Will Of The People (studio album) by Muse

The authoritarian anti-music rock opera has long been a tar pit. Band after band will plow into the concept and reach disaster. Muse does not escape this fate. The concept is explored through vague descriptions of oppression and dollar store protest chants. “Will of the people” devolves “Beautiful people” from a terrifying discussion of elitism to a boneless display of hollow rebellion. “We Are Fucking Fucked” has a title and chorus so plainly awful that there is no need to go into further detail. The production sounds cheap over all. The synths are thin and pushed over guitars that harken back to the weakest area rock. Bellamy’s vocals are hollow and dull even if conducted with effort. No matter how hard he sings on this project, I can’t be convinced of an intentional emotion. “Will of the people” falls into muck like just like its conceptual predecessors.

Frankly, I can’t quite take seriously the political/ cultural revolution concept Muse so whip up on ‘Will Of The People’, but maybe that’s the point. And it’s hard to completely resist indulging in the absolute ear candy on offer here.

From Brad1770 12/20/2022 08:19

Following Muse in recent times has been like reflecting upon a soured relationship - is it them? Or is it me? And if I’m truly being honest like a relationship its a bit of both

Case in point ‘Will Of The People’. Here we have a concept album with a narrative around an oppressive fascist big brother type villain and the people’s fight back to “stick it to the man”. Sound familiar? Well it should because its the exact same premise for ‘The Resistance’ (2009), ‘Drones’ (2015) and to some degree ‘Simulation Theory’ (2018) and ‘2nd Law’ (2012) with each album offering diminishing returns with each one worse than the previous release starting with ‘The 2nd Law’ and landing here with what can only be described as a bit of a stinker. Heck, if Muse have ever released a more uninspired join the dots track than “You Make Me Feel Like Its Halloween” I’m yet to hear it

Unfortunately Mat and the boys have painted themselves into a corner creatively and where they go from here is anyone’s guess. For me, I haven’t given up on Muse YET but if there is a next album and if it blows they’ll be joining my ‘Green Day / Weezer Never Again Club’

From Arthurknight 11/22/2022 06:36

This trite drivel is a crass and masturbatory exercise in fantasised hubris masquerading as music. Will Of The People is the closest Muse have got to creating music that can work like the "Killer Joke" from Monty Python's Flying Circus, and after listening to it I could only wish that they had succeeded.

One of those albums where I think when you dig into it more you really notice how lacking it is in originality and substance. I found it tolerable the first time I heard it (as was on in the background really) but after a couple more listens it just became unintentionally funny most of the time. Some of the tracks are just blatant rip offs and the lack of self-awareness in what it is might make this one of the worst releases of the year

Muse has always been over the top. However, they used to be in a good way. Now, they're just over the top for the sake of being over the top. "you make me feel like its halloween" rivals "get up and fight" for worst muse song.

From Strangel 09/02/2022 05:04

Muse might just rate as my most disappointing band at this point. Upon each new release since Black Holes I am almost willing myself to enjoy it but am inevitably let down by the inadvertent self parody and lack of creative innovation. As musicians (I include vocalist here), they are hugely talented, and this is why I am still drawn to each new release in the hope of a renaissance. The songs aren’t bad, they just don’t really inspire. The pick of them so far call upon their heavy early stuff (Won’t Stand Down and Kill or Be Killed) a mellow deviation (Ghosts) and a curious closer (We are Fucking Fucked).

If Simulation Theory was Muse trying too hard to be Muse, Will Of The People is Muse trying too hard to do something different but ending up sounding like Muse anyways. And I don't mean it as a compliment.

In my opinion, from Drones on, Muse have started to drop in quality both lyrically (same old stuff about playing the part of the oppressed and not being controlled) and musically (the only way to find new inspiration is to sound weird and spooky).

Quite ironically my favorite tracks from the last two albums are respectively Propaganda and You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween, two of the least Muse-sounding tracks. This is because the other songs feel just like Old Muse ripoffs in one way or another: Will Of The People shares the same main features (rhythm, lyrics) as Uprising; Liberation is basically United States Of Eurasia 2 (Freddie Mercury is around the corner); Won't Stand Down and Kill Or Be Killed are a blunt throwback to that metal sound of their early 00s;, Euphoria, with its cheesy lyrics and fast tempo, is Revolt 3 (just like Get Up And Fight was Revolt 2). And I could go on.

I think it's just automatic that, at some point, a band runs out of juice. I remember listening to The 2nd Law and thinking "this band has not released one single song that sounds the same as another". But this album is the definite proof, after a good portion of Drones and almost the entirety of Simulation Theory that Muse haven't got much left to say.