I kind of hesitated to give this even three stars, but I do think two stars is wholly unfair. I have been a fan of Muse since Origin of Symmetry, which in my opinion is their strongest (most cohesive) album yet. I loved the bombastic hits of Absolution and Black Holes, too--I really thought those albums were high quality.
This album, though, seems to be more like fan service than any sort of musical growth, to me. I could sense Muse's (particularly Bellamy's) need to stake out a political agenda in Black Holes and while it's really strong in The Resistance (notably the first track, Uprising), I didn't think it was too genuine. Most of the tracks seemed to veer off the political path and move more onto the romantic track. At plenty of the lyrics, I found myself cringing.
To be fair, I am biased as I really enjoy the more grit-rock of Origin and Absolution and am somewhat hesitant to listen to more technically-enhanced music (although I wasn't opposed to Radiohead's experimentation am a fan of Bjork, and I hear no complaints of the Beatle's technology friendly progression), so this album ended up disappointing me on a very base level. Whereas with Origin, Absolution, and eventually Black Holes, I did not find myself looking forward to listening on as the album progressed.
There is a big pro for this album, however. I was really excited to hear more of Bellamy's beautiful piano solos. A con? Where is his equally beautiful falsetto?
I think the best way to sum this up is to say that the best track of the album is the first, Uprising, and it goes downhill from there.
My recommendation for those new to Muse is to go purchase Origin of Symmetry immediately if you haven't already! It's one of those rare albums that's best listened to from beginning to end. Get more detail about The Resistance.
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