Black Holes and Revelations

Ok so i thought id write abuot the new muse album which has been quickly spread around and on peoples lips in recent months. There have been some very strange and somewhat in teresting decisions from the muse camp. For a start the album titled has been confirmed as Black Holes and Revelations, which is a somewhat tangent in terms of album names for muse, compared to Showbiz, origin of symmetry and absolution, althouhg any muse fan would know that matt bellamy is really into his strange and paranormal literature.

Next i move onto the new single, Supermassive black hole, which seems to fit in well with the whole black hole element matt bellamy seems to have going on. By the way its released as a download only single over at their official website muse.mu . The amount of uproar from musers over at the official and unofficial sites, some say they were boycotting the album and the single, and that what was floating around the internet was a fame leak to throw people off the scent, or it was a remix. But no, its the real deal, its very different, a groovy guitar dance song, with layered vocals and a pumping bassline in the chorus and a very catchy tune. To be honest when i first heard it, it made me laugh but ive got used to it now and actually like it. Go and download for yourself, its only 79p, not available in america i think though.

The big news so far is the play of three of their new songs at Radio 1's Big weekend festival in dundee this weekend, with please from management to not download any of the live songs, being flaunted. Head your way over to http://invictus.softmeg.com/index.php or muselive as its better known, and have a search round for the songs, i doubt whether they will be there for very long. Some videos of the event are on there, buried deep within the forums. 

Out of the new songs, the new single certainly seems to have redeemed itself with a live performance showing off many good merits to it funk inspirations and vocoders rounding off the chorus triumphantly. What really stood out was the new song Starlight, rumoured to be the second song on the tracklist for the album. It does sound like it has potential for being a second single, with an uplifiing verse and starry rythum. Theres still some of the good old harmonised piano like from bliss and stockholm sydrome. Matt bellamy declaring "hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations" in its chorus. It seems somehwhat to have similarities with falling away with you, with its steady stream of bassline, wailing vocals and catchy rythm similar to the part in time is running out.   

As for knights of cydonia, the live version is a very weird song at first, with matt bellamy showing off once again his lack of balls, no really i mean it he must still be in puberty as the notes he reaches within the first minute are staggeringly high, much like Microcuts. No sooner has he hit those high notes does the sound rip into a high tempo bass and drumline, and the guitar having wailing qualities and straneg techno almost sci-fi effects mixed in. Which i suspect matt bellamy using his new korg expression pad on his new manson guitar. The verse is difficult to make out, but the pre-chorus keeping strong to muses steadfast layered vocals and harmonies, as we have seen in past albums. The chorus and its lyrics reminds me of butterflies and hurricanes, with the music building a crescendo overlayed with some sci-fi effects, and then ripping into a hook, similar to the newborn opening riff.

All in all i think that the new album is shaping up to be something very different, strange and almost ghostly, with the stregnth of their lyrics showing strong, with influences such as the oil crisis shwoing through in Supermassive black hole (glaciers melting in the dead of night). The new album is out july 3rd, with a hard copy release of their new single coming out mid june.

One more point, months ago NME the magazine we all hate, stated muse as emo, whereas just recently a review of the single calling the prog-rockers, make up you mind NME you narrow minded fucks.