Review Summary: A dull, unexciting slice of repetitive space-rock with a few highlights. Black Holes and Revelations recalls Muse's earlier work, adds a bit more synth and some Queen-inspired harmonies. Lacks all the promise shown by Absolution, and just shows the weaker
Muse have never been afraid to experiment with the unknown, if the bizarre cryptic messages contained in their albums and abstract album art-work wasn't enough to convince you then maybe
Black Holes and Revelations will. Take the first single for example,
Supermassive Black Hole, it's a Franz Ferdinand-like dance track with Mercury-esque falsetto singing and an odd sense of menace. Whether it's the apocalyptic lyrics or the haunting backing vocals, there's definitely an element of menace hidden beneath the RnB-like drums and electro influenced beat. It does, however, sound like this album's
Time Is Running Out. Then you hear the second single, Starlight, a true rock ballad which has elements of their work from
Origin Of Symmetry - you will no doubt notice the spacey-synths of
Bliss underneath the powerful guitars and haunting vocals.
So you buy the album, on the strength of the two lead singles and their earlier work. The opener,
Take A Bow is a mesmerizing electronic track which builds up with spacey synths and military-style drums and leads into the huge pay-off which is the second single,
Starlight Despite the track lasting 4:36, it's a passable introduction into just what sound Muse are aiming for with this their fourth studio album.
Following on from the singles are two tracks that are far too familiar too be notable.
Map Of The Problematique lifts directly from Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence", and then
Soldier's Poem takes elements from REM, Elvis Presley and Queen and combines them into a song that just comes off as mundane and dull. By this point in the album, the songwriting has already gotten repetitive and the atmosphere of the album is grating.
Black Holes And Revelations basically carries on where
Absolution left off. Except
Absolution had the diversity to hold the listeners interest for longer than six tracks. No doubt that tracks like
Invincible and
Assassin have powerful riffs, but the atmosphere is middle-of-the-road to the point of frustration. So where
Absolution had the instantly memorable riffs of
Stockholm Syndrome and
Hysteria,
Black Holes and Revelations has the monotonous and broody darkness of
Hoodoo.
In all honesty, there's only one track on this album that will still hold it's own once Muse roll out another album. That's the finisher,
Knights Of Cydonia, which works perfectly as an ender - drawing it's musical influences from old spaghetti westerns and combining it with Muse's trademark futuristic aura, it's the only song on the album that really has anything outstanding to it. In it's six-minute runtime of prog-rock wizardry, we the listener are treated to some phenomenal riffs and haunting vocals. The song is expertly built-up using pounding drums and synths that lie underneath the galloping guitars, it's a song you can listen to and hear something different every time. By the time the pay-off comes around at the 4-minute mark you've already heard some of their best work ever recorded. This is where Muse triumph, the riffs recall Tom Morello's RATM work, the vocals are menacing yet still beautiful and the synths provide an atmospheric backdrop.
Unfortunately for Muse the same cannot be said for the rest of the album, which gets tired and mundane after just a few plays. It's not a bad record, but it lacks the edge of their earlier work and some of the tracks are so forgettable. Despite making huge steps forward with
Origin Of Symmetry and
Absolution, this is nothing more than a step backwards. The album itself is just not the diverse, experimental journey it could have been and Matt Bellamy desperately needs something else to write about. The layered vocals, influenced by
Queen, are unconvincing. In short, Muse wear their influences well, but this album does nothing to establish them as having their own sound, despite it's claims of originality.
