Still Sounding Like The Male Goldfrapp...

I've managed to get hold of two more tracks of Muse's upcoming album 'Black Holes And Revelations' as I was hoping that 'Supermassive Black Hole' wasn't some crazy anomaly of aceness. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like it is.

'City Of Delusion' sounds a lot like typical Muse, heavy guitars, saluting drums and desperate, aching Matt Bellamy vocals, but's there's something about it. Maybe it is the smokescreen of 'Supermassive...', or maybe it's the violins. Maybe it's the trumpets that it the heavy Muse song curious, vaguely latin undertones. Or maybe it's the electro-fuzz bit in the middle that echoes around for the remainder of the song, as if Goldfrapp are in the bed-sit next door and Matt and Alison have erupted into a huge battle playing very loudly with the speakers against the wall.

'Knights Of Cydonia' is a rather epic affair at 6 minutes in length. Now Muse are not only borrowing from Goldfrapp but also Rachel Stevens in making a song with a drum/synth mix-up so regularly frenzied that it sounds like Muse are on horseback. Horses are so 2005. But Muse are being so retro. The drum synth bit starts off and goes on for 2 mintues on it's own, only occassionally interrupted by choral, tuneful screams. There's an unexpected acapella bit under which the synths still pulsate, joined soon by the spaztic guitars, which quickly dominate before the synths beat them down again. 'Knights Of Cydonia' goes from choral horsey song, to rock-apella, to guitar wielding glam-rock, to new-emo-pop, to Muse of old and back again, darting in between the styles with the same vaguely congruent axis from which to spin in every direction, jerking around moodly in smeared mascara and eye liner.

If that hasn't got you excited, I don't know what will.