FILE UNDER: Album of the year!
CORPORATE LINE: Their previous albums, they figured, were borne of necessity; hurried in the face of impending tour dates and hobbled by the need to ensure they could be played live. This time, they took a No Limits approach – no tour was booked, no studio tomfoolery was out of bounds; they were to explore the technological possibilities of the ‘studio band’. However, the equipment at Chateau Miraval was, frankly, not up to the job of recording a Muse album, so the band decamped to New York to complete the bulk of recording in the Electric Lady and Avatar studios and to soak the record with much-needed dance floor flavas. “Hendrix’s ghost was hanging around,” says Matt, “and Bowie came in for a day and said hello. That was good; to get the nod of approval from the old boy. If we’d stayed in France for the whole album it probably would’ve ended up real prog. Songs like ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ would’ve been twenty minutes long. Going to New York for some reason tightened everything up and it got more groove orientated. Songs like ‘Starlight’ and ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and ‘Hoodoo’, they all had grooves that radically changed when we went to New York, I don’t know if that was the vibe of the city or what.”
If Muse sound like a new band on ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ it’s because, after Glastonbury, they are: expanded of mind, settled of spirit and anything but sedentary of sound. Still, some of this might come as a shock: after opener ‘Take A Bow’ takes over where ‘Absolution’ left off – all doomy celestial synths and Matt’s preacherish wails of “You will burn in hell for your sins!” – we suddenly rocket off into unexplored quadrants. ‘Starlight’ is an Abba gig on the moon, ‘Map of the Problematique’ is Depeche Mode impersonating Queen for a Bond theme and, most surprising of all, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ is a dance floor electro-metal stomper, resembling Beck giving Marilyn Manson a helium blowback in Studio 54. Which is not to mention the triptych of Italian folk-influenced meta-country that closes the record in a flurry of flamenco frenetics and mariachi horns. ‘Absolution 2: Back To The Planets’, this most certainly is not.
For continuity, in fact, we must look to the lyrical themes, where fans of the apocalyptic soundbite, the madcap conspiracy theory, the revolutionary rabble-rousing, the weird stuff about aliens inventing all earthly religions and other such classic Muse concerns will not be disappointed. The idea that identity cards are the first sign of the onset of the end of the world? That’ll be ‘Take A Bow’, Matt: “There‘s definitely a connection to Revelations with that. It talks about a time when people will not be able to purchase anything without a number or exist without a number. Instead of going for a job interview they‘ll just swipe you. They‘ll get your medical history, your financial history, the lot.”. The theory that the Earth is actually an expanding sphere, being sucked towards the gigantic black hole at the centre of the universe (as emotional metaphor)? ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, mate.
THE GOOD:
“Knights Of Cydonia” – Muse ends the album with a monster track that is as potent as any song released in the last year. “Knights” seems too big for Muse. It’s as if they are trying to harness something they can’t control and unleash it here. It might remind old-school rock fans of Iron Maiden’s “Run to The Hills” or anything Queen has released that was larger than life. It’s impossible that a song this good came from Muse.
“Map of the Problematique” – Wow. It takes about three minutes before it fires on all cylinders. This is a song to be reckoned with and one that will keep you listening for ages. Possibly the album’s best track.
“City Of Delusion” – With so many different things dancing in your ear it’s hard to know where to focus. This is absolutely brilliant. Muse must have found their muse because they have outdone anything anyone would’ve ever thought they were capable of.
“Take A Bow” – We’ve compared Muse to Radiohead before and this doesn’t change our minds—what changes this song is that its more like Pink Floyd than Radiohead. At about the two-and-a-half minute mark all hell breaks loose and shines. It’s pretentious—but we love songs that are big, bold, and beautiful.
“Supermassive Black Hole” – This song will either be loved or hated. There is something manic about the entire song—this proves that Muse is no Radiohead clone. Radiohead could never make this dance track without being laughed at for selling out—in the same way we dig when Supergrass or Super Furry Animals voyage out of character.
“Invisible” – This song made me say outloud ‘wow, this is a good album’. At the four minute mark Muse get it on and drop a bomb with a wild guitar solo that invokes something grand that only Pink Floyd could pull off. Muse is mighty impressive.
“Starlight” – It’s pretty and yet feels like a gapping hole after the brilliance of the other songs. And yet it’s better than most songs released every week. On this album its average—on everyone else’s album it’s great. Figure that out. Maybe it speaks to how good Black Holes and Revelations is as a whole.
THE AVERAGE:
“Soldier’s Poem” – Matthew Bellamy is no Freddy Mercury, but we thank you him for trying. It was interesting for all of its two minutes.
THE BAD:
Nothing.
FRANKLY: Every Brit magazine touted the Artic Monkeys as the next coming of the Beatles. Well, that rumor has been solidly put to bed—they were oversold. Muse came without a blip on the radar and they have an album that is light years better than the Artic Monkey’s offering. Dare we say it’s better than the last two Coldplay albums? We dare.
+ Charlie Craine
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