Black Holes and Revelations
War is a terrible part of human culture. We wage it for power, expansion, ideology, or to contain those evil enough to harm the innocent. World War I was when we finally stopped seeing war as a glorious contest and saw it for what it really is. War is a brutal and costly bloodbath that may lead us to achieve some “victory” but is not a pretty thing that anyone should want. War, however, may be necessary, as we saw with World War II. Hitler needed to be stopped before he hurt any more people, and it was only by bringing the fight to him that we stopped a global Fascist takeover. The band Muse encapsulates this message of the horrors of war and its necessity in their 2006 sci-fi alt-rock concept album Black Holes and Revelations. The theme of separation, the terrifying and heartbreaking concept of having a loved one shipped off to fight in a war, and the dehumanization of the “enemy” when they, too, are fighting for what they believe is right. But beneath the tale of an intergalactic war and the people who suffer because of it is a deeper story of a corrupt government, an assassin, and the overthrow of Earth’s corrupt king.
The first hint that something isn’t as it seems comes in the first song of the album, Take A Bow. The lyrics start as a bit of an accusation. “Corrupt, you corrupt…You will burn in hell for your sin!” and “You will pay for your crimes against the Earth.” The first time through, the allegations sound like they're being hurled at the mysterious “enemy.” Black Holes never actually names the enemy, nor any of its characters. Put a pin in Take a Bow because it will be important later. For now, though, let's call it the allegations against the “enemies of earth.”
The next few songs are explicitly about the anti-war sentiment in Black Holes. Starlight is a drifting love song about a soldier being shipped off to war amongst the stars, and leaving behind his wife and child for a war that he will never come home from. Whether he was drafted or volunteered is not said but the effects of this war are clearly shown. Widows and parentless children are this generation's curse. Map of the Problematique is the first combat of the album. The soldier is unsure what to do, for he sees his enemy in combat and finds sympathy. They are fighting for what they believe in, and he says, “why can’t they see that when we bleed we bleed the same.” Soldier’s Poem is a reflection on the war thus far and what it has cost. The soldier is bitter now, lamenting on “why you sent us so far away from home” and “do you think you deserve your freedom, I don’t think you do,” but still the patriotism and heroism are shown with “I will still fight for you.” War rips those involved to shreds and hurts their families and friends. The fact that we don’t even know why the war is being fought makes it all the harder to justify the suffering on display. And then, we find out what the government is doing in response to the complaints of the people. Invincible is the turning point of the war and the last battle we will see fought between Earth and the “enemy.” It starts with Earth losing, but in a surge of patriotism, the beaten down soldiers go for a desperate charge, and the soldier we’ve been following since Starlight dies in the charge. Earth is now winning the war due to this battle, but it came at a heavy price.
Let's take a step back to the third song on the album Supermassive Black Hole. The lyrics are existentially terrifying and speak of the horrors of space and the terrible conditions on starships. But there’s an extra detail here that is usually missed. “Glaciers melting in the dead of night.” Why would glaciers melt at night? Someone is melting them, and they want it kept a secret. The fact is that armies require a lot of fuel to keep them going, and the government needs supplies such as food and water to keep the troops fed and hydrated. Glaciers have all the water they need to keep the troops hydrated for their long war in space, regardless of the cost to the Earth’s environment. So they melt the ice caps in secret without public approval, causing irreparable harm to the environment to fuel an unpopular war. This authoritarian government theme is seen throughout the rest of the album. Exo-Politics is a song that follows back to Earth and her colonies, and we’re introduced to a new character, a civilian government worker who lives on Mars. They narrate about the satellites put in place by the government to “protect” the earth. The worker, however, is later told by higher-up command that the satellites are there not to defend Earth but to suppress rebellious and anti-government thought. The government of Earth and its tyrannical leader are now brought into frame, and the final character is finally introduced.
After the battle sung about in Invincible ends, the child of the soldier whom he left behind grows into adulthood. Left fatherless (for convenience, we will refer to them as he, though no pronouns are given.) He moves to Mars. He is bitter about the loss of his father and is left with a lifelong distrust of the government and war. Assassin sings of one who shall “shoot down their leaders” and that the “Assassin is born.” As soon as his father is killed, the son was destined to become the Assassin who would finally bring down the tyranny and end the war.
Now for the final act. We can finish the story with all the pieces in place and the characters where they need to be. In Hoodoo, the government worker meets the Assassin, and they become friends. The Worker converses with the Assassin about the government and how it needs to be brought down, and the Assassin is a victim of this war with “draw another picture, of a life you could’ve had.” The Assassin agrees to help with the rebellion and gives a speech. In the song, City of Desolation, the Assassin spurs an uprising against the government of Earth on Mars. The rebels take control of the capital of Mars, called Cydonia. And it is now that Take A Bow is echoed, this time spoken by the Assassin. “You will pay for your crimes against the Earth,” the Assassin references the war here with “you will pay for their lives and their souls!” He is angry not just for his father’s death but for every life lost in a war that the Dictator of Earth has caused. The Dictator is reasonably pissed that his colony on Mars just revolted, and sends in the troops to put down the uprising once and for all. Knights of Cydonia is the final song on the album, the battle between the rebels and the corrupt government of Earth. “How can we win, when fools can be kings?” As a reference to the war still raging against the mysterious “enemy.” “The time has come to fight for our rights, the time has come to make things right.” The rebellion engages the enemy, with the Assassin at their head, and the album ends. I like to think they won, as is usually how stories go. There is still a little more, with a bonus track from the digital release of Black Holes. The song Glorious is a reflection by Earth’s leader on his hunger for power and suppression of the people and how if they had all submitted their wills to him, they would have been glorious. He is wistful in his reflection, and it sounds like he’s lost, so I guess that’s that.
A pretty standard story as rebellions go, but completely hidden through subtlety. I did take some leaps in logic here and there for the sake of storytelling, but I think my interpretation is pretty solid. I would highly recommend Black Holes and Revelations to anyone who likes the Alternative music genre, and I thank all of you for reading this far. If you want my revised list of songs for the story here, it is Supermassive Black Hole, Starlight, Map of the Problematique, Soldier’s Poem, Invincible, Assassin, Exo-Politics, Hoodoo, City of Delusion, Take a Bow, Knights of Cydonia.
