THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Will Of The People was created in Los Angeles and London and is influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world,” Muse frontman Matt Bellamy says of Will Of The People, the ninth album from the Grammy-winning English rock band.
“A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests and riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will Of The People. It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened. This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next.”
With Muse being Muse, there is NO bowing to any singular genre. The album’s title track brings playful provocation to a dystopian glam-rocker while there is an innocence and a purity to the nostalgic electronic textures of Verona. Moving on to the visceral thrill of Won’t Stand Down, the industrial-tinged, granite heavy riffs of Kill Or Be Killed and the lightning-bolt rush of Euphoria, the album concludes with the frenetic finale of the brutally honest We Are Fucking Fucked.
On the band’s single Compliance, Bellamy says, “Compliance is about submission to authoritarian rules and reassuring untruths to be accepted to an in-group. Gangs, governments, demagogues, social media algorithms and religions seduce us during times of vulnerability, creating arbitrary rules and distorted ideas for us to comply with. They sell us comforting myths, telling us only they can explain reality while simultaneously diminishing our freedom, autonomy and independent thought. We are not just coerced, we are herded, frightened and corralled to produce a daily ‘two minutes of hate’ against an out-group of their choosing and to turn a blind eye to our own internal voice of reason and compassion. They just need our Compliance.”
Will Of The People was produced by Muse. Key collaborators include mixing on eight tracks by multiple Grammy winner Serban Ghenea; mixing from Dan Lancaster on Won’t Stand Down, and additional mixing on Kill Or Be Killed from Aleks von Korff.
Muse is Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme. Their last album Simulation Theory debuted at No. 1 in multiple territories and marked the band’s sixth straight album to debut in the U.K. top spot. Their previous studio album Drones went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album, the band’s second. Since forming in 1994, Muse have released eight studio albums, selling over 20 million units worldwide.”
