Muse - Black Holes and Revelations Review
Posted by Daniel Midani on 07.26.2006
MY Hopes and Expectations...
My Two Cents
When I think of today’s UK music scene, I think of Muse and Coldplay. Now, Coldplay maybe the most popular band in the world today (for some strange reason) but I feel that Muse is more popular with the 17-24 age group and I’m dead center of this age group. Muse is one of those bands that everyone in anyplace can listen too; edgy enough for the “brass”, soft enough for the “casual”, and creative enough for the “artsy”. They have really done a great job fitting into the mainstream without completing changing their sound. Muse has been around for much longer then people think. Matthew Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard formed Muse in 1994. Their second album “Origin of Symmetry” in 2001 made them a well known band but not so much overseas. Their 2003 release of “Absolution” became a major hit. This British band became a worldwide name with this album. Like so many, their single “Time is Running Out” made me listen to their entire album. I knew that they were going to become a huge band late 2003 / early 2004 and boy was I right. I like the album a lot BUT I don’t think it is as life-changing as many think. There are three or four songs that I always skip. Overall, I give “Absolution” an 8/10. The A side songs are great but the B side songs are awful.
When I heard they were releasing another album this summer, it became my must have album of the year. I thought that their new album would be flawless; they were on the edge of perfection, if such things exist. But when “Supermassive Black Hole” leaked by in May, my excitement became disappointment. It took me halfway through the song for to actually accept it was Muse. It was the first song that I heard from the new album and I hoped that the rest of “Black Holes and Revelations” didn’t have the same style of sound. I remember when I used RealPlayer as my music player (don’t recommend that), they stated Muse is a combination of Radiohead and Nirvana. The Radiohead reference is crystal clear, the vocals are beyond similar. It took me a while to completely buy the Nirvanaism in them. Determining how accurate that statement is up for debate but it’s obvious that they were influenced by two of the biggest bands in the 1990’s.
If you are hoping for the same hard sound that Muse did with most of “Absolution”, you will be letdown. There is more of an “electronic” sound on this album. Personally, I’m not a big fan of the “electronic” theme. Now, I know that they used an ample amount of it before but the knob was turned a good 50 percent. “Absolution” is a breakthrough album but the real challenge is to make the next album just as good…
1. “Take a Bow”
2. “Starlight”
3. “Supermassive Black Hole”
4. Map of the Problematique”
5. “Soldier’s Poem”
6. “Invincible”
7. “Assassin”
8. “Exo-Politics”
9. “City of Delusion”
10. “Hoodoo”
11. “Knights of Cydonia”
Take a Bow – Right of the bat you can notice the different sound. At first, I shook my head from dissatisfaction but this is really a great intro song. It does a good not great job building up; it takes a bit too long to get going.
Starlight – This song starts off really fruity. That really is the best adjective to describe it. Once the vocals start, this is a good song. It is one of my favorites from this album. If you’re looking for some “Absolution”, this song will be it.
Supermassive Black Hole – As I mentioned above, this song is awful. There isn’t a single good thing I can say about this song. This song is so bad that its one of those songs that makes me wish I can temporarily go deaf.
Map of the Problematique – Easily my favorite song from this album and my new favorite Muse song. This song is flawless. It is the complete opposite from the previous song.
Soldier's Poem – A real boring song. It’s an OK song but the placement of this song is really odd, especially after such an upbeat song.
Invincible – The long intros continue with this song. “Together we are Invincible.” This lyric really shows how different the theme of this record is. It’s a decent song with a twist of sound in the middle.
Assassin – It seems like they are going slow, high, slow pace song pattern with this album. This is a solid song, nothing that makes it exceptional and nothing that makes my ears cringe.
Exo-Politics – This is another solid song.
City of Delusion – I enjoyed this song but I don’t understand the Latin background, it’s really unnecessary.
Hoodoo – They continue their experimental sounds with this song. This song takes too long to get going. I really don’t understand the song placement with this song.
Knights of Cydonia – Before I continue with the song itself, the title of this song is atrocious. I understand the biblical reference but is it really needed? Especially since Matthew is an atheist?
Had to get that out of the way, this song is great. It’s another experimental song with a bit of a surf sound to it. A real unique song, this is Muse at its best.
The 411: The one thing that you MUST to do before giving this album a listen is completely forgetting about Absolution. The song placement throughout this album is erratic. Fast, slow, experimental, none of the songs complement each other. It gets annoying, fast. Also, this is an album that should be listened to a couple times before getting a solid grasp of it. Is this album better then Absolution? No. Is it a bad album? No. It is a good album from a great band, no more no less.
