One thing I'll never understand is how someone can love one Muse album and literally hate another. NONE OF THEM ARE THAT DIFFERENT. I'm just glad I'm not so outrageously picky and pedantic that it happens to me.
Ohhh, I dunno! Undisclosed Desires is nigh-on R&B. Absolution sounds very classical in places, whereas Resistance is more eighties synthy... with the massive blowout of Exogenesis at the end. The song-writing's fairly consistent, but they do jump through the styles quite a lot. Also if you keep in mind that before Black Holes there was only, say, Absolution and Origin. Showbiz for the dedicated fans. It kinds of gets the "replacement scrappy" effect. Whenever you make a change, some of the fanbase will go "ooh! that's nifty" and others will go "HERESY. ARRRRRGH. BRING BACK ORIGIN." Muse have got a very broken base. Also, not an especially clever base. Have you been to muse.mu or muselive.com? There are some bright people sprinkled in, but some are pretty obtuse. Very reactionist, as well. I saw a bunch of them having a go at Warner for the quality of their self-produced album, recorded in a home studio with no external input.
That said, back to the music, they're more different
flavours. When Muse bring in synths, they don't go all out Gorillaz, they just produce a good rock song with a Timbaland (or whatever!) pulse. Different flavours. Just 'cause I like Cheese & Onion crisps doesn't mean I'm gonna be a fan of, say, Barbecue, which is a horrible flavour of crisps and should never have happened.
I understand it. I've always seen Muse as one of the bolder bands - they do a lot of experimentation, all considered, and they're bound to alienate people. I remember being appalled when Supermassive Black Hole was released. Like, genuinely a little bit irate. I'd not listened to Muse since... well, not in about two years, so it was a bit of a surprise to have them tap me on the shoulder and say "Coo-ee!" in the form of this... dirty, electro-dance thing. Didn't like it at all. Then I kept on hearing it on the radio and ended up falling in love with it, a bit. That's actually what turned me from a one-time casual listener into a proper fan. Wonderful song. Blah blah blah, me me me, there's a point in here somewhere. I dunno. I'm not surprised that they're alienated. That's the moral, I guess.
I don't think any of their albums are any less than great, though. The Resistance is a collection of very good songs. Showbiz opens with
Sunburn! Then goes into Muscle Museum! Plus, Falling Down and Unintended. Brilliant music. The other three are more or less classic. For me, The Resistance was a comedown, but then Black Holes is one of my very favourite albums - it was more or less going to be.