Black Holes and Revelations — My Favourite Album of the 2000s

Muse are a band that have become incredibly disrespected over the last decade and to some degree I can understand why. Their last 3 albums, for me, have been underwhelming and not up to the same standard as their first five, which I grew up on. This is not to say that those albums are bad, I really appreciate the experimentation on all of them and some of those experiments are my favourite songs off of those albums, however, they just are not as consistent as their previous records and don’t hit those same heights. I mention this because despite this dip in quality over the last 10 years Muse are still my favourite band of all time. Now this could be because when I was growing up my brother listened to them so much that it was sort of ingrained into my head, but I think the real reason is due to the extremely high quality of those first 5 albums. The consistency shown throughout said records holds such a highly regarded place in my heart that it would be difficult to tarnish such a reputation, no matter how many disappointing albums I listen to from them. This brings me to my favourite of those 5 albums and my favourite of the 2000s, Black Holes and Revelations.

Unlike my previous entry with Channel Orange, I will admit to having a certain level of nostalgic bias for this record. However, this does not take away from how great it is, because it is still a truly brilliant listen. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys prog rock because at its core that is exactly what this album is, a progressive rock entry into Muse’s portfolio. Muse are a band that, for the most part, try to change their sound from album to album, with varying degrees of success. But, for me, this is not just Muse’s best attempt at creating a new sound, but also the best attempt of any bands from that era (that I have heard). Muse are a band that have experimented in heavy metal, indie rock, pop rock, classical music, 80s techno and even dubstep but here is where I think they perfected their sound. I think this because they balance the instrumentation and the lyrics really well on this album and these will be my main two focal points in this review.

Lyrics

Now, even as a self-proclaimed Muse fanatic, I can still see the weaknesses in their music and one of the most consistent issues I find with their music is the lyrics. Matt Bellamy is an incredibly exceptional musician, on the guitar he is genuinely on of the best ever. Lyrically, however, that's where some of the cracks start to show a bit more and I think it’s the main issue with some of the later albums. With the early albums it’s still there but you don’t notice it as much because the instruments are always at the forefront and the lyrics play second fiddle (also Matt’s singing is often quite mumbly so it’s hard to understand exactly what he’s saying on a lot of songs). However, on BHAR, there is a more consistent balance between the two, a balance we don’t really see on any of the other albums. On this record for every Assassin, there is an Invincible and this works well towards the tone of the album. Invincible being one of the best songs Muse have ever written from a lyrical standpoint. The instrumental is relatively laid back and it gives space for Matt’s song-writing and singing to shine, and they really do on this song. This song is simple and poetic, it doesn’t try to tackle some massive issue in a tone-deaf way, which some of the more recent songs have a habit of doing. It’s straight to the point and it works to benefit of the song. It’s a song about perseverance, about sticking together when all hope is lost, it’s about nothing else if not love and most importantly it doesn’t try to be more than the sum of its parts. Lyrics like “Your soul’s unbreakable” and “tonight we can truly say, together we’re invincible” are simple yet effective. Now these lyrics won’t be winning any poetry awards, but within the context of the song’s subject matter and the laid back, smooth instrumental, they work very well in creating this tone for the softer side of the album. This leads me onto the other side of the album, the not-so-soft side.

Instrumentals

Muse have always been, throughout every album, masters of their instruments. Whether it’s Matt on guitar and piano, Chris on bass or Dom on drums, the one consistency on every album is how good each of them are on their respective instruments. This album is no different, although I don’t believe it is the best overall instrumentally, I think the production and the mixing is top tier; some of the best I've ever heard. As I said before it’s the balance this album displays which makes it my favourite of the 00s and the epitome of this other side, this instrumental side, comes in the form of Knights of Cydonia. I will try to be as unbiased as possible when discussing this song, but it is my favourite song of all time so give me a little leeway. This song does the opposite to what Invincible does, it puts the instruments slap bang in the forefront and the lyrics this time take a backseat, in fact there’s only about 10 lines in this 6+ minute song. Despite the length and lack of words, it never drags and it never feels like it has gone on too long. It’s as long as it needs to be for us to fully experience the journey that it is trying to convey. It’s a mixture of prog rock and, I’m not even sure if this is a genre but nothing else quite fits the description, western rock and it shouldn’t mix as well as it does. Hypnotic trumpets and a frantic guitar immediately draw our attention into the introduction and don’t give us a minute to breathe. It’s such a fast paced beginning we almost expect it to continue throughout but it doesn’t. It slows right down to this sort of anthem section with nothing but the few lyrics of the song and this synthesised bass. Slowly it builds back up to the pinnacle of the album and one of my favourite guitar riffs/solos of all time. It’s explosive, memorable and everything you would want from rock ballad and an album closer. It juggles different genres, styles and tones so well in just 6 minutes and it goes from height to height, for me it is a completely flawless song. There’s no other way to put it, it is a masterpiece.

This album succeeds on a lot of different levels and that is what makes it so distinguished. It takes a whole genre in a new direction and when you’re in a world dominated with artists and albums that sound like rehashes and exact copies of different ones, it’s so refreshing to hear something so unique. BHAR was unlike anything I had heard when I first listened to it and to this day I still have never heard anything quite like it.