Will of the People
| Muse
Will of the People
Will of the People is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Muse, released on 26 August 2022 through Warner Records and Helium-3. Self-produced by the band, it is a genre-hopping album described by Muse as "a greatest hits album – of new songs". Five singles were released from the album; "Won't Stand Down", "Compliance", "Will of the People", "Kill or Be Killed" and "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween". -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Working under the auspices of another vague, dystopian narrative, the UK band slaps a shiny new label on the grafted remains of better songs and calls it the ninth Muse album.
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The Guardian
Powerful angst undermined by bombast.
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NME
Modern anxieties, and their best music in years.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
Will of the People has much in common with 2009's The Resistance, lyrically and musically. And its best songs – the synth-poppy "Compliance," the floor-rattling "Won't Stand Down" and "Kill or Be Killed," which sounds like Radiohead fused with System of a Down's intensity – aren't far removed from career highlights Origin of Symmetry and Black Holes & Revelations, even if it all seems quite familiar and expected at this point. Still, there's something to be said about Muse's persistent ambition. More than two decades after their debut, they're still making big proclamations with equally big music to back them up.
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Consequence
Muse’s Will of the People is Vague, Jumbled, and Unimaginative.
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AllMusic
While Will of the People is not as essential as their 2000s classics, it's a quick, satisfying burst of Muse essentials that cleverly forgoes the hits-compilation graveyard in favor of fresh material that honors both their evolution and dedicated fan base.
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The Review Geek
Will of the People isn’t Muse’s finest LP, but there are glimpses of quality to be had here. It’s not fully broken, but it isn’t completely memorable either.
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Louder Sound
This is an album on which Muse master the wider range of future rock and pop sonics they’ve been toying with for the past decade and refine and define their current sound as neatly as Black Holes & Revelations did for their 2000s period. What’s more, with so many so-called ‘pandemic albums’ trapped in an introverted, self-pitying tone of 2020, it’s refreshing to hear a record that really captures the head-spinning chaos of the age, proof that we really can look back at the horrific early 2020s and, if not laugh, then at least rock out a bit.
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Kerrang!
As much as the context and subject matter, what's grand here is that Muse remain masters of what they are doing. Nine records in it is inevitable that anything they do will have a particular sheen, but creatively, in performance, and in energy they continue to operate on a plane all of their own. And in a world of uncertainty, that's a very welcome thing.
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Clash Magazine
‘Will Of The People’ is a sharp, punchy dose of Muse. While at times lyrics can feel uninspired, and there is far less space-rock at play than previous ventures, there’s no denying that the tracks on offer are sharp and hard-hitting. A very solid release, and proof of why Muse are still held to such high acclaim nine albums on.
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Sputnik Music
With Muse, they have [un]intentionally touched on this form of art. For (mostly) all the wrong reasons, Will of the People is the best, most engaging record to come from the band in sixteen years, and it’s quite possibly the most fun I’ll have with an album all year as well.
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Loud and Quiet
Be silly! Indulge your most juvenile instincts! Have a laugh! Just remember you’re not literally living on that spaceship you’re taking on tour with you. I actually think that Muse would even be improved on their own terms if they had a tiny, entirely non-inhibiting bit more self-awareness; for this kind of escapism to work, you do need some grasp of what it is you’re escaping from.
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Ourculture
If Will of the People is an uninspired exercise in nostalgia, ‘Ghosts’ is the one song that communicates the frustration that seems to underlie a lot of the songs in a way that’s surprisingly potent. Offered to their label after it had just proposed a greatest hits collection, the album aims to recreate the band’s past glories while grounding itself in the realities of the present, but struggles to do both. Yet when they give up the effort to be profound or inventive, they come through with some of their most ridiculous and moving songs in years. As Matthew Bellamy sings halfway through, “Here’s to letting go.”
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Hotpress
While it’s a little disjointed in places, Will Of The People sees Muse display a welcome willingness to be a little more playful. That, as they say, is the spirit...
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Epitome of Epic
Muse have gone too wild with genre influences on Will of the People which makes the record a complete mess. There are certain tracks that shine in isolation, but will leave listeners wondering what could have been if the band were more focused. Questionable marketing decisions also ruin the integrity of this one, as well as the band’s.
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Riff Magazine
Simply put, Will of the People delivers some of this band’s best work in years and should offer excitement to fans of all eras. Muse clearly has plenty left to say.
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XS Noize
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.
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Renowned for Sound
Will Of The People carries on the Muse saga in thrilling fashion, whether it be from the classic orchestration or the hard-hitting nature of the lyrical material, or even how the two come crashing together to leave listeners blinking in shock at the closing beat. To compliment the release of the album, the band have lined up some UK gigs next year with Royal Blood, with tickets selling fast.
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Evening Standard
A raucous, ridiculous crowd-pleaser.
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The Irish Times
Extravagant, preposterous and occasionally enjoyable.
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Belwood Music
I urge you to listen to something else, anything else, great or terrible, rather than give this album time of day. However, let it be said that even on my most critical review, I can still find a moment to celebrate the positives. So let me end with the one thing Will Of The People gets right: at least it’s short.
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DIY Magazine
The last third of the record is more streamlined, with the sweeping, subtly metallic ‘Kill Or Be Killed’ offering a welcome throwback to the days when Muse were at their best, but it’s not enough to redeem this all-too-OTT offering.
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Tinnitist
The U.K. trio offer another grandly ambitious fusion of high tech prog & topical lyrics.
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Drew's Reviews
In many respects, Will of the People keeps it simple, just 10 songs (should have been nine), also marking the shortest track list in their discography. As such, Muse has written and recorded – hardly a masterpiece – but a significant euphonious achievement that detaches them from just about everything else out there.
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Boolin Tunes
But it is hard to deny that this album remains a huge step in the right direction. For the first time in many years, Muse seem to have bridged the gap between their bombastic live show and the reality of the actual music they’ve been releasing. Will Of The People feels like a band rediscovering its identity, coming back with renewed purpose and something to say. That in itself is worth celebrating.
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Cherwell
Will of the People is a mess, both musically and lyrically. Once my frustration with it cleared, the main emotional response I had to these ten tracks was boredom. ‘Boring’ was never a word you could use to describe Muse. Bellamy may actually have described his own album when he wrote the line “you make me feel like it’s Halloween”: you’re promised thrills, yet end up with nothing but cheap tricks.
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Gigwise
The themes of Muse’s songs largely remain the same as ever but Will of the People showcases a band enjoying their craft and continuing to expand their musical horizons to entertaining effect.
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Liverpool Sound and Vision
Such is the blistering pace of the album that its time on the turntable or on the cd feels short, and yet it is deep, it throws caution to the wind, and allows the listener to once more understand that Muse are one of the finest bands around. Captivating and secure in its delivery, Muse’s Will Of The People is an expression of damnation against government, control, and the fear that the weakest links in society, those who seek to subjugate, are getting away with murder.
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The Upcoming
As it always has been, the group’s music demands the space of an arena – they are, after all, reputed for their live performances. Will of the People is an assortment of Muse as we know it, confrontational and relentless, with all their rollicking urgency and shattering sound; but it doesn’t reverberate the scene for the same reasons their previous works did. They exhilarate, but less because they have calculated voluminous and effective atmospheres of fear, and more for the rampant, even violent, energy with which most of these tracks charge forwards.
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The Arts Desk
Muse's ninth doesn't stick the landing despite some promise in its varied sound.
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GSGM
The rock gods make a speedy comeback in the middle section as they prepare for two massive concluding songs that bring the record to a climax.
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Stereoboard
Their sound is most effectively updated on the single Won’t Stand Down, which manages to use the half-time syncopated rhythms dominating a lot of pop music in 2022. This track is a real musical journey, incorporating doom rock, trap and reggae with incredible finesse. It’s the best new music they’ve put out in years.
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musicOMH
The Devon trio’s ninth is a missive from the End Times, which, as grim as it sounds, is pretty appropriate right now.
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Cryptic Rock
Simple put, Will of the People‘s stylistic diversity is unsurprising; this is something they have shown their entire career. Bellamy himself stated that the band’s new offering is what he would describe as “a greatest-hits album of new songs,” for its multi-genre theme is a deliberate homage to all the various sounds that they had explored and dabbled in, in all the records that they made in their 28-year career.
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Windobi
Through the grief and anger of another split, the band is doubling down on the album’s random collage of musical styles; each song is a mosaic of references so far and considered so thin that Will of the people starting to feel like that scene in the new one Space Jam Where each character of each property is somehow seen on screen, cheering for basketball — a pop-cultural mush whipped into a dizzying vortex.
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