Muse – The Will of the People 2022

I’ve anticipated this album well before it was announced or released.  Muse just had to be thinking about some new music and a new tour for this “post-covid” world.  I was right- they 1st released the single “Compliance” and followed up with the full 10 track album release.  I have to say I am struggling with this album.  While it delivers across the range Muse has become known for the word “derivative” continues to clog my brain every time I hear a song from this latest release.

The entire album is highly listenable and I do enjoy it but I’ve heard a lot of it before; some of it way before Muse!  The glowing example I’ll focus on is the title track “Will of the People”.  It rolls out of the speakers with the exact flow of Marilyn Manson’s 2004 “The Beautiful People”.  The 2 songs are embarrassingly simular down to the muted-string da-da-da, da-da-da rhythm.  You can sing the course of either song to either track.

The 1st single released off the album was “Compliance” which I can’t help but feel is trying to be an anthem for covid defiance.  While I never condone flat out “doing what you’re told” mentality I do have a big issue with feeding the uneducated masses a poppy defiance anthem in the wake of a pandemic that killed over 1 million Americans (and millions more elsewhere around the globe) and is still killing people every single day.  In the reality of a mass pandemic there is a fine line between smart compliance for the good of all and the ill-advised defiance that keeps us from getting ahead of this virus.

-Stepping down off of the soap box-
This is a good album and I am pleased that Muse keeps putting out music and putting on consistent, ground breaking and amazing live shows.  However, I cannot give my opinion on The Will of the People without pointing out the significant sense of heard it before.  I was hoping for something more.