Release Date: September 14
The Skinny: These Brits play football stadiums and star in Guitar Hero but largely remain ciphers to American audiences, perhaps due to an emphasis on ostentatious riffs over immediate hooks and their lack of an indelible anthem (2006's "Supermassive Black Hole came closest). The Resistance doesn't shy from the challenge, further amping up their symphonic ambitions on epic throwdowns like "United States of Eurasia (+ Collateral Damage)."
Fast Fact: Bellamy claims that the title track (already a No. 1 Alternative radio hit) is a retelling of the love story between the characters Winston Smith and Julia in George Orwell's 1984.

BY CHARLES AARON