Apr 6

Apr 6 Muse - Will of the People

Muse
Will of the People
Release Date: August 26th, 2022
Label: Warner Records

Review by Jared Stossel

Muse’s previous album, Simulation Theory, was released in 2018, a far different time in history. We were well into the Trump presidency, and a number of artists – like the three-piece genre-pushing English rock act – used this time in history to create theoretical new realities, a realization of where our world was heading culturally, politically, and idealistically. The album begins with “Algorithm”, working its way through eleven tracks that evoke imagery straight out of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and other dystopian 80s sci-fi flicks. The first track is almost calming, very synth-heavy, and Matt Bellamy doesn’t even make an appearance until 90 seconds in. There’s confusion, a band that’s used their music to make a statement ever since the release of their debut – 2001’s Origin of Symmetry – trying to figure out how to create in this ever-changing world.

Will of the People, the band’s highly awaited follow-up and their first full-length in four years, is a cold splash of water in the face, a wake-up call and realization that the “simulation” we’ve been imagining may be more realistic than we could have ever imagined. The title track opens the album loudly; it’s in-your-face, defiantly taking a stand against inaction and finds Muse meandering their way into hard rock and metal territory. It’s an album about the state of a fast-evolving world by one of rock’s most interesting bands.

A loud group chant blows through the airwaves, a pulsating drum beat mixed with guitar chugging follows before launching into a heavy yet incredibly catchy verse/chorus structure. The candy-coated heaviness diverges into the mid-tempo “Compliance”, Bellamy’s verse vocals alternating between robotic-laced indulgences and the silky vibrato he’s become known for. “Liberation” almost sounds like something that would have made it onto a Queen album; you can practically feel the upper ivories ringing through your skull as Bellamy slams down his fingers on every note. I want to take this moment to point out that the mixing work done on Will of the People is outstanding; for as much as there is going on throughout every track, for as many guitar effects and synthesizers are thrown into any one song, it all stands out incredibly well and each element breathes on its own accord.

The moments that shine on Will of the People are the ones where Muse is at their heaviest; when Bellamy, drummer Dominic Howard, and bassist Chris Wolstenholme are perfectly in sync with one another, using the idiosyncratic verses that lace elements of pop and electronica to build to explosive rock choruses, something magical happens. The verses of “Won’t Stand Down” have more in common with Imagine Dragons’ alternative-pop sensibilities. Yet, they lead into a blistering metal-inspired chorus that ties all of their eccentricities together. “Kill or Be Killed” sounds like something straight out of the nu-metal eruption of the early 2000s; one listen to that opening riff and you’ll understand what I mean. Bellamy’s guitar work is at its heaviest here, yet the band never manages to deviate entirely from the elements that have made them unique: elaborate production, unique instrumentation, experiments with synthesizers, near-operatic rock vocals, and lyrics that speak to the collective consciousness. One of the album’s later entries, “Euphoria”, is a perfect example of this at work; an arpeggiated synthesizer line (or is it a guitar made to sound like a synthesizer?) matches up against a fast-paced rhythm before culminating in a chorus that elicits…well, euphoria.

Even when Muse deviates from their usual sound (if you can even say that they have “usual” sound), it still retains elements of the theatrical. The only tracks that could be considered “out of place” on Will of the People are at the album’s midpoint, beginning with “Ghosts (How Can I Move On).” Bellamy has noted that he wrote this during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown sessions, and it solely features him on piano, the embodiment of loneliness and a summation of how many people in the world were feeling at that moment. It is immediately followed by the substantially electronic “You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween”, a tongue-in-cheek ode to everyone’s favorite spooky holiday disguised as a goodbye to something that he appears to have found rather destructive and intrusive. “Verona” is an epic love song, clearly reflective of the time the world just went through; lyrics like “Can we kiss? Contagion on our lips/Well I don’t care” illustrate this. Despite the fact that these songs differ a bit more from their counterparts on Will of the People, they’re all built within the same sandbox.

In case you had any doubts as to where Muse stands on the state of the world, the album closes with “We Are Fucking Fucked”, performed at a break-neck pace as Bellamy careens through lyrics like “Wildfires and earthquakes I foresaw/A life in crisis/A deadly virus/Tsunamis of hate are gonna find us”. It’s evident where they stand, and what Will of the People is all about; the time for make-believe and playing in the sci-fi simulator is over, at least for a little while. For now, the world has to get its shit together, or else…well, you can read the title of the last song to see what I’m getting at.