Rate Black Holes and Revelations

[AssassinRecords]

5 Stars

 

Powerful drumming, diverse songs. I never get bored of BHaR.

 

Best Track: Map of the Problematique

Worst Track: Soldier's Poem

Favourite Moment:

"Why can't we see, when we bleed, we bleed the same?"

"Watch our souls fade away"

The drum fill on Assassin

[SaveTheHostages!]

Five Stars: * * * * *

 

Good things about the album: Very energetic with lots of variation, lots of different styles and entertaining

Bad things about the album: Less subtlety or any masterpiece like songs, lacks some of the emotion of the previous album(s)

Best track: Hoodoo, Take a Bow, Map of the Problematique

Worst track: Starlight

Favourite moment: When the piano and thumping drums kick in on Hoodoo, plus all the lyrics to that song, "Why can't we see that when we bleed we bleed the same" and much of MotP

[NoSurprisesPlease]

Good things about the album: Love the delay soaked guitars which seem more prominent on this album than the others, and also the kind of european-cum-folk music influences i.e. the spanish guitar in City of Delusion and Hoodoo

Bad things about the album: Lyrics are hit and miss. Possibly a little over produced.

Best track: Map of The Problematique

Worst track: Soldier's Poem

Favorite moment(s):

 

"I will aaaaaaveeenngggeeee!" in City of Delusion, also the lyric "I choose to hide from the all-seeing eye" from the same.

Everything about MOTP

When the guitar kicks in in Take a Bow, and also when the synths pick up pace just before that when you can hear Matt going "Bow-ow-ow-ow" in the background

"Please, Please let's use this chance to turn things around" in Invincible

The chorus of Assassin

 

All of the B-sides are awesome from this era are awesome too!

[vintagerock]

Best track:

Supermassive Black Hole, Knights of Cydonia, City of Desilusion, Hoodo

 

Worst track:

Invicible

 

Favourite moment:

Hoodoo - piano

"No ones going to take me Alive" (Kinght of Cydonia) awesome riff

and others who do not remember

[Riveon]

Take a Bow: 10

Starlight: 8

Supermassive Black Hole: 7.5

Map of the Problematique: 9.5

Soldier's Poem: 7

Invincible: 7.5

Assassin: 8 (great live, not so great on the album itself)

Exo-Politics: 5.5

City of Delusion: 9.5

Hoodoo: 9.5

Knights of Cydonia: 10

[Joseph.]

Good things about the album: Introduced me to muse? Its a good album, the songs are sort of here and there if you know what I mean.

Bad things about the album: It being too much here and there. I like the songs, but some of them could have been scraped for others.

Best track: Map of the Problematique

Worst track: Tbh, I don't like City of Delusion

Favourite moment: Build up then guitar solo in KoC

[Mozza]

3 stars.

 

Still holds true to the stuff that got me into Muse: riffs (Assassin), strong bassline (City of Delusion), dramatic piano (Hoodoo). Incorporates their recent direction into more accessible, chart friendly rock music really well in Knights of Cydonia, and even more daring in Supermassive Black Hole. A shift towards more electronic sounds in Take a Bow and Map of the Problematique brings an evolution in their sound that just really really works and still fits in well with their back catalogue.

 

However.........

 

Despite being riffy and heavy, Assassin just feels incomplete and poorly edited. The live versions both prior to and after the album release are so much better and more interesting. Exo-Politics is just incredibly bland b-side fare that is catchy at first but irritating with each listen. Starlight is a shift into the pop-side of things that has gone too far. Cheesy lyrics, cheesy piano, decent yet repetitive bassline and just not really like the kind of commercialised single Muse used to put out (compared to TIRO and Plug In Baby). Invincible and Soldiers Poem slow the album down. Soldiers Poem is a nice idea but the lyrics just aren't strong enough for what Matt seemed to be intending, it's also kinda short and a bit too simplistic. Muse weren't really renowned for their acoustic work. Invincible is a poor attempt at writing an upbeat and uplifting anthem, it's slap-bang in the middle of the album and cannot compare to songs like Showbiz and Citizen Erased. It's almost like a happier version of Falling Away With You, without any of the beauty or charm that song posseses.

 

Overall, some good stuff from Muse, some bad. But the album has no constant feeling, it seems like it was written for a child with a short attenion span. You get the feeling the boys sat down with a checklist of bands and music styles they liked and checked them off as they wrote each song. The result is a mess of an album that jumps all over the music spectrum without really giving a clear indication of who Muse are. That said, there are 5 or 6 brilliant songs that are welcome additions to the back catalogue.

[MusoCuts]

Take a Bow = 7/10

Starlight = 2/10

SMBH = 9/10

MOTP = 5/10

SP = 7/10

Invincible = 2/10

Assassin = 4/10

Exo-Politics = 6.5/10

City of Delusuion = 8/10

Hoodoo = 9/10

KOC = 7/10

[randomparrot]

Take a Bow: 9

Starlight: 6

Supermassive Black Hole: 9

Map of the Problematique: 10

Soldier's Poem: 5

Invincible: 9

Assassin: 9 (great live, not so great on the album itself)

Exo-Politics: 8

City of Delusion: 9

Hoodoo: 8

Knights of Cydonia: 10

[Raiko]

Take a Bow: 9/10

Starlight: 9/10

Supermassive Black Hole: 10/10

Map of the Problematique: 9/10

Soldier's Poem: 8/10

Invincible: 8/10

Assassin: 8/10

Exo-Politics: 8/10

City of Delusion: 7/10

Hoodoo: 10/10

Knights of Cydonia: 10/10

 

Overall, my second favourite album. As exciting and as crazy as Origin, but in a much different way.

[boomeraangsquad]

Take A Bow - 10/10

Starlight - 6/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 5/10

Map Of The Problematique - 9/10

Soldier's Poem - 5.5/10

Invincible - 4/10

Assassin - 7/10

Exo Politics - 5/10

City Of Delusion - 9/10

Hoodoo - 8/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 9.5/10

[Spin26]

Take A Bow - 9.5/10

Starlight - 7/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 7/10

Map of the Problematique - 10/10

Soldier's Poem - 5/10

Invincible - 7.5/10

Assassin - 8/10

Exo-Politics - 6/10

City of Delusion - 9/10

Hoodoo - 8/10

Knights of Cydonia - 9/10

[Riveon]

Assassin: 9 (great live, not so great on the album itself)

Did you mean to keep the part in brackets?

[rainingradioheads]

Take a Bow 10

Starlight 8

Supermassive Black Hole 6

Map of the Problematique 7

Soldier's Poem 6

Invincible 7

Assassin 4

Exo-Politics 5

City of Delusion 4

Hoodoo 9

Knights of Cydonia 8

 

Around a 3...

[ProblematiqueHurricane]

Take A Bow - 8/10

Starlight - 7/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 7.5/10

Map Of The Problematique - 10/10

Soldier's Poem - 7/10

Invincible - 7/10

Assassin - 7/10 (9.5/10 for GOB edit)

Exo Politics - 7/10

City Of Delusion - 7/10

Hoodoo - 9/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 10/10

[harrypottermegan]

Take A Bow - 9/10

Starlight - 7/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 7.5/10

Map Of The Problematique - 8.5/10

Soldier's Poem - 8.5/10

Invincible - 8/10

Assassin - 8.5/10

Exo Politics - 9/10

City Of Delusion - 8/10

Hoodoo - 9/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 10/10

 

Overall: 8.45

[WutDaFucksy]

Take A Bow - 9/10

Starlight - 7/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 8/10

Map Of The Problematique - 9/10

Soldier's Poem - 6/10

Invincible - 7/10

Assassin - 8.5/10

Exo Politics - 6/10

City Of Delusion - 8.5/10

Hoodoo - 9/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 10/10

[drawakangaroo]

Take A Bow - 9

Starlight - 8

Supermassive Black Hole - 9

Map of the Problematique - 9.5

Soldier's Poem - 7

Invincible - 8

Assassin - 7.9

Exo-Politics - 7

City of Delusion - 10

Hoodoo - 9.5

Knights of Cydonia - 10

Overall 8.9/10. My favorite one.

[GSMU7]

Take A Bow - 9/10

Starlight - 8/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 9/10

Map Of The Problematique - 9/10

Soldier's Poem - 5/10

Invincible - 7/10

Assassin - 8/10

Exo Politics - 6/10

City Of Delusion - 8/10

Hoodoo - 6/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 10/10

[Luigi.]

Take A Bow-9/10

Starlight-6.5/10

Supermassive Black Hole-8/10

Map Of The Problematique-10/10

Soldier's Poem-4/10

Invincible-8/10

Assassin-8/10

Exo-Politics-5/10

City Of Delusion-7/10

Hoodoo-8/10

Knights Of Cydonia-8/10

[soccerzombie]

Songs Ranked:

 

Knights of Cydonia

Take A Bow

Exo-Politics

Map of the Problematique

Hoodoo

Assassin

City of Delusion

Invincible

Starlight

Supermassive Black Hole

Soldier's Poem

[futurellama]

Take A Bow - 10

Starlight - 7

SMBH - 7

Map - 7

Soldier's - 5

Invincible - 6

Assassin - 6

Exo - 1

CoD - 8

Hoodoo - 9

KoC - 7

[A Citizen Erased99]

Take A Bow - 8/10

Starlight - 10/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 9/10

Map Of The Problematique - 10/10

Soldier's Poem - 7/10

Invincible - 8/10

Assassin - 9/10

Exo Politics - 8/10

City Of Delusion - 9/10

Hoodoo - 10/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 10/10

[RayFan9876]

Take A Bow - 7/10

Starlight - 9/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 9/10

Map Of The Problematique - 10/10

Soldier's Poem - 7/10

Glorious - 10/10

Invincible - 10/10

Assassin - 7/10

Exo-Politics - 8/10

Easily - 8/10

City Of Delusion - 10/10

Crying Shame - 9/10

Hoodoo - 9/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 10/10

 

Five stars; my second favorite album next to the emotional Absolution. Talk about an album full of great songs! I love the theme of this album. It's quite an "epic west" kind of theme. City Of Delusion demonstrates this to the max. Listen to that strings solo after the chorus! And Glorious holds such an amazing build up that is the chorus. And We Too Could Be Glooorious!

[sebby aka pup]

Take A Bow - 9.5/10

Starlight - 8/10

Supermassive Black Hole - 7.5/10

Map Of The Problematique - 9.5/10

Soldier's Poem - 6/10

Glorious - 9/10

Invincible - 7/10

Assassin - 7.5/10

Exo-Politics - 7.5/10

City Of Delusion - 9/10

Hoodoo - 9.5/10

Knights Of Cydonia - 9/10