Muse has never been a band to do things by half measures. Shedding those pesky comparisons to Radiohead early on, the UK band has grown to become a musical force to be reckoned with.

Whether it’s the imaginative songs like Muscle Museum, the riff-heavy Plug In Baby or the distinct rock-synth buzz of tracks like Hysteria and Stockholm Syndrome, Matthew Bellamy and his fellow bandmates Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard have always been a band to push the boundaries – not just on their records, but with their spectacular live shows as well.

Following on from the expectation they set with the astonishing Black Holes and Revelations and its bombastic single Knights of Cydonia wouldn’t have been easy. The band hinted early that their fifth record would take a new direction and the first preview to the album, the very brash United States of Eurasia, was a not-so-subtle taste of what The Resistance would be like. A dramatic, robust spectacular that more than heavily draws on Queen influences and Eastern-flavoured orchestral intonations, the track is, much like Knights, completely daring and different to anything they’ve produced before.

Although Eurasia is probably the most outlandish track on the album, it sets the tone for The Resistance. Rife with melodramatic overtones, huge walls of sound and vocal passion, Muse’s latest album is symphonic, classical and vocally passionate, awash with synthesisers and distorted instrumental textures. It could as easily be the score for a rock opera than a rock album; yet beneath all that there sits the recognisable monster riffs which make it unmistakably Muse.

Opening the album is first single Uprising, which with its fuzzy Goldfrapp beat, high-pitched arpeggiated riffs continues along the bold direction set by their previous record. Starting off with a fast-paced, high-pitched guitar hook, MK Ultra sounds a little indie-electro at times, but it soon builds into a frenetic rock song not unlike the ones keen Muse listeners will be familiar with. Similarly Unnatural Selection is an aggressive, riff-driven track not unlike those found on Absolution. With its punchy cries of “Hey! Hey! Hey!”, it promises to be a real screamer live.

Not everything on this record works. The RnB-flavoured Undisclosed Desires, for example, gets a little bit too Chris Cornell-ish circa Scream – but the 15 minute three-part symphony Exogenesis is a startling and audacious conclusion. From the spatial and haunting first part, the powerful and emotive middle section and the tinkling and string-led bittersweet conclusion – an emotional journey in itself – it’s one of the most ambitious things that Muse have ever put on a record.

At times The Resistance straddles that fine line between adventurous and too over-the-top. People are going to either love it or hate this record. No matter which side of the fence you’re sitting on, though, you can’t deny this is Muse’s boldest album to date.

The Resistance is out now on Warner Music.

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