Black Holes and Revelations

The "Mad Scientists of Rock" have done it again. With this new album, Muse have really taken their music to a new level. Based around a space/alien theme, Black Holes and Revelations is a collection of 11 truely brilliant songs. The highly anticipated album sold 115, 144 in it's first week, and as of January 2007, it has sold more than two million copies worldwide. It's no surprise then, that Muse are enjoying themselves more than most bands out there just now. The cover of the album actually explains alot about the album. It pictures four men sitting around a table outside on a red surface. In the distance you can see planet Earth and it's moon. The place the men are is supposed to by Cydonia, as heard in the song "Knights of Cydonia". There are also four minature horses on the table. TRACK ONE: Take A Bow - This is a great opener with plenty of strings highlighting the music. It ends with a huge collection of noise and instantly breaks into track two. TRACK TWO: Starlight - One of the singles from the album, Starlight has been said to sound a little bit like Keane, because of the big piano theme throughout the song. TRACK THREE: Supermassive Black Hole - Another single, this one is a little more funky, with a really thumping bassline working well with the drums. Matt Bellemy shows off his wide vocal range. TRACK FOUR: Map of the Problematique - This is a very high energy song with alot of electronic sound features. You might recognise it from the early trailers for "Children of Men" TRACK FIVE: Soilder's Poem - A calmer, more relaxed song. This one is really haunting, there are a lot of backing vocals in it making it sound as though it is sung by ghosts ... I don't know if that was supposed to be the effect! TRACK SIX: Incincible - This is a really inspirational sounding song. It begins with an organ and marching drums, and goes on to a loud, epic ending. TRACK SEVEN: Assasin - Another high energy song. The drums are particularly good in this one. Pure Muse. TRACK EIGHT: Exopolitics - One of the rockier songs on the album, just a generally good song. Nothing much stands out but it's certianly not a weak song. TRACK NINE: City of Delusion - Begins with just an acousic guitar and vocals, but still sounds urgant from the start. Probably one of the best songs on the album. Again, this one uses strings a lot. TRACK TEN: Hoodoo - This is quite a schizophrenic song, as it changes rapidy from being loud and soft, quick and slow, and so forth. TRACK ELEVEN: Knights of Cydonia - This song is just amazing. It's a through compsed song with not that much lyrics, but a lot of voice is used! Theres alot of brass used. It builds up to a heavy chorus of harmonies singing "No one's gonna take me alive, time has come to make things right, you and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive". Definitly worth the money, and definitly one of the best albums in reent years.

The first time I heard "Black Holes and Revelations" I thought it was a poorer album than "Absolution", "Origin of Symmetry" and perhaps even "Showbiz" - it seemed to lack the power, rawness and melody that enriched those particular records. As a result I didn't listen to it again for a while, but I was prompted to do so again when my mp3 player chugged out a couple of its tracks on its random shuffle. And, having heard it again, I just kept replaying it!! How wrong you can be on a first, perhaps casual, hearing! I've revised my opinion entirely and now think this is their best yet. It is a development from the previous albums: the musical arrangements are richer, the lyrics deeper and the production slicker. But you still get Muse - powerful guitar driven rock with melody aplenty. In terms of development, "Assassin" and "Exo-politics" pick up from where "Absolution" left off - lots of power, pace and great riffs. Brilliant stuff! Moving on, there are a couple of songs where they have managed to combine power with "pop" - "Starlight" is very catchy for instance. Elsewhere, you get beautiful harmonies that I've not heard before with Muse - the gorgeous, powerful "Supermassive Black Hole" is a good example. "Soldier's Tale", a lament about the injustices facing soldiers fighting on the "front-line" thousands of miles away, is another song benefiting from rich harmonies. It is then cleverly musically linked to the following song, "Invincible" - a clarion call for those same and other, similar individuals to take strength from the uniqueness and power of their own souls as a means of resisting and fighting injustice. But the biggest musical surprise is reserved for the trio of songs that close the album: "City of Delusion", "Hoodoo" and "Knights of Cyclonia". It is in these songs that the musical development moves on apace. Muse are sceptical of the "prog rock" tag that some people place on them: however, song writing as exemplified here moves them further into that camp, whilst still retaining enough of their root sound to keep their existing fans happy. What we have in these songs is a development in the complexity of the instrumentation and arrangements: acoustic guitars, lush orchestral strings and trumpets playing Spanish and other continental themes, enhanced sound effects etc. "City of Delusion" is possibly the most complex of the arrangements, building on the acoustic guitar and continental themes of the orchestra and trumpet to develop into a powerful rock number. "Hoodoo" opens with flamenco style guitar riff, developing into a slow number with gentle orchestration and classical piano, again building to a more traditional rock band sound towards the end. The sound of horses galloping heralds the start of "Knights of Cyclonia" and a chase theme develops on trumpet, drums and rock guitar as the song builds to a crescendo. The album's songs were recorded chronologically, so the last three, most complex numbers, are the most recent. This opens up exciting prospects for the next Muse album should they decide to continue with the development. Finally, the lyrics throughout the album are consistently more political and meaningful than we've had from Muse before. The album closes with the words "The time has come to make things right; you and I must fight for our rights; you and I must fight to survive"; a theme which has been developed and repeated from the opener "Take a Bow". Matthew Bellamy, the band's inspirational leader, is clearly a man with a mission. Many bands have tried this in the past, going back to my day and before - but unfortunately my generation has not managed the planet and its peoples too well during its tenure - I sincerely hope Matthew and his generation do a better job!

Good old album , bought used and its perfect

Case came cracked but a very good album I love their music.

For me this is muse’s third best album.Not a bad track on the album.I put this behind Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution which I think is their best.All three are must buys if you like their music or haven’t heard them before.

Does like me a bit of Muse, one of their best albums

Well I really loved this album, I would by from this seller again the C.D was in really good condition. What can I say Super massive black hole really is Massive. I actually first heard this song on strictly come dancing and I thought wow their good who are they, so on the strength of that song being used by the pro's for a dance routine I wanted to hear more so I ordered the album, thanks strictly for introducing me to such a talented band oh and the rest of the songs on the album are not to shabby either.

This album was also my 1st Muse CD back in 2006, so it was about time I got it the vinyl. Map Of The Problematique is still a top song of mine and to hear it used in the last season of Umbrella Academy was perfection.

MUSEの作品の中で私が気に入った一枚。日本のリスナーにもっともっと聴いてもらいたい一枚。

Se c'è un album dei Muse che mi prende e mi porta via ogni volta, è proprio "Black Holes and Revelations". È un disco che ha un'energia incredibile, una specie di mix esplosivo di rock, grandiosità sinfonica e quel tocco di follia geniale che solo loro sanno dare. Sound Maestoso e Imponente: Le canzoni qui hanno un'ampiezza pazzesca. Si passa da riff di chitarra super potenti a momenti con archi e cori che ti fanno venire i brividi. È un album che suona enorme, progettato per le arene e per riempire lo spazio. Brani Iconici a Raffica: Praticamente ogni singola traccia qui potrebbe essere un singolo di successo. "Starlight", che è un inno, o a "Supermassive Black Hole" con quel suo groove irresistibile e un po' sexy. Poi c'è "Knights of Cydonia" che è pura epica western-spaziale! E non dimentichiamo le perle più intime o quelle più sperimentali che rendono l'album così vario. I testi sono sempre un po' criptici, ma affrontano temi come la politica, la cospirazione, l'amore, l'universo... e lo fanno con quella poeticità e quel senso di urgenza che caratterizzano i Muse. Ti fanno pensare, ti fanno viaggiare con la mente. Matt Bellamy qui è al suo meglio. La sua voce spazia su un'estensione incredibile, passa da momenti di melodia dolce a urla potenti che ti trafiggono. È un vero marchio di fabbrica dei Muse. "Black Holes and Revelations" non è solo un album, è una dichiarazione. È un viaggio spaziale, un'epopea rock che ti prende e ti catapulta in un'altra dimensione. Se sei un fan dei Muse, lo conosci e lo ami già. Se non lo hai mai approfondito, o se non conosci la band, questo è un punto di partenza fantastico per capire la loro grandezza. Per me, rimane uno dei loro vertici assoluti e un disco che continuo a mettere su a volume altissimo! Assolutamente consigliato!

O disco é ótimo. Mas o site da Amazon é horrível pra quem compra cds e vinis, não colocam informações sobre as músicas, sobre a versão do álbum e mais fotos. Tratam o consumidor mal demais

Sie haben es mehrmals bewiesen. Sie können es noch besser! Wäre dieses Album nicht ein Produkt von MUSE ich würde jetzt in Lobeshymnen ausbrechen und in der Tat hört es sich auch durchaus gefällig an, ist professionell gemacht und wahrlich ein Hochgenuss für die dem Schönen zugeneigten Sinne, zudem von der ersten bis zur letzten Nummer ohne Durchhänger; kurzum: eine reife Leistung! Es ist auch nicht so, dass man sich diese Songs nicht wieder und immer wieder anhören könnte und wöllte und dass durch die Wiederholung des ewig Gleichen sich bald ein Sättigungsgefühl einstellen würde. Nein, vielmehr, je öfter man sie hört, desto mehr schälen sich kleine Juwelen aus den sich zuvor noch gewöhnlich vernehmenden Einfassungen heraus. Und doch, eines muss bemängelt werden: Dieses Album ist erstklassig, für viele unerreicht, aber nicht genial. Wer Absolution und Origin of Symmetry von MUSE kennt, der hat sich wohl einen weiteren Geniestreich erwartet. Stattdessen ist es nur ein Stück anständige Arbeit geworden. Bestes Kunsthandwerk! Solide vom ersten bis zum letzten Klang. Nicht weniger, aber auch nicht mehr. Eine Inszenierung zum Billigtarif. Der Gipfelstürmer hält am Anhang inne, nicht mangels überschüssiger Kräfte, sondern weil es sich dort besser Sonnen lässt und er nicht gedenkt seinen Schweiß zu verschütten. Trotzdem sind fünf Sterne zu vergeben, denn beinahe eine jede andere Band, auch solche mit großen Namen (Radiohead ausgenommen), sollte sich glücklich schätzen, wenn sie wenigstens ein einziges Mal am Zenit ihres Könnens dieses Niveau erreichen würde, auf welches die Musiker von MUSE in einem Moment absinken, in dem der Kommerzialisierung zu viel Augenmerk geschenkt wird. Und ja, das ist es! MUSE ist marktgängiger geworden. Das Lied mit dem Titel Supermassive Black Hole klingt wie aus einer anderen Welt; aus der Welt kommerzieller Popmusik. Unvermittelt ist man an Adornos pessimistische Mahnung ob der verflachenden Tendenzen in der Kulturindustrie erinnert. Ich bin mir immer noch nicht sicher, ob es sich bei dieser Nummer nicht um ein ironisches Tonzitat handelt, um eine musisch verwandelte Parodie auf das erotisierende Geträller balzender Mädchenbands, aber egal, wie auch immer gemeint, den Diskohäschen wird es einerlei sein. Sie werden sich zu dem verführerischen, zwar durchaus vielschichtigen doch mit konventionellem Wohlklang aufreizenden Gesang verführerisch in den Hüften wiegen und so bleibt nur die Hoffnung, dass sie das Gefallen an dem einen Lied zur hohen Kunst früherer MUSE Alben geleitet. Im Übrigen bleibt nur noch zu sagen: Auch dieses Album von MUSE ist bei allem Lamento für jeden Musikfreund ein absolutes Muss. Es gefällt einfach, obgleich es, wohl in erster Linie der hohen Erwartungshaltung wegen, beileibe nicht enthusiastisch stimmt.

One of their best albums