The follow-up to 2003's Absolution, Black Holes... has quite large shoes to fill, since their previous attempt is regarded by many throughout as an epic masterpiece. Or maybe it's just my friends. Oh well, here's your review:
Lineup! : Matt Bellamy- Lead vocals, guitars, keyboards
Chris Wolstenholme- Bass guitar, backing vocals
Dominic Howard- Drums and Percussion
Take note here that many of the songs on this album, although not terrible , leave you with a sense of repetitiveness. So I will only review the stand out tracks.
The album opens up with one of the more unique songs that Muse has performed, and that takes the shape of Take A Bow. The main point to the arrangement of this song is how it builds the entire time, no chorus or bridge in sight, until it just explodes at the very end. IMO, one of the more unique tracks I've heard from the band and an excellent way to start things off with a bang.
The second stand out track, Supermassive Black Hole (which is also the first U.K. single I believe) is very, very different from what you could expect from Muse. From the sexy riff, to Matt's almost Prince-esque vocals, to the electronics, there is a lot to adjust to with this song. Trust me, after a few listen throughs you will find yourself liking it more and more...
Our next standout is Assassin. With it's Stockholme Syndrome stylings, to the odd time signature heard throughout, to the amazing drum fills, this song is great and one I'm sure fans of their older stuff will love.
As we skip further down the line we come to the second to last track, Hoodoo. Starting with a Flamenco style acoustic guitar, this song echoes longing and regret up until about half way through the song where it simply explodes. would have been better placed as a closer to the album but hey, you can't always have what you ask for can you?
Now we come to the finale: Knights of Cydonia. The first U.S. single and possibly the best track from the album. The song simply builds for about 3 and a half minutes, going first from lasers and horses to acoustic guitars, to the entire band playingin front of synth, to the grand moment where the music cuts out to the band singing a capella. Then, as the instruments slowly fade back, a powerful riff cuts in and the band sings the chorus a few more times until the end. Purely epic.
Now I'm not saying the rest of the album is terrible, but as I said before it will take a while to grow on you.
Outstanding Tracks:
-Take A Bow
-Supermassive Black Hole
-Assassin
-Hoodoo
-Knight of Cydonia
