some new directions.

To start, the record contains 11 tracks and runs about 54 minutes.  There first eight are standard songs, but the album ends with what I consider a three-part symphony.  This unique end is really considered one song, but I count it as three songs because of the breaks between parts.  This last track is a risky move in a music scene that is constantly moving towards shorter and more concise pop songs.  The band chose to write a three-part symphony to include on their main release instead giving it b-side status.  This works because they are so good at writing great alt/rock pop songs.  After eight tracks of rock-&-roll synth heaven, you do not even realize that you are now listening to a symphony.

The first track, Uprising, has become a radio staple already and is even featured on the recent Alien invasion remake, The V.  This song links the last album to this one perfectly.  Subsequent songs take on matters of world domination and resistance in different ways while others are just about relationships.

Spiritual high points of the album lie in its storytelling.  As a Christian, I believe God is a storyteller who is active in the world around us.  In some small ways, the music that Muse creates inspires me to create new music.  They may not be writing to the glory of God but as image bearers they cannot help but reflect the glory of God in what they do, even if that image is dim and marred by sin.

Undeniably, the standout song of Muse’s album is the three-part symphony at the end, which “is a story of humanity coming to an end and everyone pinning their hopes on a group of astronauts who go out to explore space and spread humanity to another planet.”  The story ends like the Matrix in that it’s a cycle that has repeated itself for centuries, it will always happen unless humanity changes.  That connection to the Gospel made here is easy to discern—lives are changed.  It is the Gospel that makes a new creation out of the spiritually dead (Eph 2:1-10).  When someone who does not know Christ can create a song that speaks to the deep longing for change that is needed, it is truly inspiring.  You will likewise get inspired if you go pick up this 4-star album from iTunes or your local record store.

For His Glory,

Pastor Steven