BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS

"Black Holes and Revelations" is the 4th album buy UK Devon rockers Muse. Although I bought the first 3 albums when each of them was released. I don't actually own this album. The reason for this was that, at the time I was living with my parents and brother and was at uni. In our household we didn't see the point of owning multiple copies of the same album. And in this case my brother beat me to it. This meant that although I was aware of the singles, I never really gave this album a listen properly as I listened to stuff from my own CD collection. But now as I attempt to review all of the Muse albums, I have been listening to this album quite a bit.

This album was released in 2006 and at this point Muse had already established themselves as a major force in rock music, not just in the UK but all over. But I think this is the album that really propelled them and secured their status as rock kings and really their legacy was confirmed regardless of what was to come next. "Absolution" saw them delve into topics such as the apocalypse whereas this album has much more of a feel- good vibe to it. Also, it is noted while "Absolution" was a decent album, there were tracks which weren't quite up to scratch by Muse's standards. With "Black Holes..." this is not the case at all. Quality control is well and truly resumed. Not every track is a singalong anthem, it is more of balanced album with big hits mixed with solid album tracks.

The big hits from this album though for me were the key for me for them stepping up to headline festivals and playing stadiums. The likes of "Starlight" with the amazing piano intro and I love how it uses the "Black holes and revelations" in the lyrics and that it's not the title of the song but is the title of the album. It is an absolute classic song and rightly a staple of their back catalogue. "Super Massive Black Hole" is another monster of a track and is currently their most streamed track on Spotify, sitting at 318 million streams. I think if Matt Bellamy sang every song like he does in this track he would lose his voice pretty quickly but doing it the odd time is what makes this song so special. The other big track is "Knights of Cydonia". An epic 6-minute track, and the opening does actually feel like knights on horses galloping along before weaving its way into a mesmerising rock classic. I would say where Muse let themselves down a bit on their first 3 albums was the lack of a proper album closer but they more than made up for it with "Knights of Cydonia".

To me the three tracks I have mentioned are the big hitters of the album. But there is so much more to the album to delve into and appreciate than that. "Soldier's poem" is a nice slow track which is much improved over the slower tracks on "Absolution". It does feel like it's going to go off an "Everybody hurts" by REM direction from the opening notes before veering away into its own wee world. "Map of the problematique" has a great groove to it. "Invincible" another very strong track. Probably the most interesting and different track on the album is "Hoodoo". It starts of at a lower tempo, then about midway through, a really cool piano part comes in. I like the way they played about with the song structure here. "City of Delusion" is another great track with great strumming, giving the acoustic vibe, before plugging in for the chorus. Mix this with some strings and you've got a really fine track.

Overall, this is fantastic album, and I would place it as one of the best albums in their discography. In Spotify it comes out on top in the band's popular releases section. But is it better than "Origin of Symmetry"? For me no. While this album has more larger than life songs, "Origin.." remains their most ambitious album. I think "Black Holes..." while still having some tracks which are little different, are still Muse to the core, it does feel like they took the option to become big rather than go more experimental and risk their fan base. But if you were to ask me which the better album is based on all out anthems and the strength of the album tracks, I would probably say "Black Holes..."