Will of the People
Contents
Now Muse always has themes that are political in nature. Think Absolution, The Resistance, The 2nd Law and now with Will of the People it’s again about rebellion and world politics. And that is now more relevant and topical than ever…. after all, the world is literally and figuratively on fire.
Matthew makes that clear in the lyrics that are about self-will. Think Won’t Stand Down, Compliance and something more direct: Kill or be Killed and We are Fucking Fucked…. Which according to your author is about Trump or maybe now Putin (whatever you want).
The style of Will of the People lies between the rawer work of Muse and the more electronically focused Simulation Theory. The mix is successful though. Especially with the song Verona which is very melodic and grand after the rawer Kill or be Killed. However, Verona is a positive outlier. You make me feel like Haloween seems more like a joke of the gentlemen. That’s fine, but in Simulation Theory it went – in my opionion – way too far. On Will of the People it remains with one silly song. But unfortunately that is also combined with less successful songs. Think of Eurphoria…
A bit short
And here we come to a point. If two of the ten songs don’t really hit the spot and the whole album is 37 minutes long, there’s not much left. Half an hour of music is just not that much. The Resistance is practically a masterpiece from side to side and lasts 57 minutes. Drones idem. Origin of Symmetry idem. Showbiz… yep…
It seems that the gentlemen have run out of inspiration a bit. Because yes: Will of the People certainly contains good songs. But honestly: it’s just not the level of Drones or The Resistance.