Muse has always been careful to balance their lyrical paranoia with a vast arsenal of sonic weaponry, turning the negativity of songs like “Map of the Problematique” and “Stockholm Syndrome” into lighter-waving anthems for the dance floor or the mosh pit. They came close to tipping the balance on 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations – surprise, singer and lyricist Matthew Bellamy was angry about the Iraq War – but fortunately for them they had cooked up their best batch of songs to go with those anti-war tirades and ‘die with your boots on’ battle cries. The album became the band’s first US Top Ten hit and vaulted the British trio into the rock’s upper echelon. If you need more proof of the band’s growing status among rock aficionados, look no further than the inclusion of Bellamy as an unlockable guitarist in “Guitar Hero 5.”

After a hellacious tour schedule – which produced the stopgap live album H.A.A.R.P. – the band finally settled down long enough to enter the studio and prepare for the follow-up album. It was here that they decided to do what no prog band should ever be allowed to do: produce the album themselves. Any band as musically gifted as Muse needs an outside voice of reason, someone to reign them in when they’re tempted to go even more over the top than they already go. More importantly, the band could have used someone to tell them that they’re repeating themselves far too frequently. Granted, the main musical thrust behind The Resistance may be unique in that this album is more symphonic than their previous efforts, but several of these songs echo the band’s earlier work, sometimes lazily so.