LP9: WOTP Discussion/Speculation Thread

[The Dying Atheist]

Hi all 👋🏽 

Given that we have more than 2 months to wait before the release, I’d like to challenge your imagination on what will the album sound like. 
 

Since the latest NME interview gave us some spoilers about the lyrics of unreleased songs, it seems to me that the whole thing smells pure Muse anger (lyrics wise at least). However I can say I was personally quite disappointed by Won’t Stand Down, except maybe when it gets heavier by the end. 
Compliance is simply not my cup of tea. WOTP is catchy but somewhat ridiculous. I only find grace with Kill or be Killed, which is thankfully welcomed in the Pantheon of the best Muse songs (might rise to my own top 10).

So I can only hope for the six future songs left to reach that level, and quite curious about what will it actually be. 
Lyrics of the piano ballad Liberation are showing us the orientation : « You make us feel silenced, You stole the airwaves but the air belongs to us, And violence, You’ll make us turn to violence, We have plans to take you down, We intend to erase your place in history ».

Lyrics again are quite explicit in You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween : « We’re at death door, Another world war, wildfires and earthquakes I foresaw, A life in crisis, A deadly virus, Tsunamis of hate are gonna drown us »

It’s as much bold in We are fucking fucked who advise us to « stockpile ». Thematically the album will range from paranoia of future war to loss of loved ones (Ghost (How can I move on)), and even domestic violence during the lockdown (YMMFLIH).

Hence it’s very difficult to know now what will sound the future Muse, but I hope I’ll come across another 3-4 songs that really trigger me in WOTP, that would be a good ratio regarding the 5 last albums. 

What are your thoughts ?

Edited June 13, 2022 by The Dying Atheist
Mistake corrections

[That Little Animal]

After reading the NME article in which Matt finally does get explicit about his politics and is directly asked about the seemingly antivaxx and dark right culture war sentiments expressed on the new album, I think we can put a lot of this ongoing discussion to rest. 

Surprisingly, he’s not being vague and he’s not avoiding the potential alienation of a part of the fan base by being explicit about his views this time. More surprisingly, the new songs are apparently trying to say the exact opposite of what his lyrics sound like they’re saying. Will of the People is not a dumb song about righteous people reclaiming power, it’s a song mocking dumb people fighting the system  against their own interest. Compliance is not antivaxx or even inspired by CoVid lockdowns. Liberation is not a Capitol Insurrectionist anthem, it’s inspired by BLM, etc.

Of course one can still be critical of his choice of words (in the lyrics) and his failure to be more explicit about denouncing specific groups or sentiments, but perhaps it’s really just more clumsiness than an attempt to please a broad audience. He seemed generally surprised by the idea that his lyrics can be interpreted in a way he didn’t intend them to.

His “extremes on both sides are bad” cliché is a bit of a cop out still as well, but the issues he’s explicit about match the left leaning libertarianism he’s expressed in the past, with only ‘communism’ being mentioned as an example of the left taking things too far. 

Either way, I can now sing along to the new songs without worrying that I’m endorsing things I don’t agree with. 

Edited June 14, 2022 by That Little Animal

[Silentgod86]

2 hours ago, That Little Animal said:

Will of the People is not a dumb song about righteous people reclaiming power, it’s a song mocking dumb people fighting the system  against their own interest. 

Looking forward  to seeing Uprising dropped from the set then....

 

Quote

Interchanging mind control
Come, let the revolution take its toll
If you could flick the switch and open your third eye
You'd see that we should never be afraid to die

something something red tape...something something ... green belt

 

[That Little Animal]

16 minutes ago, Silentgod86 said:

Looking forward  to seeing Uprising dropped from the set then....

 

 

He seems to suggest that Uprising does indeed reflect a sentiment he looks different at now. Not sure if that means he should drop it then, but it does mean I was right to dislike it . 

“It’s like a populist parody, almost the antithesis ,” Matt says. “Whereas ‘Uprising’ was almost populist but taking it seriously, ‘Will Of The People’ is almost, ‘Do we know that we’re stupid now? Do we know how silly this sounds and looks?’ Inside of me, there’s always been this little bit of a conflict between the desire for direct democracy and a bit more actual power to the people, but then at the same time realising that sometimes the people can be mad… 

Edited June 14, 2022 by That Little Animal

[Silentgod86]

Matt being self aware? Has hell frozen over?

Edited June 14, 2022 by Silentgod86

[That Little Animal]

13 minutes ago, Silentgod86 said:

Matt being self aware? Has he'll frozen over?

It’s a good read, a relief actually, that whole interview. Also validating to see the interviewer bring up some of the concerns I’ve been having. Now someone just needs to ask him about Marylin Manson’s intellectual property and the world is in balance again. 

It’s also great to see the exploding minds of a certain faction of Muse’s Facebook following in the comments when they shared this article. Poor souls went straight from “I love this band for standing up to the plandemic/woke oppression/WEF/Ministry of Truth” to “Stick to music and stay away from politics.” Love it! 

Edited June 14, 2022 by That Little Animal

[EternallyPissed]

On 6/14/2022 at 6:11 AM, That Little Animal said:

After reading the NME article in which Matt finally does get explicit about his politics and is directly asked about the seemingly antivaxx and dark right culture war sentiments expressed on the new album, I think we can put a lot of this ongoing discussion to rest. 

Surprisingly, he’s not being vague and he’s not avoiding the potential alienation of a part of the fan base by being explicit about his views this time. More surprisingly, the new songs are apparently trying to say the exact opposite of what his lyrics sound like they’re saying. Will of the People is not a dumb song about righteous people reclaiming power, it’s a song mocking dumb people fighting the system  against their own interest. Compliance is not antivaxx or even inspired by CoVid lockdowns. Liberation is not a Capitol Insurrectionist anthem, it’s inspired by BLM, etc.

Of course one can still be critical of his choice of words (in the lyrics) and his failure to be more explicit about denouncing specific groups or sentiments, but perhaps it’s really just more clumsiness than an attempt to please a broad audience. He seemed generally surprised by the idea that his lyrics can be interpreted in a way he didn’t intend them to.

His “extremes on both sides are bad” cliché is a bit of a cop out still as well, but the issues he’s explicit about match the left leaning libertarianism he’s expressed in the past, with only ‘communism’ being mentioned as an example of the left taking things too far. 

Either way, I can now sing along to the new songs without worrying that I’m endorsing things I don’t agree with. 

I tried telling everyone this at the beginning, but I digress. As an American, what I found amusing was when Matt contended to being libertarian about issues concerning one's private life (such as gender identity and the like), while being socialist in other areas - referring to this as meta-centrism. In my country, when one says the government should stay out of our private lives, they're branded as liberals, and when they declare the government should intervene on the economic side of things, in order to make the system more fair for everyone, once again, they're labeled as liberals. So, at least in the U.S., Matt's "meta-centrism" would be viewed as being stationed somewhere between "liberal" and "liberal." ...and yes, I'm perfectly fine with that (I'm the same way), but just found it funny. lol.

As a side-note, since Matt has explicitly stated what the intent/message is of the album, I'll now be curious to see, upon its release, if there are any lazy critics who ignore said explanations and, in their reviews, falsely claim that "Will of the People" is an anti-vaxxer, pro-insurrection, right-wing paradise.

[EternallyPissed]

On 6/14/2022 at 8:24 AM, Silentgod86 said:

Looking forward  to seeing Uprising dropped from the set then....

 

 

Yeah, that's not going to happen, but come on - if every inoffensive, vague utterance from 13 years ago could be used against us today in a context which wasn't present then, we'd all be in trouble.

[CodeBreakerShyOutsider]

I lost my account when they revamped the website and had kind of stopped listening and caring much about Muse right after Simulation Theory but it looks like I'm getting excited over this band again. Anyway Compliance has grown on me recently, I've found myself listening to it on repeat in the last few days even though it didn't impress me when it was released.

[Timbo59]

I haven't been keeping up with the band. When is KOKB being officially released?

[CodeBreakerShyOutsider]

I don't think we have a date yet.

[Silentgod86]

About a week ago, Matt said it would be released in a couple weeks so I would presume at most 14 days from now.

[Hat]

16 hours ago, Silentgod86 said:

About a week ago, Matt said it would be released in a couple weeks so I would presume at most 14 days from now.

When was this? I mean where's the quote from

[Silentgod86]

https://www.musewiki.org/St._Gallen_Festivalgeländ_2022_(gig)

[Silentgod86]

Confirmed on Twitter, Kill or be Killed will be released July 21st.

[Timbo59]

30 second clip. 

 

Haven't listened with earphones but on my crappy laptop speaker the drums sound a bit...overproduced? Idk, it's a problem I've had with Muse's production since Drones or even T2L.

[Silentgod86]

It's taken from a TikTok stream so I imagine there's an extra layer of compression there. I'll reserve judgment until next week but hope to God the mixing isn't the shitshow that Won't Stand Down is.

[Timbo59]

Yeah, hoping so too

[That Little Animal]

11 hours ago, Silentgod86 said:

It's taken from a TikTok stream so I imagine there's an extra layer of compression there. I'll reserve judgment until next week but hope to God the mixing isn't the shitshow that Won't Stand Down is.

If it’s not a similar shitshow then listening to the full album will be the same jarring inconsistent experience as listening the OOS anniversary remiXX. I’m not sure if inconsistency with the occasional standout is better than consistent shittiness. 

[CodeBreakerShyOutsider]

Where are the leaks tho??

[CodeBreakerShyOutsider]

Well it has leaked apparently.

[Claudia O]

Yes, I read about it but I wait until tomorrow 😊

Edited July 21, 2022 by Claudia O

[MUSEli]

The first review of the full WOTP is in MOJO, the author gave 4 stars out of 5 and called WOTP "their mid-career highlight". Song-wise, he compared Liberation to Bohemian Rhapsody, and We're Fucking Fucked to the work of The Dead Kennedys. He also wrote that Ghosts is a "heart-wrenching piano ballad". 

Knowing these new facts, I tried to predict the remaining new songs' nature compared to existing Muse songs.

Liberation: described as a piano song and a "roller-coaster pocket opera", compared to Queen, especially BoRhap. (United States of Eurasia, Survival)

Ghosts: this is the "Adele song", described as a "heart-wrenching piano ballad". (Endlessly?)

Halloween: described as "a spooktronic electronic track", it might bear similarities to MK Ultra and The Dark Side.

Verona: it's been mentioned that there are "nostalgic and innocent electronic textures" in this song. Therefore it might be comparable to Bliss and Explorers.

Euphoria: "a lightning bolt rush of a song", I think that the mystery Apollo riff belongs to this song. It highly depends on the further arrangements, but based on the riff, this track may be similar to Exo Politics and Unnatural Selection.

We're Fucking Fucked: "the weirdest, darkest lost B-side, the anthem of the apocalypse", it's compared to the work of Dead Kennedys by MOJO. (Ashamed, Hyper Music, The Small Print)

[Clunge]

So it's out. It's basically Assassin Pt.2 really, isn't it?

[Timbo59]

I think I like it. From the solo to the end is my fav part.