Black Holes and Revelations

One of my favorite bands and albums before even getting this. But I’m excited to give it a 100/5 stars anyways.

…..and, yup, still as glorious as ever. Love them so much.

There have been many bands over the years where the influence of Queen is apparent. Jellyfish and The Struts come to mind. But what makes Muse special is the fact that they really have their own sonic identity, independent of any similarities to Queen, and it lies in their use of synthesizers. As a synth enthusiast, I can hear how much fun they had making patches, but then they found an actual musical use for them. Some of the patches they make sound pretty wild, but they never get carried away (like Super Furry Animals (and I say that as a big SFA fan)). It’s a great album, and well deserving of a place on this list.

I don't like Muse. The pseudo-dystopian "we are the rebels and our love will overpower the system" lyrics are very childish and I'm sorry not sorry to say it's hard for me to imagine adults who take this seriously. On top of that, the pop-prog sound is quite grating. That being said, I tried giving it a generous listen and to understand what people hear in this band -- they certainly "rock" hard, and I can appreciate that Muse (while wearing their influences heavily) don't necessarily have a cookie-cutter generic sound like so much other rock nonsense from the 00s. I will never choose to listen to this again, but I can at least giving a knowing "oh ok cool" the next time someone tells me they like Muse.

Me gusta un poco su identidad musical, pero me pone nervioso que esta no se termina de definir. El final del álbum ya se vuelve muy genérico y aburrido, pero la primera mitad es muy buena.

Muse certainly don’t believe in understatement. On 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, everything has to sound monumental: the roaring guitars, the soaring synthesizers, and Matt Bellamy’s theatrical vocals. There’s no denying the ambition or the musicianship, but all that bombast rarely makes the songs as exciting as they seem determined to be.

I I keep hearing echoes of Radiohead and Coldplay, only with the drama turned up several notches. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but Radiohead already give me everything I want from that particular corner of alternative rock. Muse’s more extravagant approach rarely offers me anything I feel I’m missing. The album is full of grand gestures, yet surprisingly little of it stays with me.

Muse have certainly mastered the art of sounding enormous. I just wish the songs gave me something equally impressive to hold on to.

I used to love Muse when I was an edgy teen. Finally saw them live and was bored

Thought I'd enjoy this album for nostalgias sake but no I also found it boring. Maybe I've just matured

2 ⭐️

I don't think that you can call this rock. There is absolutely nothing raw about it. Everything is polished to perfection, as if a radio station had gotten their hands on a good album and decided to turn it into yet another duplication of that same radio hit.

It is good never the less.

not real. simulated well, but not real.

- Mom, let's buy Radiohead?
- We have Radiohead at home...

Der er nogle sindssygt fede idéer på det her album. Og så er jeg lidt biased af, at den her plade har været så stor en del af min folke- og efterskoletid, hvor jeg næsten ikke havde drømme, der var større end at blive en lige så stor guitar hero, som Matt Bellamy er

3.9

If teenage thom yorke was listening to queen during a modern computer hacking montage. I will say that this is probably incredibly fun music to play as a band.

"The time has come for you / To shoot your leaders down / And join forces underground"

This album was one that I was excited to listen to today, as I'm familiar with Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole, and Muse in general as a band via. their biggest hits. The album starts very strong with a very sci-fi sounding intro in "Take a Bow," straight into the album's biggest hits, "Starlight," and "Supermassive Black Hole."

Although I did find the rest of the album to be somewhat boring and derivative. "Assassin" and "Knights of Cydonia" both have quite cool riffs, but don't nearly amount to enough to prop up the second half of the album on their own.

I came into this album ready to give it a 4/5, but after a disappointing run of tracks, it'll get a

3/5

I never got fully into Muse, although I do recall a fair few of their singles, just never did a deep dive. This is good, but perhaps they are a better singles band than a full album band for me. Having said that, good moments here with 'Starlight' and 'Supermassive Black Hole', and they do rock hard in places with Matt Bellamy's vocal range continuing to amaze. Could perhaps slip up to a 4, but for now I'm giving this one a 3.

Starlight was a banger, the rest.........eh not for me. 2.5/5, bumped down to 2 since can't do half stars

Another one I've been waiting for. This album (or, to be exact, at first the brilliant song "City of Delusion") started a years long Muse hype for me.

It's an exciting collection of very good rock songs. Muse manage to sound diverse while still building a coherent album. They also manage to put pop sensibilities into heavy rock instrumentals, thereby creating a powerful catchiness.

The electronic rock buildup in opener "Take a Bow" - the delicious fuzzy bass in "Supermassive Black Hole" - the unstoppable roll of "Map of the Problematique" - the genius acoustic guitar riff in the aforementioned "City of Delusion" - the theatrics of "Hoodoo" - the grand finale "Knights of Cydonia" - there's just so much I love about this record.

"Starlight" and "Invincible" are the poppiest inclusions here and in parts show where the band would (sadly) be headed with the next albums. I actually grew to like these songs, but they prevent the record from reaching the perfect 5/5 score.

If you like this album, reach for Muse's perfect, much rawer, really exciting "Origin of Symmetry" from 2001 or for the 2007 live album "HAARP".

4.5/5 - near perfect

Knights of Cydonia is one of those songs that’s always made my skin crawl and I’ve always been deterred from these guys because of that. I was prepared to give this a 1 or 2 because I fucking hate that song but I didn’t realize Starlight was these guys, and Supermassive Black Hole isn’t as annoying as I remember.

This rocked way harder than Muse's reputation had led me to believe.

Really solid album. I think it’s propped up a bit by a couple killer songs, but overall, this is a good listen.

4.5
I like Muse, you can definitely hear the Radiohead influence but I think they have a more unique style than people give them credit for, especially on this album

I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan or anything, but it's ridiculous to deny an album its deserved praise when every song is as good as this record shows. Rhythm section here does a lot of really cool accelerating/decelerating tempo stuff on many of these tracks and the melodies on the ballads and rock tracks alike stick in the ear like clockwork.