Matt Bellamy says this new Muse song is the band at their heaviest – and it's probably their best in years

Matt Bellamy
(Image credit: JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Don't panic Muse fans, or get too excited if you're an extreme metaller, Matt Bellamy hasn't gone all Chuck Schuldiner on us. Instead new single Kill Or Be Killed puts metal through Muse's grandiose filter, and it feels like their strongest song in a while because of it.

The band has always flirted with big riffs – and love throwing in famous ones by other artists in outros and segues when they play live – but we even get Bellamy throwing in a tapping solo amongst the pitch-shifting histrionics. And yes, there is a growling part! 

It's all good stuff that mixes band's earlier – and we think superior – era with its lead work with grandstanding Muse chorus. It bodes well for the forthcoming album Will Of The People, released 26 August. 

And as the live version below proves, never underestimate the Teignmouth trio's ability to recreate their records live.

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.