Past, Present, and Future – Muse: The Resistance
October 7, 2009 by M1s4g4ld
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Movies
By Jazmin Temores, Staff Writer
It seems like the world\’s greatest scientists have been beaten to discovering how to travel through time not by extraterrestrials but by a band. With their fifth-highly anticipated album released on September 14th, “The Resistance”, Muse has created a wormhole to an alternate universe where the listener can travel through a world in which oppression, paranoia, and chaos runs rampant.
For those not familiar with Muse, the band\’s notorious reputation for political messages must be taken into consideration. This album is no different. The world Muse describes in its album is similar to the world in George Orwell\’s 1984, and throughout it, tyranny and resistance are reoccurring themes. “Uprising,” the first and strongest track off the album, is the battle cry of the album as the band talks about a people rising up against the oppressing government. Following “Uprising,” is “The Resistance” and appears to be the paranoid, inner conflict of the people who are on the revolutionary side as their minds go back in forth due to fear of not knowing whether or not their cause will be effective.
The Resistance, however, is also an ode to the band\’s significant musical influences. Throughout the album, the chorus vocal stylings mirror those of the classic-rock band, Queen as well as classical music composers. In the track, “The United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage),” the piano intro parallels that of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and ends with a sonata based on Chopin\’s, “Nocturne in E minor.”
Each song also produces a certain sci-fi-esque feeling. “Exogenesis,” as Muse\’s front man Matthew Bellamy describes it, is a “15 minute space rock solo” divided into three parts that appears to be more of an instrumental piece. A mixture of classical music and rock, it is the most uniquely paired of genres but works out just as well as any other track.
What Muse has done with their new album is create a new type of music genre with its marriage of science-fiction-esque rock and classical music, allowing the listener to experience the past, present and future worlds of music.
