Black Holes & Revelations

Black Holes & Revelations
Release date(s)	July 3rd, 2006
Recording details	August-December 2005, various studios
No. of tracks	11 12
Length	45:28 50:08
Publisher(s)	Warner Bros., Helium-3
Producer(s)	Rich Costey and Muse
Chart position	1 2 11 9 1

Black Holes & Revelations is Muse's fourth studio album, released in Britain on July 3rd, 2006. The album contains 11 tracks and a bonus track, "Glorious", on the Japanese edition. Muse released five songs from Black Holes as singles: "Supermassive Black Hole", "Starlight", "Knights of Cydonia", "Invincible", and "Map of the Problematique".

Overview

The album adopts a much less heavy, apocalyptic theme than its predecessor, Absolution, while still retaining the classic Muse feel, with plenty of arpeggios, falsetto and piano breaks. Black Holes has spawned the band's most successful single, "Supermassive Black Hole", and hit #1 in the charts in four countries, including Britain and Australia.

Tracklisting

All songs were written by Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard, except where noted.

1. Take a Bow – 4:35
2. Starlight – 3:59
3. Supermassive Black Hole – 3:29
4. Map of the Problematique – 4:18
5. Soldier's Poem – 2:03
6. Invincible – 5:00
7. Assassin – 3:31
8. Exo-Politics – 3:53
9. City of Delusion – 4:48
10. Hoodoo – 3:34
11. Knights of Cydonia – 6:06
12. Glorious (Japan and iTunes bonus track) – 4:38

Tour Edition bonus DVD

1. "Supermassive Black Hole" (Video) – 3:29
2. "Starlight" (Video) – 3:59
3. "Knights of Cydonia" (Video) – 6:06
4. "Supermassive Black Hole" (Live from Paris) –
5. "Starlight" (Live from Copenhagen @ MTV Awards) –
6. "Knights of Cydonia" (Live from London) –

Personnel

• Matthew Bellamy
  • lead vocals on all tracks
  • guitars on all tracks
  • synthesizers on "Take a Bow", "Starlight", "Map of the Problematique", "Hoodoo" and "Knights of Cydonia"
  • piano on "Starlight" and "Hoodoo"
  • production of the album

• Christopher Wolstenholme
  • bass guitar on all tracks
  • backing vocals on all tracks
  • synthesizers on "Map of the Problematique" and "Hoodoo"
  • production of the album

• Dominic Howard
  • drums on all tracks
  • backing vocals on "Supermassive Black Hole"
  • brief drum machine on "Map of the Problematique"
  • production of the album

• Daniel Newell
  • trumpet on "City of Delusion" and "Knights of Cydonia"

• Rich Costey
  • production of the album

Chart performance

Black Holes was released in 17 countries, two more than its predecessor, Absolution. It entered the top of the charts in four countries and peaked at number 1 in one more. The album stayed in the UK Albums Chart Top 75 for 48 weeks - less than Absolution managed - and the World Albums Chart Top 40 for 13 weeks. The country in which Black Holes charted the longest was France, where it stayed in the Top 150 for 65 weeks. The country in which Black Holes stayed at number 1 for the longest was Switzerland, where it stayed for 4 weeks.

Country	Entry	Peak	Chart weeks
Australia	1	1	22
Austria	4	4	18
Belgium	10	1	30
Denmark	5	5	11
Finland	3	3	9
France	2	2	65
Germany	4	4	6
Ireland	1	1	33
Italy	2	2	14
Netherlands	2	2	42
New Zealand	6	6	24
Norway	6	6	15
Portugal	17	17	3
Sweden	15	15	10
Switzerland	1	1	59
United Kingdom	1	1	48
United States	9	9	6
World	1	1	13
TOTAL	1	1	428