FROM the most unlikely of settings, the quiet Devon town of Teighton, has emerged in recent years this country’s biggest and most successful rock band.

They are, if you had not figured it out already, Muse, a trio who, both on record and on stage, create a sound that makes it very difficult to believe that there are only three of them.

Muse’s career high to date was probably their two night sold-out stint at the new Wembley stadium which was the most suitable of venues for their grandiose and overblown performances.

For it’s fair to say that Muse do not do anything by half measures and if they can manage to incorporate the proverbial kitchen sink into their music mix then in it goes.

Muse have just released album number five, ‘The Resistance (Warners), the follow-up to the gloriously over-the-top, apocalyptic ‘Black Holes & Revelations’ and whilst ‘The Resistance’ might not quite scale the same heights as its predecessor, it gets pretty damn close in doing so.

Once more it is a record that is big on all levels in true Muse tradition and it lends itself perfectly to live performances which are upcoming on the band’s sell-out arena tour in November.

The Queen influences are still clearly discernable in Muse’s music and no doubt singer/writer Matt Bellamy was first stirred into action by records such as Bohemian Rhapsody but his group’s sound makes the likes of Queen and other probable influences such as Yes, Rush, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and primetime ELO seem quite restrained by comparison.

Bellamy’s song lyrics on ‘The Resistance’ continue to centre on his main obsessions of conspiracy theories, apocalyptic concerns, alien invasions and this time, also the little matter of alien/human interbreeding, as addressed in the album’s truly over-egged climax that is the three-part ‘Exogenesis Symphony’ which just about manages hold back from pushing Muse into the realms of self-parody.

What works particularly well on ‘The Resistance’ are the classical flourishes of tasteful string arrangements that are beautifully interwoven amongst the hard rock and pomp.

And, through all the musical multi-layering, Muse possess the skill in abundance that still allows the tunes and melodies to shine brightly through, as best demonstrated on the tracks ‘Uprising’, United States Of Eurasia’ and the Depeche Modesque ‘Undisclosed Desires’.

There’s little doubt that ‘The Resistance’ will only further cement Muse’s already solid reputation as one of rock’s finest exponents whilst simultaneously easily adding to their already 8 million plus worldwide album sales.