The Album
Black Holes and Revelations is the fourth studio album by English rock band Muse . It was released in various countries in early July 2006.
The name "Black Holes and Revelations" is explained by Bellamy in his September 2006 interview for Q magazine: "Black holes and revelations -- they're the two areas of songwriting for me that make up the majority of this album. A revelation about yourself, something personal, something genuine of an everyday nature that maybe people can relate to. Then the black holes are these songs that are from the more... unknown regions of the imagination." The album's title is also cited in the lyrics of the second track and single " Starlight ."
The art work, designed by Storm Thorgerson , depicts a red landscape, like that of the surface of Mars, with four men seated around a table with three miniature horses on it. Faintly in the sky behind the figures, one can see the planet Earth and its moon. The setting is thought to signify Cydonia , and the connection with horses a reference to knights, explaining the title of "Knights of Cydonia." The knights are also believed to represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible , with their horses of four different colours. The inner art features a photograph of declassified MKULTRA documents. The album sold 115,144 in its first week in the UK, which is more than the first week sales of Absolution (71,597). It maintained the number 1 position for two weeks (selling 47,519 in its second week).
It is also Planet Sound 's #1 Album of 2006,becoming only the 2nd album to chart at #1 in the sales charts also.( OK Computer by Radiohead was the other). The album has also been given numerous Top 5 finishes as "Album of the Year" by several different publications, including #2 in Q Magazine 's top albums of the year.
The album has almost sold 2 million (1,964,025 to be exact) copies worldwide, as of 30 December 2006 . It has also been confirmed as the most downloaded album of 2006 .
Track listing - Lyrics
1. Take a Bow
2. Starlight
3. Supermassive Black Hole
4. Map of the Problematique
5. Soldier's Poem
6. Invincible
7. Assassin
8. Exo-Politics
9. City of Delusion
10. Hoodoo
11. Knights of Cydonia
12. Glorious (bonus track - Japanese and online pre-order versions only)