When you first start listening to the album you are presented with a track that could have easily been lifted from their previous album. The first single "Uprising" is a song that typifies the theme of the album. Inspired by George Orwell's dystopian (and incredible) book "1984", the song proclaims "They will not force us. They will stop degrading us. They will not control us. We will be victorious". It is uplifting in a typically Muse way, using their stadium rock style as a call to arms of sorts.
The second track "Resistance" continues the drama starting with some beautiful piano melodies and building to a guitar heavy conclusion all the while pushing the message that "Love is our resistance".
"Undisclosed Desires "makes a complete shift from the beginning of the album with a far more electronic sound and a much slower tempo. It still has a typical Muse feel but it is something new from them at the same time. It works well and is more about as close to a rock ballad as you are likely to get from the band.
In the past, Muse has been compared to Queen and when you hear "United States of Eurasia" you can see why. The song is so silly at times and completely over the top but it is pure joy. It is so obvious that the band loves these kinds of operatics and the way they do it, it works brilliantly. It doesn't work as well when listening to it over headphones but at a live concert, this would be quite an experience. It seems Muse takes performing to a crowd into consideration when they produce an album.
"Guiding Light" is very cheesy and another style change from the rest of the album. It uses guitar in ways that music just doesn't seem to these days. However, instead of sounding outdated, the song feels more inventive that that. The lyrics aren't of the calibre you'd expect from the band and when it comes to the cheese factor, this track may have taken it a little too far. However, some fans may love it to pieces, it just felt a little weak compared with the tracks that precede it.
