Muse: Will Of The People (LP)

Actually, Muse's record company "only" wanted the track list for a potential best-of compilation. But the trio around singer and guitarist Matt Bellamy somehow didn't feel like that. Instead, the band unceremoniously wrote new songs, each of which could have been on one of the previous Muse albums. So "Will Of The People" became a kind of best-of review, only with brand new songs. The tracks then sound correspondingly mixed. The title track is a pounding glam rock number whose rhythms are reminiscent of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" at first. On "Kill Or Be Killed" Muse then sound more metallic than ever before. At the latest when Matt Bellamy's inimitable vocals start, but of course every listener knows immediately who is booming out of the speakers. And the grandiose melodies so typical of the band are also to be found in abundance on "The Will Of The People". After the previous album "Simulation Theory" was deliberately more fictional in content and transported a lot of Eighties nostalgia, it was clear to Muse that their next album should again revolve more around current world political issues. There has been no shortage of such topics in recent years. On social media, the band had revealed in March: "'Will Of The People' was influenced by the growing uncertainty and instability in the world. The pandemic, new wars in Europe, mass protests and unrest, an attempted coup, the faltering of Western democracy, rising authoritarianism, forest fires and natural disasters, and the destabilization of the global order all influenced this album." Fortunately, "Will Of The People" does not sound as depressing as one might expect from this list. But Muse have obviously once again processed a lot in their music and accordingly there is a lot to discover.