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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Absolution
by Muse


8.3

based on 16 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 121 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Black Holes & Revelations

Official Artist Site

A commercial and critical success in the UK upon its release in the fall of 2003, 'Absolution' marks the third album for the English rockers (who frequently draw comparisons to Radiohead--but then again, who doesn't?). It also marks their first time working with producer Rich Costey.

LABEL:	Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE:	23 March 2004
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock

NOTES: Original UK release 22 Sep 2003.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Drowned In Sound

A truly elemental opus.

100

Alternative Press

Absolution's chaotic choruses feel like the triumphant culmination of some earth-shattering undertaking. [Jul 2004, p.146]

Filter

A massive concept album that is so gluttonously huge-sounding that it makes The Wall sound like a Sebadoh record. [#10, p.94]

Dot Music

The most inventive and exhilarating rock music Britain's producing right now.

New Musical Express

Muse have widened the goalposts and re-established what rock is allowed to stand for. Next to ‘Absolution’, even something as majestic as ‘Elephant’ sounds so painfully small.

The Guardian

Like Coldplay on A Rush of Blood to the Head, Muse sound like a band who are at the top of their game. Their confidence carries you through the album's excesses.

Q Magazine

For sheer bravado and imagination it's something that few bands will top this year. [Oct 2003, p.109]

Playlouder

'Absolution' is Muse's most accomplished album to date, and kicks their - at the time - excellent debut album 'Showbiz' into the ground.

Tiny Mix Tapes

Absolution is an emotional, philosophical, sophisticated, poetic, and beautiful piece of rock music.

Drawer B

Despite the daunting Radiohead-colored cloud that hangs heavy over Muse, the band pushes the limits of its slick, pre-apocalyptic rock with a self-assured strut.

Blender

A daring and triumphant concoction. [#27, p.140]

All Music Guide

Muse continue to make unrelenting hardcore art rock; Absolution is a tad cheesy, a bit too grandiose in its ambitions, bursting at the seams with too many ideas, and thus exactly what any Muse fan craves.

Rolling Stone

It's too bad that vocalist Matt Bellamy doesn't bring as much ingenuity to his singing.

PopMatters

Ultimately, the arrangements of more than half the songs are defined by their progressive '70s bombast and pretentiousness.

Mojo

Pushes the trio's grandiose delusions onto new levels of interpretative-dancing, mirror-cracking excess. [Oct 2003, p.107]

Stylus Magazine

Muse write... the same way Metallica write, i.e. just compiling bits of ‘music’ then sticking them together, except they’re more impressed with their fragments (though they’re simpler and duller and even more remarkably similar to each other than Metallica’s), so they make them go on longer and repeat them more times.

The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 121 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark gave it a3:
Warning! Contains self-indulgent wankery. Very lame album, save for 'Hysteria', which is actually quite good.

RoadLord gave it a10:
This is Muse's best album yet. It's not that all the songs are perfect, it's the fact that this album has the most insanely-awesome songs out of each of their albums.

Ricky J gave it a9:
This is a rather good album. But it has zero flow. On one track, it rocks out and makes you wanna nod your head. But the very next track is slow and very melancholy. If it had been arranged a little different, it would have been so much better. But other than that, almost every song is simply great.

Paul gave it an8:
Muse, just seen them again live and they blew the stage apart, great album, amazing band.

Sam S gave it a9:
This is Muse's masterpiece. I for the life of me cannot understand how most of the critics prefer "Black Holes and Revelations." Sure it is epic and at times over the top, but the craftsmanship of the songs and Costey's production are brilliant. Muse shows some serious range on this one, kicking it into high gear with super-charged rock songs like "Stockholm Syndrome," and Hysteria." and then settling down nicely with "Blackout," and "Falling Away With You."

Enzo gave it a10:
Wow.....This is a true masterpiece.

Erica B. gave it a10:
Astonishing.

Absolution by Muse

Absolution
by Muse