Muse - "Will Of The People" (2022)

Muse were one of my favourite artists in my early teenage years, and will forever have a soft spot in my heart, despite how underwhelming and somewhat cringy their 2010's output is. After taking a longer than usual break following 2018's bland and trend chasing Simulation Theory (in which they released a collectors edition of the first two albums complete with rarities from that era and an ambitious full anniversary remaster of Origin Of Symmetry), they had some renewed interest from me as the band were talking about returning to some of their older styles and how this new record would be 'a greatest hits of new songs'. In some ways Will Of The People feels like that, although these songs pale in comparison to the Muse greats they're trying to emulate, and the approach to the writing and stylistic choices paints the band into an awkward corner that no amount of "Muse isn't supposed to be taken seriously" can get them out of.

Simulation Theory saw the band appearing to take themselves less seriously after the pretty self-righteous anti-war Drones, but was paired with incredibly predictable and tired 2010's pop rock and synthwave revival tropes that made the album really forgettable in my opinion. Will Of The People, on the other hand, amps up the pomposity (and honestly tackiness) of the band's glam rock and hard rock leanings, which when matched with their weakest written lyrics to date, make it certainly more entertaining on an ironic level than the bands 2010's output. But when actually switching your brain on and looking at the framing of the lyrics and themes (in the music and the interviews surrounding it), it's pretty obvious the band were aiming this to be one of their most grounded albums. This in itself isn't necessarily a problem but becomes one when looking at the connotations that the writing has, and no amount of irony can deflect from it.

Take the opening cut, the title track, for example. The song is this really gaudy and tacky glam rock rehash with cock-rock guitars and ridiculous choral chanted backing vocals. When I first heard it, I did kind of like it on an ironic level, it was so ridiculous that it was entertaining. But the song is apparently very similar to Marylin Manson's Beautiful People (I say apparently because I have never heard this song as I didn't like MM even before he has been revealed to be an sexual, emotional and physical abuser and I'm certainly not giving him a pittance of my money now to verify it). It's questionable that any artist would want to crib so heavily from someone with so many corroborating allegations against them, but a band with such raw technical talent on a song that is literally about fighting oppression is in such bad taste that no amount of irony can save it.

The following track, Compliance, is the same combination of beige synth pop and generic, 'anti-oppression' lyrics that filled Simulation Theory. After this is Liberation, which is the most blatant Queen rip off the band has ever sounded, and is also about (you guessed it) fighting some non-specific oppressor. The next song, Won't Stand Down, is the lead single and was teased by Matt Bellamy to be a return to the heavy, metal influenced side of the band that they haven't shown since the early 2000s. And it does indeed have a heavy alt-metal riff during the post-chorus, but it also has some of the tackiest lyrics on the album and absolutely horrendous Imagine Dragons style plinky plonky synths and booming, obnoxious synth bass hits during the verses. Kill Or Be Killed is a much better 'heavy' song and generally one of the better tracks on the album, generally sticking to a more standard alt-metal style and featuring lyrics that aren't so obviously crap. However, as much as it compares well to the rest of the album it pales in comparison to the likes of Stockholm Syndrome and Reapers from the band's back catalogue. The track doesn't really have any interesting progression to it, it feels like just five minutes of various disconnected riffs bolted on to each other.

While most of these songs are just kind of tacky and bad, the truly tastelessness of the record rears its head again in Ghosts (How Can I Move On). The song is a somewhat insipid piano ballad about the loss of a partner during the pandemic. It is important to note that this isn't a personal song (as Bellamy did not lose his partner during the pandemic), and it clearly shows. The lyrics are utter trite, and read like a GCSE creative writing piece about grief. It's just filled with banal platitudes like "How can I move on?" etc with no real identity or anything. What really irks me about the song is that 'The Great Reset' is mentioned in the chorus. Bellamy is putting dumb political / conspiracy theorist jargon in a song that is supposed to be so incredibly personal and heartfelt. It shows that the band's supposed attempt to be more grounded in real world topics on the album is nothing more than an aesthetic to lace their usual vague "Us verses Them" lyricism. And when so much trauma has been caused by the topics they reference on the album, it really does leave a bad taste in the mouth. So many people have been in the position that this song is supposed to be reflecting, and I guarantee you not one of them is thinking about 'The Great Reset' when grieving a loved one.

Similarly, Verona is a song about forbidden love, with lyrics quite obviously alluding to viruses and masks and social distancing. Yeah the song reads like an anti-mask song. However its clear that the Bellamy isn't trying to deny the existence of the virus, the song acknowledges "the contagion on our lips". In fact the love interest dies at the end of the song, so Bellamy isn't trying to sell it as some government conspiracy. So maybe it's supposed to be ironic, taking the piss out of anti-maskers? But Bellamy's falsetto crooning set against chiming guitars and slow, arpeggiated synth lines implies the song is supposed to be taken wholly seriously. This once again leads to the only conclusion being that the band are only using this current political discourse as an aesthetic to lace over a SparkNotes retelling of Romeo and Juliette. Which again is pretty tasteless considering the amount of people who have been killed by Covid. The closer, We Are Fucking Fucked, reinforces this idea. The song pointlessly lists of references to global events over the past few years (wildfires, world wars, viruses etc) with absolutely no commentary beyond Bellamy's comical bellowing "We are fucking fucked". It's nihilism with no point, that teenage angst where you think your cleverer than the world around you just because you've noticed how shit everything is and you think nobody has ever realised that before you. Yes Matt, we are 'fucking fucked', and?... The song also rehashes a half formed version of the Knights Of Cydonia riff, to show how bereft of ideas it is both lyrically and musically.

The only song here that is remotely enjoyable is You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween. The track is as gaudy and over the top as the rest of the album, however it's the only one that it's clearly not meant to be taken seriously. The cheesy, funky synth bass and spiralling electric organ are just a lot of fun. It's clearly meant to be a dumb, silly Halloween song and that's what it is. However it feels so odd plonked in the middle of an album that is as equally as ridiculous as it, but completely unintentionally. Here are a load of really bad, tacky, cheesy (and sometimes tasteless) songs that are supposed to be some kind of political commentary, and then a cheesy, novelty Halloween song.

Its hard for me to say which of the past two Muse albums is worse. Simulation Theory was badly written, musically dated on arrival and just plain boring; whereas WOTP is tacky, tasteless and somewhat problematic - although it's certainly going to stick in my memory much longer than ST ever did.

Top Tracks: You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween

3/10