 For all the non-Muse fans out there... 6 of 8 people found this review helpful.
I'm not a massive Muse fan. I own all their previous albums, but none of them really captured my attention. Black Holes and Revelations, however, changed all that. Now I can't wait to see them this Summer at Leeds Festival , because, just off the sound of this album, I know they're gonna be immense.
That's not to say it's THAT much different from their other albums - this is still definitely Muse, and the Muse sound. It just seems that they've managed to conjure up a whole album of classics; A whole album of 'Plug In Baby's and 'Hysteria's.
From the opening cascade of 'Take a Bow', this album takes you on a journey, eventually dumping you back on solid ground as the last echos of 'Knights of Cydonia' fade away. No other Muse album has has this many instant classics - songs like 'Starlight' and 'Exo-Politics' keep the fans jumping, 'Map of the Problematique' keeps it all old-school, and 'Soldier's Poem' is a display of just how good Matt Bellamy's voice really is. And that's without even mentioning the dancefloor filler that is 'Supermassive Black Hole' - if you haven't heard this thriller of a single by now, let me promise you, you really should have.
Any problems then? Well, maybe towards the end, it does get minor 'drone syndrome', i.e. tracks seem to suddenly merge into one - 'City of Delusion' seems to be forgettable, since I don't seem to remember it... However, thank the LORD for the finisher 'Knights of Cydonia', SURELY a future single, which kicks the album up the backside and fires you off at warpspeed again.
All in all, you may now call me a Muse fan. I'm sold.
Review ID: 10000000001451673  Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later.  In Matt we trust... 6 of 10 people found this review helpful.
Muse have never been a band to blend into the background, never a band to simply slot into a genre, never a band that hasn't provoked a reaction. They have always been big in sound, atmosphere & great songs.
'Black Holes & Revelations', however, takes things to a whole new level. I mean, this stuff is MASSIVE. This is EPIC, INNOVATIVE, GRANDIOSE & EXPLOSIVE. It's staggering to hear such scope, vision and imagination from a band once accused of being Radiohead wannabe's...
Muse take the meaning of quirky & weird to new heights. For example, single, 'Supermassive Black Hole' is nothing short of brilliant. There's a hugely heavy bass line & beat to it contrasting wonderfully with the drawn out vocals layered on top of the backing vocals talking of 'glaciers melting in the dead of night'. It's strange but you can't help but be absorbed by it all.
Then there's the impossible heaviness of the guitar riffs & drum rolls to 'Assassin', yet again with those weird but wonderful multi-layered vocals which are simply haunting.
But then take songs like 'Hoodoo'; the song starts with a spanish guitar intro, only to morph into a soft verse followed by a grand piano-driven chorus... yet somehow it fits beautifully.
The album is closed by yet another change in direction; 'Knights of Cydonia' goes into the kind of madly progressive territory that you'd usually expect of a band like Tool. It starts off sounding like some kind of cosmic western theme tune, shoots off into Matt Bellamy's lone vocals echoing out of your speakers before, quite unexpectably, ripping into an explosion of guitars & drums - it just sounds so huge!
And what's amazing is that, despite Bellamy throwing literally everything he has at his disposal into the mix & creating such inventive & challenging music, it's so accessible to the point that it's completely absorbing & utterly addictive. There's always a thin line between genius & complete insanity, & it's hard to say which side of the line Bellamy has stumbled. Either way, 'Black Holes...' is stunning.
This is a masterpiece to lose yourself in & never find your way out of.
Review ID: 10000000001437344 Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later. | |
All rights reserved.
) 
