Rate Black Holes and Revelations

[Chocolate E. Clare]

5/5 personally my favoruite muse album, as it was my friat and has a scale and epicness that the previous ones didnt.

Good things about the album: TaB, SMBH, MoTP. SP, Hoodoo and KoC
Bad things about the album: Exopolitics and it lags a bit around tracks 6-9 imo
Best track: MoTP
Worst track: Exo
Favourite moment: the guitar of SMBH and the synths in MoTP

[bagelsftw]

4/5
Best track - Take a Bow, City of Delusion
Worst track - Exo-Politics
Favourite moment - All of City of Delusion , when the drums kick in on Take a Bow

[Lacey Rose]

One of my favorite albums to crank up the volume and blast my guts out. This album has an amazing beat that I can dance to and it's one of their riskiest albums but they worked it. I love the blend of guitar heavy and ballads.

The only thing bad about this album is that some of the songs sound a little too the same.

Best Track:Hoodoo
Worst Track:Invincible
Best Moment:The "scream" in Supermassive Black Hole

[Gareeh]

Good things about the album: the upbeat tempo of most of the songs
Bad things about the album: that people hate smbh because of twilight [they'll deny that though]
Favourite moment: my first view of the knights of cydonia video

1. Knights of Cydonia
2. Supermassive Black Hole
3. Exo Politics
4. Take a Bow
5. Starlight
6. Assasin
7. Map of the Problematique
8. City of Delusion
9. Invincible
10. Hoodoo
11. Soldier's Poem


Glorious would be 3rd if I included it.

[Sippe]

Originally Posted by Lacey Rose

The only thing bad about this album is that some of the songs sound a little too the same.

Say whaaaat?

[MattC13]

Originally Posted by Sippe

Say whaaaat?

You know how similar Map of the Problematique and City of Delusion are.

[Origin of Revelations]

5/5

Absolution to me is the end of an era and BH&R the start of a new one. While Absolution works as a whole, this feels to me as more or a collection of songs (which I feel work together). There is also so much variety here and it somehow works. TAB and SP are so different and yet still feel on the right album.
It also marks a new form of strong structure that didn't seem to follow into TR. TAB, MOTP, SP, Hoodoo and KOC don't follow your typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus found on previous songs. The songs feel like journeys and so does the album although it could have been fined tuned.
Apart from Exo-politics (which I do enjoy but feel wasn't recorded well) there is no real 'filler' and each song follows something different. TAB ends with noise and cuts straight into clean powerful drums and bass, MOTP ends a string of loud and epic songs and goes straight into a short beautiful ballad (which took me some time to appreciate) which follows into Invincible, which ends epically and straight to Assassin (I love the extended version as much, thought not the whine guitar) but i understand having a short 3 minute hard rock song at this point in the album.
This is also Dom's album, every track his drumming is powerful yet tight, leading the song yet never over powering it. The bass and guitar sounds are just right too.

Good things about the album: It feels like an album yet with variety. It's loud, epic, fresh but not different
Bad things about the album: The 2nd half needs to be tighter and its still a collection of songs.
Best track: MOTP
Worst track: Exo-Politics, i love it but it just doesn't fit in the flow
Favourite moment: 'We bleed the same.'

[CelenaGaia]

Too much inconsistency in BHaR, and the sound quality was appalling. I only truly appreciated Map of the Problematique when I saw them live last year and it made it onto the setlist.
That being said, you can't get past the fact that it's an awesome song, along with Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole and the ubiquitous Knights of Cydonia (the latter gives me goosebumps every time.) For that, I award the album four stars.

By the way - does anyone else think of the old animation "BraveStarr" whenever they watch the Knights video?!

[MusoCuts]

Originally Posted by CiTiZeN_isErAsEd

I don't understand the hate for Starlight...It's just as poppy as Resistance or UD. And a lot better.

If it wasn't for Starlight, I actually wouldn't be the Muse fan I am today. It didn't really get me into Muse as such(That was TiRO), but I loved this song when I was younger and it brings back memories of long road trips, singing along to it in the car

Why do i hate Starlight ? I can't stand of that f***ing poppy piano at the beginning, but i like the end when he sings "i just want you to hoooooooooold". And that's the same with Resitance, why the hell is there a piano in it? It deserves to nothing, and it makes me sick !
And sorry, i think UD is more an interesting song (the voice, and the orchestra + the bass line) than Starlight and Resistance. Just a point of view.

[Davinq]

4/5, great songs, horrible flow, some horrible commercial tracks. I don't care if Matt wanted to write a 'simple pop song' in the form of Starlight, it should never have made it onto the album.

Good things: space rock cranked to 11
Bad things: boring pop nonsense
Best song: Knights
Worst song: Starlight
Favourite moment: No one's going to taaaaaaaaake meeeeee aliiiiiiiiiiiive

The album would have been Muse's best ever if they'd done it like this:

1. Take a Bow
2. Map of the Problematique
3. Glorious
4. Soldier's Poem
5. Invincible
6. Easily
7. Assassin (Grand Omega Bosses or Debase Masons Grog version)
8. City of Delusion
9. Hoodoo
10. Knights of Cydonia

Starlight gets the axe, POSSIBLY becomes a B-side, Crying Shame stays were it is, SMBH joins it. Exo-Politics... I like it and all, it's just a bit boring, they needed to do something more to the main 'riff'.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

[Raiko]

Although more commercial sounding, its definately their 2nd most exciting album after Origin. It has plenty of memorable tracks that will stick around on the setlists for many years.

[Levus]

Originally Posted by MattC13

You know how similar Map of the Problematique and City of Delusion are.

I can't hear any similarities between those two songs. MotP has always been this sort of almost-ambient rock monster. City of Delusion however, has always been extremely different. For one thing it's got trumpets and strings.

[Sippe]

Originally Posted by Levus

I can't hear any similarities between those two songs. MotP has always been this sort of almost-ambient rock monster. City of Delusion however, has always been extremely different. For one thing it's got trumpets and strings.

Oh my god...

[Lauren.]

Originally Posted by Sippe

Oh my god...

+1

I gave it 4/5

Best songs: KoC, City of Delusion, MotP, TaB
Worst song: Exo-Politics. I still love this song though, so it isn't the worst by much.

Best Bits: KoC riff, TaB

[WutDaFucksy]

Take A Bow 8/10
Starlight 6/10
Supermassive Black Hole 7/10
Map of The Problematique 8/10
Soldier's Poem 4/10
Invincible 7/10
Assassin 7.5/10
Exo-Politics 6/10
City of Delusion 8/10
Hoodoo 9/10
Knights of Cydonia 10/10