Muse: Black Holes And Revelations

Modern Drummer
January 2007

(Four stars out of five)

Muse's Black Holes And Revelations is, in fact, a revelation. 
The English trio plays to packed arenas in Europe, but their name has always elicited a response akin to "Don't they kinda sound like Radiohead?" when dropped in the States. No more. Black Holes. .. is explosive, bordering on schizophrenic. That's not a bad thing when man (drummer DOMINIC HOWARD) and machine can meld for alt-disco pulses ("Map Of The Problematique," "Knights Of Cydonia") that are powerfully delivered and sonically flawless. Even when the intensity level drops, like in the delicate ballad "Soldier's Poem" (with solid, subtle brushwork from Howard), the originality doesn't suffer.


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