Muse: Black Holes & Revelations

Muse first stormed American shores in the late '90s as part of the post-Radiohead boom in "big music" Britpoppers, but those who haven't paid much attention to the band since then can get a quick update by listening to "Take A Bow," the first song on the new Muse album Black Holes & Revelations. Starting with a spacey synthesizer fanfare and a deep, quavery vocal from bandleader Matthew Bellamy, the song gradually shifts into triumphant dance-pop, and then into outright Euro-trash bombast, complete with Queen-style harmonies, scorching electric guitar, and screechy lines like "You'll burn in hell for your sins." It's a prog-rock nightmare: pretentious, cacophonous, and thoroughly old-world.