Black Holes and Revelations review

This is the 4th album by the popular English rock band Muse, who seem to be a bit of a newer Radiohead-style artist. They certainly seem to headline a lot of festivals, that's for sure. This is one of their most popular albums. But what will my opinion be?

Tracks:

1. Take a Bow: 7/10 overdone for sure, but there's a certain epic vibe to it, as well as a sense of intensity and power which is to be admired.

2. Starlight: 9/10 it may be blatantly a more commercial one, but I just really, really love this tune. It's got such a nice vibe and I can listen to it over and over.

3. Supermassive Black Hole: 7/10 high-pitched vocals and lack of depth aside, there are some cool metaphors and an interesting, unique instrumental here which make this an enjoyable listen.

4. Map of the Problematique: 8/10 actually a really entertaining rock song with a fast, furious and electrifying bass-line, although once again the lyrics are somewhat corny.

5. Soldier's Poem: 7/10 it isn't subtle, but it is undeniably touching and has an important message.

6. Invincible: 7/10 an enjoyable though fairly corny effort which is short on originality but is a pretty cool and rousing song.

7. Assassin: 7/10 a solid if painfully unsubtle political song.

8. Exo-Politics: 7/10 yet again it's pretty enjoyable but the lyrics are really annoying.

9. City of Delusion: 7/10 my feelings about this one are similar to the other songs on the album, but this one is pretty solid and has a nice trumpet solo.

10. Hoodoo: 7/10 quite a nice love song and an underrated track, although the quieter and louder sections are unbalanced.

11. Knights of Cydonia: 8/10 wow. This is actually a really, really good rock song. Not massively inventive, but hugely enjoyable throughout.

Best song: Starlight
Worst song: Take a Bow

Summary: Don't be fooled by all the 7/10 ratings. This is without a doubt a good album. It's an enjoyable and pleasingly intense slice of space rock with a weird and otherworldly sound and plenty of entertaining, unique and electrifying crescendos. Live, this must be absolutely insane and I can believe the hype about Muse's live performances. On the whole, this is an enjoyable rock album where the music is, while not ground-breaking, pretty epic overall. It's the corny, formulaic and unsubtle dystopian lyrics which let the album down, and there's none of the nuance, subtlety and angst mixed with hope that bands like Arcade Fire and Radiohead (With the latter, not so much the 'hope' bit) do so well. To sum up: good music, bad lyrics but even so, a pretty fun album.  




Final rating: 7/10