Muse — The Resistance

At first Muse's fifth album, The Resistance, sounds like a jumble of scattered ideas, but it's actually a complete encapsulation of everything they've been doing since they released their Showbiz debut in 2001.

The guitar riffs on "Unnatural Selection" bear resemblance to Origin Of Symmetry's "New Born" and its organ parts recall that record's "Megalomania," while Matthew Bellamy's three-part "symphony," "Exogenesis," resembles "Micro Cuts" from that record. Elsewhere, the Depeche Mode-esque "Undisclosed Desires" has a lot in common with Black Holes And Revelations' "Map Of The Problematique." "Resistance" sounds like it could fit nicely onto Absolution.

"Collateral Damage," a tiny piece stuck onto the end of "United States Of Eurasia," is actually Chopin's Nocturne In E Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2, while "I Belong To You (+Mon Coeur S'Ouvre A Ton Voix)" integrates a piece from a Camille Saint-Saens opera. This is nothing new for the band — Bellamy has been integrating classical into the band's music since they formed, and Black Holes' "Hoodoo" borrowed a part of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto In B-Flat Minor.

Unfortunately, The Resistance ends up feeling far too derivative. Opener and lead single "Uprising" cops from Marilyn Manson and Blondie, while "United States Of Eurasia" is an absolutely shameless rip-off of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." "Exogenesis" tries to borrow from Chopin and Richard Strauss and proves that while Bellamy may love classical music, he shouldn't exactly be writing a symphony.

While it has its moments of brilliance, The Resistance is a huge disappointment. This is a band who've always worn their influences rather obviously on their sleeves, yet never before have they come across sounding less like themselves.

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