Black Holes & Revelations (Limited Edition CD+DVD)
Sounding like the confident, ambitious superstars they already are in their native UK, Muse follows up their breakthroughAbsolutionwith an album that tempers its unabashed grandiosity and apocalyptic obsessions with a smart pop groove. The minimalist angst of the opening "Take A Bow" may bridge the goth-pop conceits of the collection's successful predecessor, but those expectations are quickly kicked aside by "Starlight"'s synth-pop bliss, the falsettoed, space-disco thump of "Supermassive Black Hole" and the chilly, New Wave redux sheen of "Map of the Problematic"; so much for being held hostage to those early Radiohead comparisons. Indeed, on the lilting "Soldier's Poem" vocalist/guitarist Matthew Bellamy cannily channels Freddie Mercury while "Assassin" pulses with the familiar metallic nerve and lyrical dread of Muse past. But by the time "Knights of Cydonia" erupts in a wrenching, melodramatic climax that somehow fuses ELP, Davie Allan, Procul Harum and Chris Isaak with enough giddy abandon to suspend disbelief, Muse have long since proved their case as genre-be-damned rock world-beaters. This limited edition set also features an hour-long bonus DVD that chronicles the trio's headliningAbsolutiontour set/de factocoronation at the Glastonbury Festival in 2004. Also features are four other live tracks recorded that same years in venues that range from London's massive Earls Court to a tiny Cincinnati club, performances that well chronicle the ambitious trio's ambitious musical ascent and recent past.--Jerry McCulley