One of the things I’ve always liked about the Guitar Hero franchise is that it’s an easy way to get into new bands. Sure, they only get one track a game, but it’s still a good starting point. The bonus tracks are great for finding your way into the world of non-mainstream music, and I feel proud of myself when a song from a band I listen to shows up in the bonus songs. Makes me feel like I maybe have taste.
Anyhow, one of my favourite songs to play in Guitar Hero 3 is Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia”. The fourth song in the seventh set, it’s not a terribly hard song, but the first half is built for people like me who played the Hell out of “Misirlou” in GH2, and the second half meant to break your strumming wrist. It’s tons of fun though! I only recently got my five stars on it, and I’ve only felt that level of satisfaction when I got my five-star on “Psychobilly Freakout” (on hard). I imagine finishing “Raining Blood” will evoke a similar sentiment, but that’s something I’m just going to have to keep dreaming about.
The point I’m slowly getting to here is that I went out and picked up Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations on a whim one day, because I like “Knights of Cydonia” that much. To tell the truth, it’s one of those things that kind of proves the “know what you’re buying” adage I usually follow.
This isn’t to say that it’s a bad CD though. After listening to it a few times, most of the songs grew on me, but I’m pretty sure that if I’d downloaded it first I never would have shelled out the cash for it. That would be a shame too, because there are a couple other songs I really like on the disc. “Take A Bow”, the opening track, isn’t very musically complex, but it’s got a lot of power to it and I quite enjoy the simple yet decisive direction it takes. “Starlight” is a song I’d heard before somewhere, and I really didn’t like it. Turns out wherever it was I heard it didn’t have a sound system that does the song justice, because listening to it over a decent system revealed that there’s a lot to like about it, the thumping baseline and the surge of guitars in the choruses being the big ones. “Soldier’s Poem” and “Invincible” remind me of Hawksley Workman (that’s a good thing) and “Assassin”‘s metal roots and killer drum highlights make it totally awesome.
In conclusion, while I might have passed it over if I hadn’t been immediately commited to it, I can’t imagine having missed out on Black Holes and Revelations. Featuring a decent array of musical styles and often poignant lyrics, it’s a disc I would love to recommend to everyone. The problem is that the range of styles might turn some off, and they’ll give up on the album before reaching its finale. Oh well, I recommend it anyway. On a last note, I have no idea why, but it seems to me like a CD that smart people would listen to.