Muse (Warner)
If you’re going to flash, goes the batsman’s maxim, flash hard. Muse’s interest in cricket is undocumented, but they follow the advice to the letter. Not for Matt Bellamy and chums the indeterminate prod outside off-stump or glance to leg. Muse, as you expect from a band who released a single called Supermassive Black Hole, swing for the stands.
To no one’s surprise, The Resistance offers more of the same: massive, ridiculous rock that will sound even better when accompanied by the beams of 10,000 lasers at a football stadium near you.
United States Of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage) borrows from Queen and Chopin; Undisclosed Desires is Depeche Mode with added pretentiousness; Unnatural Selection morphs from thrash to pop-metal to waltz-time prog and back again.
It all ends with a ludicrous three-part, 15-minute piece of florid symphonic rock about blasting off into space. Despite your better judgment, resistance may be futile.
WILL FULFORD-JONES
