This video will not feature any army of evil teddy bears, but no out-of-place crump dancer either. It’s just a video of the band playing live, but, if you are familiar with a Muse show, you’ll know that’s more spectacular than any CGI legion of toys. The band posted a preview of the video, with the full thing going to premiere in a few days, on 14th January. Till then, you can feast your eyes on a recent performance of Resistance, in all its greatness. Literally.

RESIST HERE

                There is no point in denying that this appearance has a great symbolic value for the band’s evolution. It’s just a show, yes, two songs probably, but it’s also a great exposure to mainstream America. This is a little landmark in Muse’s campaign for conquering the States and the world, for that matter.

                  And if America wants more of Matt Bellamy and his henchmen, there are plenty of chances in the upcoming tour of North America and Canada, stretching from February to April.

DATES HERE

It will be released on November 16 and it will be joined by two remixes, one by tour buddies The Big Pink and another (a really cool club cut) by The Thin White Duke (aka Stuart Price).  The video is, indeed, a bit strange and not necessarily in the good sense of the word. We have to admit, though, that it is quite a challenge to imagine a visual translation for this song. Still, the female dancer is really out of place there and she really seems to be moving to another beat. Maybe it’s a metaphor about how the song is out of place on The Resistance… 

See it on the MUSE’s MySpace

The Resistance is the way an album should be: it’s an evolution of a sound, which means it’s something new but coming from the same seed as the previous Muse albums. From all the new tracks, Unnatural Selection is probably the Musest of them all and the rockiest of them all, reminding us of Hyper Music or Stockholm Syndrome, but, hey, we all know that Chris Wolstenholme is an avid (short-haired) headbanger in live performances. He needed some soundtrack for that. Also, MK Ultra is a very nice piece of urgent rock, based on a typical Muse riff. If you liked Map of the Problematique you’ll go for this one, too. In fact, the entire album has enough Muse in it to satisfy the fans, whether it is the Starlight-like catchy piano hook from Resistance, the Supermassive Black Hole-like temperate beat of Undisclosed Desires or the ever present loud, but melancholic vocals of Matt Bellamy. Of course.

But for every Muse-like element present in the tracklisting, there is also something new, an influence or a direction. I mean, you can almost swear they hired Freddy Mercury to do backing vocals on United States of Eurasia and the Queen wind doesn’t stop here, considering some of the guitar work on Unnatural Selection or the solo from Guiding Light. And speaking of this anthemic track, which at parts sounds like a traditional tune from some Northern Sicily Grape Festival, you can’t help noticing some U2 delays and echoes on those guitars, very appropriate, considering the two bands are touring together, as we speak (23 September – 14 October, 2009). Beyond the obvious prog rock extremes, one can call this Muse’s most classical and symphonic album. Previous dabbles in this field take full form here, especially in the three-piece Exogenesis.

The first part, Overture remains a highlight of the album, being, one could say, the climax of what Muse have been working towards with tracks like Space Dementia, Sing for Absolution or Blackout. The Hans Zimmer-esque build-up, the atmospheric production on the less than intelligible vocals and the waves of emotions the track rides really make Exogenesis: Overture, (maybe just) for me, lovemaking music, like Sade or Barry White is for others… But, despite the buzz created by this massive Exogenesis (all of it), the ‘real jewel of the album’ title must go to Undisclosed Desires. A perfect synth-pop-rock song, this is definitely single material on an otherwise experimental album. It might not fit perfectly with epics like Uprising or Resistance or pretty much everything else (it’s one of the few songs where the characters are not “you and I” and “THEM”), but it will surely claim its place among Muse’s greatest hits. It does fit with its overall romantic theme, the ‘resistence’ from the title of the album being love itself. In fact, the entire thing could make a great soundtrack for some SF romance set in a futuristic version of the 1930′s… Just in case Terry Gilliam is reading…

Muse’s bass player Chris Wolstenholme recently announced via Twitter that their new album is finished. Mastering in New York is next, so everything seems to be going according to schedule for the 14 September release. On the downside, it’s been confirmed that Muse will not be playing at this year’s Glastonbury. But, maybe it’s better this way, because they will not be distracted from the mastering process. We all know that Muse is the kind of band who takes the studio period extremely serious and take their time to get the best result possible. They’ll make up for the festival absence this summer with their massive tour in the autumn.

Muse finally announced a release date for The Resistance, their new album. It is the 14th of September this very year. Even before there were any solid news about their new musical efforts, fans were buzzing at the possibility of the boys working on new material. Then, details slowly emerged and it seems they are planning to break the moulds once again, threatening us with “the hardest song ever” or big orchestral manoeuvres, never before seen. Considering their past, I think we should take them seriously and brace ourselves for some postmodern progressive rock.

Even drummer Dominic Howard is complaining about the size of these new things. Talking about learning to play the new setlist live he ponders “That should take a while“. No doubt about it, the wait will be worthwhile. The release date being in the beginning of the autumn and grand tours to follow, we are entitled to be expecting a single this summer. Hopefully, they woun’t break the moulds so much, as to not release a single. In fact, a free download is also in the fashion nowadays. Let’s hope they know that.