Muse - Will of the People

"Will of the People" is the 9th album by UK stadium rockers Muse.  This is the follow up to 2018's "Simulation Theory" which in all honesty I wasn't too impressed with.  And that's coming from someone who is big fan of most of their work. So much so this year I reviewed every studio album they have ever released.  But how would "Will of the people" fit in with the rest of their discography.

As the singles trickled out, I had mixed feelings.  "Won't stand down" I thought was Muse back to their best.   An all-out rocker with a huge chorus.  It really felt like Muse had put themselves back on the map.  Next single "Compliance" I wasn't as in to as it did feel a bit generic, but it has grown on me recently.  "Will of the people" is a great opening track and with that kind of dance groove wouldn't have been out of place on "Simulation Theory" and would certainly have improved the album.

"Liberation" and "Ghosts" see Bellamy back on the piano.  "Ghosts" is a great track and displays Bellamy's magical fingers at their best as well as his vocals.  "Liberation" does actually feel like a Queen song. Nothing wrong with that of course but may be a tad too close to a rip off.  "You make me feel like it's Halloween" sees them back in that groovy dance place like the self-titled track.  That's the thing with this album, even though there are many good songs on it.  It does feel like it jumps about a bit between slow and more rocky songs then dancy songs.  Instead of previous albums where there is often a direction of the overall album.  This one almost feels like they are trying to do a bit of everything and by doing this the album loses a certain cohesiveness.

I would say the best song on the album is "Kill or be Killed".  Amazingly for Muse this is the longest song on the album sitting at exactly 5 minutes which is unusual for them as usually there are many songs which go over that length.  But this track has a great riff which goes right through you.   I can't even say what the last track is as it's swear words, but I'll star it out "We are ****ing ****ed".  Quite controversial of Muse to have a song with swear words in it as this is not something they are known for and have been a radio friendly band in the past.  But maybe Taylor Swift had an influence here and opened the floodgates when she swore on her last album.  I can see both sides of why they would do this.  On the one hand you can see it from the perspective that this how people feel the world is going at the moment with all the wars and climate change.  Then there is the other perspective saying, well yes but you didn't have to point it out.  It's quite a short album closer and I think they were so focused on the lyrics of this song to really make a good tune out of it.

Overall though I would say this is an improvement on "Simulation Theory".  It's not their best as I feel they have made many more amazing albums which feel more like albums and are a lot more cohesive.  But at the same time, I don't think this album will be forgotten about as it still has many great tunes on it which can stand side by side with some of the great songs they have made.  They remain one of the top rock acts in the world and this album is not going to diminish that fact in anyway but well and truly sustain it.