ALBUM REVIEW: Muse – Will Of The People

This ninth Muse offering makes a departure from their previous venture, Simulation Theory, where the rock trio stepped into a metaverse. Now, Muse confronts the tumultuous global reality on Will of the People.

Whilst Muse frontman Matt Bellamy has been based in LA since 2010, Will of the People is still a British product with parts recorded at Abbey Road Studio. Furthermore, Muse’s first live comeback dates took place at the Hammersmith Apollo in May 2022 in support of The Big Issue, Médecins Sans Frontières and War Child. With Bellamy recently claiming, “Working out how to avoid that (world war) is becoming harder for me to imagine than it actually happening,” listeners should be prepared for ten dramatic songs fuelled with ecstasy and trepidation.

The opening title track is a bizarre hybrid of Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” and Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People”. Whilst the two songs individually have merit, they don’t fuse well when you are trying to create a populist parody, almost the antithesis to Muse’s 2009 “Uprising”. One is left confused as to whether they are at a harmonious spiritual gathering or being called to create disorder.

The message reflected in the musical ambience on “Won’t Stand Down” is much clearer once the rock guitars and heavy bass kick in. An additional vocal growl would have enabled the music to have synchronised more suitably with the lyrics. Instead, “Won’t Stand Down” is hindered by synth-pop drums and keys throughout the verses.

Where “Won’t Stand Down” fails to reach its full potential, “Kill Or Be Killed” executes from the outset. This five-minute song doesn’t waver. Whilst reminiscent of the halcyon days of classic Muse hits including “Stockholm Syndrome” and “Hyper Music” with the same early, youthful and hungry passion, “Kill Or Be Killed” also perfectly epitomises Will of the People’s overriding theme of human struggle amidst oppression.

This album’s overriding theme can also be felt on softer songs such as the piano-based “Liberation”. Sadly the sound purity is muffled with echo pop drum sections and generous servings of copy and paste “Bohemian Rhapsody” vocal distortions. The sting of this LP’s overriding theme is also removed by the second track, “Compliance”, with its eighties teen dance and pop synths.

Three songs from Will of the People digress from the overarching theme of the LP. “Ghosts (How Can I Move On)” does this best by addressing death, mourning and finding closure through the clarity of the piano. “Verona” shows potential. In some places, it feels like a synth reinterpretation of Muse’s “Screenager”, but in others feels like a leading song from a rom-com soundtrack. “You Make Me Feel like It’s Halloween” is the most banal, where there is little to separate it from Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me”.

Elsewhere the tenacious fire and passion created by “Kill Or Be Killed” continues with the penultimate track, “Euphoria”, which fuses early Foals influences well with EDM elements. More petrol is added to the fire on the album closer, “We Are Fucking Fucked”. It doesn’t feel like a concluding song; however, this fiery and riotous cocktail with a subtle dash of Queens’s “Flash Gordon” vocal distortion will go down well live with Muse fans.

Overall, Will of the People is a serious album. Muse produce their finest material when they are collectively intense and concentrate on powerful concepts. However, the results vary when they allow their shoulders to drop.