"Black Holes and Revelations" Muse

As promised, here it is, the forthcoming fourth release from the Power Trio from Devon. Due out here in the States on Tuesday July 11th, those lucky kids across the pond have had this album since the 3rd. I was going to review it for LAST Sunday, but as I said in the last post, I was sadly without the intarwebs for the past week. I've been listening to the album pretty steadily since I got a hold of it just before I left. One of the impressions I immediately got from this album was that they certainly continue to mature as a band. Especially Matt Bellamy as the lead singer. If you go back and listen to their debut, "Showbiz" you can tell already that this band is going to be something special. You notice the sweltering guitars and the distinctive vocals. On "Showbiz" though, you can also sense a youth and inexperience in the shrill falsetto that has come to be one of the band's hallmarks. Much like early Metallica showcases James Hetfield's gravelly voice that is noticeably more controlled and well-trained in the later albums, Bellamy's voice has gradually slid from shrill to silky smooth. No longer do the faint of heart need to cringe when he hits those high notes, instead they can calmly sit in front of the speakers and have their face melted off with it's power. That said, this album also showcases the band's increasing willingness to experiment with a bit genre-bending, slipping into one after another, as if a bit unsure of what they're going to wear for their big date with superstardom.

The album beams itself down to earth with the opener, "Take a Bow" full of echoes and violins and space-dust. It's a swirling, sparkling teleportation straight out of Gene Roddenberry's neural net. By the time it materializes at around the two-minute mark we discover that it's a full-on space station of rock come to show us what the future holds. It breaks the Prime Directive with impunity, synthesizers set to stun and vocals from another planet. When the shuttle bay doors open and the crunching apocalypse emerges, our species clearly has little hope. With "Supermassive Black Hole" our race is slowly enslaved by the beat. Our hips are shackled with laserbeams of bass and our feet are at the mercy of the vox. There are fields of people goose-stepping to the drum-machine and shaking like zombies to the driving guitar. The supreme overlord is commanding everything from his gleaming metal pyramid of rock domination and there's nothing we can do about it. "The Soldier's Poem" is a love song from one slave to his dearest in the next camp over. He's staring at the moonlight and remembering what it was like to be free. His melancholy and desire are aching just below the surface, his tenderness just on the other side of the electromagnetic fence.

In true human spirit, what oppression would be complete without a rebellion boiling just below the surface. "Invincible" is that revolt. It's a drum corps soundtrack and a soapbox in the barracks. It's knowing that they could be caught at any moment, but realizing the absolute necessity of what they're doing. It's rallying troops to almost certain defeat, but playing on that oh-so-human weakness, pride. It's rhetoric and propaganda in it's purest, most elevated form. It's drum beats of motivation and it's a guitar solo of revolution. The revolt begins in Mexico, "City of Delusion" is a south-of-the-border homespun event that will cascade from the center of the Americas all across the globe. The same violins that signalled their arrival are being turned against the invaders, the beat and the rhythm spun in the other direction. The bass is underwater and the initial offensive is beaten back. The oppressors are feeling confident when the Mexi-Cali trumpet of victory is heard in the distance. A clarion call of triumph over the soft acoustic guitars of defeat. After many months of hard-fought battle, the interplanetary invasion is finally cleansed from the Earth. The crystal piano of the bonus track, "Glorious" is the voice of an entire world free from unwanted dominion. The fear and slavery and pain are finally cast off and "Glorious" is the one word to encapsulate what everyone is feeling. The soaring guitars and skyrocketing vocals are fireworks and kites and airplanes and singing and cakes and parades and freedom. Humanity is once again free, however easy the musical invasion might have been on the ears.

Muse Official Site
"Take a Bow" Muse
"Supermassive Black Hole" Muse
"Glorious" Muse