Muse – Will Of The People album review: continuing to pioneer their own sound

Naturally, their ninth studio album explodes with virtuoso solos and operatic hooks.

But who expected singerguitarist Matt Bellamy to write “my first version of an Adele song” in love ballad Ghosts (How Can I Move On)?

They also rock like demons, of course. Even superhero The Flash might struggle to keep up with Matt’s dazzling, lightningfast guitar licks in the brutal Kill Or Be Killed.

With Chris Wolstenholme on bass and Dominic Howard on drums, Muse could give Megadeth a run for their money in the heaviness stakes, but they have arguably got more to say.

“Let’s push the emperors into the ocean, don’t need a goon to flood with devotion,” sings Matt on the title track – an instantly catchy glam rocker with a chestbeating chorus.

Instead, he advocates “a transformation, one we all can see, we need a revolution, so long as we stay free” – the qualifier that history so rarely guarantees.

Compliance is driving electro-pop blessed with soaring falsetto vocals and a cracking chorus which mocks authoritarian control freaks: “Compliance, we just need your compliance, you will feel no pain any more, no more defiance?” The heavier Won’t Stand Down – about confronting bullies – skates perilously close to death metal in places.

Euphoria is fast electro-pop, suitably euphoric. Liberation has the feel of Freddie Mercury.

Best is the dark, creepy closing song with the title too filthy to print.

Once dubbed “the new Radiohead”, the Teignmouth trio have also been likened to Queen, but their first album since 2018’s Simulation Theory is a reminder they do their thing their way.