BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS

Black Holes And Revelations remembers me of funny times when I heard of progressive and thought that it had a bunch of long music that I would not have the guts to handle. How innocent I was. Well, when I heard that Muse was progressive, it actually helped me to have the courage to listen more of this genre. I'm glad that it happened, even if Muse is not a progressive band.

It's funny that this band is on the site, but it kind of makes sense. The style is not very simple by rock standards, which makes me think of Queen, another quasi-prog. Maybe a prog fan won't be too surprised by songs like Starlight and Map of the Problematique, but the quality in such tracks is proof of their talents. It's not about complex songs with 10 minutes of duration, it's about a great sense of quality and how to make the best of the sound of the instruments, rather than just play intricate solos. Not that I have something against intricate solos. There's also a bit of sci-fi on the lyrics, so there you go, it's almost a Rush album! Seriously though, if you like Rush, maybe you'll like how they mix heavy rocking with different styles.

Being more personal, I love the vocals on Supermassive Black Hole. Matt Bellamy made me really start to like falsetto. I imagined that many people would consider Exo-Politics as a weak track, but apparently I'm not the only one that find it enjoyable. Soldier's Poem is the one I like the least, there's nothing really interesting for me. At least it's short.

Knights of Cydonia is probably the closest you have of an epic. This is also the most memorable of all, maybe because of the funny music video, but the song itself has some great moments and doesn't feel like 6 minutes.

It's a bit redundant to simply explain each track as "good" and "not so much", then here's a rating for each one of them:

Take a Bow: 4/5 Starlight: 4/5 Supermassive Black Hole: 5/5 Map of the Problematique: 4/5 Soldier's Poem: 2/5 Invincible: 4/5 Assassin: 4/5 Exo-Politics: 5/5 City of Delusion: 4/5 Hoodoo: 3/5 Knights of Cydonia: 5/5

As you can see, I enjoy most of the album, but there's something that makes me like more the older ones. A great album nonetheless.