Britain's most exciting live band (small wonder they're close to selling out two shows at Wembley stadium in June), Muse are up for three Brit awards on February 14, including best British live act. On disc, as on stage, the trio just get better and better, as their fourth studio album, Black Holes and Revelations, proves -and how many other bands can you say that about?

1 New Born

Thunderous drums and bass, dynamics that first soothe and then cosh you; a song both subtle and overwrought. Quintessential Muse.

2 Falling Away with You

Matt Bellamy's most consciously Romantic epic.

3 Escape

A sonic sledgehammer from the first album; we can't say we weren't warned.

4 Take a Bow

Muse's unambiguous message to Messrs Bush and Blair.

5 Time Is Running Out

A low-key electro start gives way to pre-apocalyptic pyrotechnics.

6 Plug in Baby

The single that blasted them into the big time.

7 The Small Print

A snarling, vituperative cracker from Absolution.

8 Starlight

Ghostly piano, and Bellamy in full space-cadet mode.

9 Unintended

Showbiz's spectral ballad, launching a thousand Radiohead comparisons.

10 Sing for Absolution

One of Absolution's two great lost Bond songs. Time, surely, to commission them for the next movie.

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