Review Summary: Black Holes and Revelations, though weak in some spots, is a great overall album and features some incredible Muse songs.
Matt Bellamy and co. had experienced a meteoric rise after Origin of Symmetry and Absolution. “Plug in Baby” was a song that put Muse on the map in the music world. After that, hits such as “Hysteria” and the extremely popular “Time is Running Out” left us wondering what Muse would do next. Black Holes and Revelations was released in 2006 and was immediately met with immense popularity. Although Black Holes and Revelations isn’t at the level of Origin of Symmetry or Absolution, it is still a solid album that deserves praise.
In this album the listener can hear Muse experimenting with some sounds that are found in pop music, especially near the beginning of the album. “Starlight”, probably the most popular song off the album, shows off this new pop sound. I love the bass line in this song that rolls through the verses. However, “Starlight” can be quite cheesy in some places. Despite that, it is still worth a listen. After “Starlight” the listener hears a beat reminiscent of something you would hear on Top 40 radio. This song, “Supermassive Black Hole”, was quite different than anything I’d heard from Muse before. Though it received A LOT of hate for being in the Twilight soundtrack, it is a solid song and is good to listen to just because it is so different. “Map of the Problematique” can kind of also fall under the pop music category. This song has great synthesizer work and is beautiful to listen to during the chorus.
Matt Bellamy’s vocals and guitar work on the album are quite perfect in some places. In the first song, “Take a Bow”, Bellamy does a great job building up the song until it reaches the climax where he belts out “YOU’LL BURN IN HELL”. Though “Take a Bow” is not a song I would just pull up on my iPod and listen to at a random time, it is a good opening for the album. Bellamy’s guitar is nearly enough to save the extremely dull first 3 minutes and 30 seconds of “Invincible”. After that point in the song, the tone suddenly shifts and seemingly out of nowhere, he whips out the greatest guitar solo in any Muse song that I’ve heard. However, “Invincible” still sticks out as a weak song on the album.
After “Invincible”, the listener may be having some doubts as to where the album is heading, but luckily, Muse comes back strong and ends with the strongest songs on the album. “Assassin”, my personal favorite, is a song which features excellent drum work from Dom. “Assassin” is a heavier sounding song and does not disappoint. This album features Dom’s skills best, as his drumming is top-notch throughout the album. Later in the album comes “City of Delusion”, another heavier sounding song. Matt belts out “Destroy this city of delusion/Break these walls down/I will avenge” and that melts into a beautiful mesh of strings which complement Bellamy’s vocals perfectly. After that epic song comes “Hoodoo”, definitely a different song, but a good one.
Finally, we have reached the last two songs of the album and they both are incredible. “Knights of Cydonia” is an epic 6-minute beast that features amazing work from everyone in the band. The guitar riff is absolutely amazing and Matt’s vocals are nothing short of spectacular. After the opening few minutes, the band suddenly goes into a Queen-like sound where they sing “No one’s gonna take me alive/Time has come to make things right/You and I must fight for out rights/You and I must fight to survive”. Those lines slowly build up until they reach the climax where the band begins rocking out with Bellamy shredding the guitar. This closes out the epic song. “Knights of Cydonia” is an incredible song and is one of Muse’s best and most memorable songs to date. Besides, the music video is awesome too, who doesn’t love laser cowboys?
I don’t think the last song “Glorious” was on every copy of the album, but if you have the chance to listen to it, do it. “Glorious” is an absolutely gorgeous song and is extremely relaxing.
Overall, Black Holes and Revelations is a very good album that could have used some tweaking in some places. I could’ve done without the cheesiness in some of the lyrics, but usually Bellamy’s vocals made up for it. The first half of the album is solid, but features some weak songs like “Soldier’s Poem” and “Invincible”. However, the pop sound Muse showcases here is relatively new and is worth the listen. Besides, the last few songs on the album by themselves make Black Holes and Revelations worth buying. This was a solid effort by Muse and though it is not at the level of Absolution or Origin of Symmetry (honestly, what album is at that level anyways?) I still highly recommend it.
