BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS

The opener, Take A Bow, starts with a nice synth line which has a vauge Absolution-like sound - a promising start to the album. The lyrics seem to be aimed at the world leaders, with lines such as "Pay, you must pay, you must pay for your crimes against the earth". Not exactly light hearted lyrics! After the first verse Matt's guitar enters the song and the synth goes in some hyper mode, very apocalyptic sounding. The song is like a gradual crescendo, until it reaches its climax and comes to an end.

The next track, Starlight (which will be the second single from the album), is a slightly poppier number. Fuzz-bass and a catchy piano melody start the song off well. The second verse contains a U2-like guitar part, which is not really a bad thing in this case (although I do not like U2..). The track then goes into another chorus, which contains some great synth arpeggios. It's not the best track on the album, but it is quite a decent song.

This leads into Supermassive Black Hole..How can I describe this song? It certainly is not prog, that's for sure. It starts with a nice guitar riff and goes into the verse, which is sung in falsetto. Not Matt's usual operatic falsetto vocals though. These vocals sound quite feminine, and very different to anything he has ever done before. During the chorus, Chris sings the backing vocals through a Korg Vocoder, which adds to the poppy sound of this track. The Vocoder is also used by Matt when he "sings" the "Supermassive black hole" part. Then there is the guitar solo, which is just a bit of whammy bar sounds with lots of delay. Then they song ends after another chorus. Very unlike anything Muse have ever done, I guess this is a "love it or hate it" track.

The next track, Map of the Problematique, starts with a distorted guitar riff, then the piano comes in and another guitar channel. It is fairly similar to Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode, just heavier. Dominic's drumming is very good here, as are Matt's vocals. The chorus is harmonised, with Matt singing in falsetto and Chris singing in his normal voice, a bit like Thom Yorke and Ed O'Brien in Idioteque by Radiohead. This is one of my favourite songs on the album, the band are really tight here and it is not like anything they have done before now.

Soldier's Poem is the next song, which is another very different style for Muse. The melody is played on an acoustic guitar, while Matt is singing from a solider's viewpoint. There are some beautiful vocal harmonies in this song, which are not too distant from Queen. This is a very nice little track, and the band are proving that they can play more than just one style very well with this album.

Invincible is up next. It starts off with a drone sound, slide guitar, and a marching drum pattern. In the verse, Matt is using the Kaoss pad on his Manson guitar to get those synth-like sounds which add to the atmosphere of the song. During the chorus he starts playing the guitar properly and the marching drums become a full kit for the second verse. The song is gradually getting louder, and after the second verse the song changes completely. A almost Hysteria-like bassline comes in, and then Matt plays an amazing finger tapping solo, using his Digitech Whammy Pedal to shift each melody note up on octave, making it sound slightly synth-like. This song is another of my highlights here, another great song from Muse.

The style then changes quite drastically with Assassin. First played on the Absolution tour under the name "Debase Masons Grog", this song will be fimilar to many Muse fans. It starts with the riff played on a clean guitar a few octaves higher, then the rest of the band come in and the distorted dropped-D guitar riff comes in. This is certainly the heaviest song from the album, with some more political lyrics. They removed the middle section from the original Absolution tour version, something I am glad they did. It just made the song drag on, and it was less focused.

Then next song is another that was played on the Absolution tour. Originally called "Burning Bandits", Exo-Politics is a song about an alien/government conspiracy theory, with lyrics such as "When the Zetas fill the skies/it's just our leaders in diguise"..The music itself is quite typical of Muse, with one exception - the theremin in the verses. This certainly adds to the alien theme of the song and makes it much more interesting to listen to. This song is the last of the non-prog section of the album..

City of Delusion is one of the most epic songs Muse have ever written. It starts with a simple acoustic guitar riff and gradually builds up, with the addition of the rest of the band as well as violins and a trumpet. The violins play a very eastern-sounding melody, and it adds a lot to the music. It will be interesting to see how they perform this one live (if they try to). It goes from a quiet verse into a blasting chorus, then into another fuzzy bassline for the second verse and the violins return. This is followed by a second chorus which leads into a breakdown that is the same as the intro of the song with just the acoustic guitar playing. The rest of the band then join in as well as a trumpeter who plays a solo over the band. This is followed by another huge chorus, then there is a violin outro. Very epic sounding song with fantastic dynamics. The album is taking a proggy direction, with only 2 more songs to go.

Hoodoo starts with a Morricone-like electric guitar riff, and Matt does another guitar and vocal verse, until the rest of the band (and an string section) join him. Then, for the first time on this album (unfortunately. There simply is not enough here), a romantic-era style piano is introduced, which adds a lot of texture to the song. The chorus is very big sounding, with a string section, piano, guitar, bass, etc. Then the dynamics go quiet again, with a guitar/vocal outro verse, which leads into the next track.

Knights of Cydonia may be the best song from this album. There is no denying that this is prog. It starts with some UFO synth sounds, then Matt comes in with some insane falsetto vocals. There is then a guitar melody played with the whammy bar, followed by some more insane falsetto vocals. There is also a trumpet in this song. The driving drums and synth lines help deliver a great verse, telling us about the imperfect world we live in..then there are some more insane falsetto vocals, followed by the start of the climatic ending to this album. The multi-tracked vocals here are absolutely mindblowing. Very Queen-influenced again, with the instruments gradually getting louder into the background until breaking into a great riff. They then sing the chorus over this riff, and there is a guitar solo after the vocals. This track is simply fantastic, if Muse can do something like this, then they are certainly capable of doing a full prog album.

If this album was totally prog, I would definitely give it five stars, but as it is not really a fullly blown prog album I will only give it four. I think that as a music album it deserves five, but as a prog album it is only four.

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