Muse ::rolls eyes:: Like Coldplay, condemned to all eternity to be compared with Radiohead, although personally, I always found the comparisons misplaced. Radiohead, beneath the coldly cerebral, compulsively experimental, beepy sound effect-laden veneer of their post-Bends records, were in fact concealing tidal waves of overwhelming emotion and pain – see the deeply unsettling “How to Disappear Completely” from Kid A, or the devastatingly sad “Reckoner” from In Rainbows. Muse, by contrast, were superficially erratic, but to my mind, it was mere performative bombast, always executed with one eye thoroughly trained on the audience (which comprised, for the most part, female undergraduate students looking for something slightly more sophisticated than, but equally as pretty as, Take That). In the end, Muse delivered mere pop music tarted up as something more profound – with inane and pretentious “political” lyrics to match.
All of which begs the question of why, despite my obvious cynicism, I like most of their records. I can’t help it; the songwriting is too strong, the melodies and rhythms too catchy and accessible, while the grandiosity and affectedness are amusing, even enjoyable, if you accept it for the mere showmanship that it quite obviously is. To wit: Black Holes and Revelations, released in 2006 when Muse were already pretty big stars, is the album that catapulted them to (inter)galactic celebrity, got them filling arenas in the US etc., and it’s obvious why; though the music at times verges on Metallica-style thrash, a hummable (or shriekable) chorus is invariably at hand.
Of course, on this album, Muse were savvy enough to save the really weird stuff for side two (as most bands are, which incidentally makes the Police’s monumental act of self-sabotage on Synchronicity all the more bewildering and perhaps impressively defiant). Side one of Black Holes and Revelations is the closest these rake thin, amphetamine-addled space rock stars get to addressing the concerns of actual human beings; on “Starlight”, which sounds like Ultra-era Depeche Mode, the pressures of fame and pursuing your goals at the cost of personal relationships; on “Supermassive Black Hole” and “Map of the Problematique”, the destructive appeal of femme fatales, or perhaps, without wishing to sound crass, the supermassive black holes of abundant groupies. The disillusioned serviceman of “Soldier’s Poem” remains heartbreakingly ready to lay down his life for the society that has betrayed him (all while covering Elvis Presley), while the triumphant “Invincible” is the Queeniest moment on a very Queen sounding album.
After this succession of radio friendly space rock bangers, side two is where the thrash metal and idiot politics come to the fore (though the latter is forecasted on “Take a Bow”, the album’s apocalyptic opener). Here we are subjected to some twenty minutes of And Justice For All-style political hard rock, with lyrics about “shooting your leaders down”, the “all-seeing eye”, and satellites controlling our minds. Bizarrely, much of this is interspersed with Ennio Morricone-inspired plucked guitars and trumpets, a perplexing and incongruous spaghetti western influence which culminates with the sound of actual horses on “Knights of Cydonia”, the album’s closer, where Matt Bellamy invites the listener to “come ride with me”. No ta.
Preposterous from start to finish, then, but in the end, what can you say? There’s barely a weak track on Black Holes and Revelations. The lyrics, though frequently ridiculous, are mercifully sparse, and even occasionally quite powerful, particularly on the comparatively mellow “Hoodoo”. The sweeping thematic overture from “Take a Bow”, through the frenetic pop-rock of side one, into the unhinged conspiracy theorising of side two, makes for a grandiose, but also ambitious and well-executed narrative arc. Radiohead were artists, while Muse were mere circus clowns, pop performers aimed squarely at the ever-obliging horny-and-bookish-teenage-girl market. But did they make good records? Lamentably, on the evidence of this album, the answer has to be a resounding “yes”.
Overall rating: * * * *
Standout track: “Starlight”