Black Holes and Revelations
Growing more dystopian by the album, Muse step into fighter mode on 2006’s *Black Holes and Revelations*, a nonstop cinematic thriller that seeks to set our minds free while setting the world ablaze. “Take a Bow” sets the apocalyptic scene with a simmering synth arpeggio that boils over into a forbidding rebel call: “You will burn in hell!” frontman Matt Bellamy bellows into the guitar-squiggling, techno-throbbing chaos. But the world can’t end without a stirring love story, and so he quickly slips into the role of romantic lead, aided by the hand-clapping rhythm of “Starlight” and the sexy funk groove of “Supermassive Black Hole.” One track later, on “Map of the Problematique,” the black hole comes to represent the terrifying void of loneliness, paced to the pulse of ‘90s Depeche Mode. That burning desire for human connection permeates the rest of this roaring epic, even through the militaristic march of “Invincible” and the System of a Down-inspired assault on “Assassin,” in which Bellamy orders for the destruction of “demonocracy.” By the album’s climax, all borders seemingly vanish, as the band weaves together Middle Eastern strings, mariachi trumpets, flamenco guitar, classical piano, and spaghetti-western twang in its closing trio of tracks. The Four Horsemen eventually arrive, galloping into the blistering finale, “Knights of Cydonia,” a “Bohemian Rhapsody” for our darkest of hours. Like the best sci-fi blockbusters, this album will have your heart racing up to the very last second.
Latest from future-minded British hard rockers emphasizes glitz and glam while incorporating their usual Jeff Buckley and Radiohead influences.
Muse first stormed American shores in the late '90s as part of the post-Radiohead boom in "big music" Britpoppers, but those who haven't paid much attention to the band since then can get a quick update by listening to "Take A Bow," the first song on the new Muse album Black Holes & Revelations. Starting with a spacey…
Check out our album review of Artist's Black Holes And Revelations on Rolling Stone.com.
<b>Muse</b> are back. Sure; they never really went away, but <b>‘Black Holes And Revelations’</b> is the album which <i>should</i> have followed on from where <b>‘Origin Of Symmetry’</b> left off.
Since forming in 1997, alternative rock trio Muse have ambitiously created a sound of their own, mixing elements of glam, pop, and symphonic music into a rock hybrid.
<p>The former poor man's Radiohead earn <strong>Andrew Perry</strong>'s vote for their unlikely and radical transformation into conscious space-rockers.</p>
Call it good timing: but the photograph on the inside cover of the new Muse album shows a magnified image of Mars.