Fusion: A Music Review

Muse - Black Holes and Revealations
(9.5 of 10)






After releasing their epic and highly orchestrated masterpiece, Absolution, back in 2003. I was a bit apathetic with the news of their fourth studio album, doubting the band's capabilities to outdo their previous work. But I was wrong, and I'm glad. Because Black Holes and Revealations is an ambitious and sublime album filled with various fusion of sounds and ingenuity.

The first two tracks in the album, "Take A Bow" and "Starlight", sounded like leftovers that didn't made it into their last album, and would probably throw the listener into thinking that Black Holes and Revealations is an Absolution knock-off. But the third song, "Supermassive Black Hole", will instantaenously rock your socks off with its heavy dance/funk beat and Bellamy's falsetto voice. From here onwards, the album sings a different tune. "Map of the Problematique" is another dance rock track that screams Depeche Mode all over it. "Exo-Politics" is a fun, hard, and groovy song that would make Franz Ferdinand green with envy. "Assassin" is probably the heaviest song -making it my favorite- in the whole album, with a guitar intro that resembles System of a Down's. The last track, "Knights of Cydonia", is a fusion of sounds from western movies, spacey synthezizers, and classic rock making it an operatic epilogue.

With that said, Black Holes and Revealations is brillant and grand album. It has varied sounds and not monotonous -even if compared with their other albums. So it won't get old quickly, no matter how much you listen to it. Music aside, the apocalyptic themes and political jargon is very entertaining, if you're into that. If not, Muse still made rock songs in this album worthy of headbanging.

Other Reviews

The Mars Volta - Amputechture
(8.0 of 10)



The Mars Volta's progressive sounds were never intended to be radio friendly since day one. More so now, with their third studio album, because they're not even user-friendly anymore. In Amputechture, the geniuses -known as Omar and Cedric- had over exceeded their musical expirementation, throwing thier new album into an utter sonic discord. Nevertheless, both wizards haven't entirely lost their minds since there's some brilliance left in the album. "Day of the Baphomet", a twelve minute fusion of jazz and rock, is the album's ace. "Viscera Eyes", a latin jam filled with wah guitars and blasting trumpets, is another highlight. Although Amputechture is just white noise compared to previous The Mars Volta albums, it's still far better than what's out there.

Kasabian - Empire
(8.6 of 10)



Like the albums above, Empire is also ambitious and grand. The album is quite varied from beginning to end. Fusing various musical elements from hip-hop, psychedelic, classic rock, to techno; making all of their tracks groovy and dancable -if you're into that sort of thing. "Aponea" is a techno dance track that reminds me a lot of The Chemical Brothers. "The Doberman", with it's choir-like symphony played in the form of classic rock, is probably my favorite song here. Albeit it does not sit that well with me, I like it even better than their last effort.

Priestess - Hello Master
(8.3 of 10)



Unlike the other the bands above, who's trying so hard to redifine and revolutionize music, Priestess is just trying to jumpstart your nostalgia with their AC/DC-like, Sabbath-esque, and Motorhead-ish sounds. From riffs to breaks, Hello Master showcases that the band had mastered the craft of all the classics. The vocalist, however, lacks that unique raw voice like Scott's, Kilmister's, or Ozzy's that makes the band tick well. Nevertheless, the catchy lyrics and awesome riffs of songs like "I am the Night, Color Me Black." and "Two Kids" will make the back of your necks ache caused by extreme, non-stop headbanging.