Muse have released the hard-hitting Kill Or Be Killed as the fourth single from their upcoming Will Of The People album.
The Devon trio have been playing the song live at their summer festivals appearances, generating much excitement on social media, and have now decided to bow to - wait for it - the will of the people by releasing it as a single, following on from the already-released Won't Stand Down, Compliance and the album's title track.
Frontman Matt Bellamy says, “Kill Or Be Killed is Muse at their heaviest! We wanted to update our hard rock sound on this album and with Kill Or Be Killed we found a modern metal sound featuring double bass drum action and even a death growl.
"Lyrically the song takes influence from my favourite Paul McCartney song, Live And Let Die," Belllamy continues, "a dark take on how life’s adversity can sometimes bring out the worst human instincts to survival at any costs."
Watch the video below:
Scheduled to arrive on August 26 via Warner Records, Will Of The People, Muse's ninth studio album has been described by Matt Bellamy as "a greatest hits album – of new songs”.
In conversation with The Big Issue, he explains how the forthcoming record was conceived in response to their label's request for a 'best of' compilation.
“We were reaching that point where there was talk about maybe doing a greatest hits album, and we weren’t really in favour of doing that,” the frontman says. “So it’s almost like we’ve made a record that is a greatest hits album – of new songs.
“That means this album might have a metal track on it – and it’s like, the best metal track we’ve ever done. Or there’s a sort of soft ballad, love song and it’s probably the best ballad love song we’ve ever done, and so on.
“It’s a montage of the best of Muse. It’s a new take on all of those types of genres that we’ve touched on in the past.”
