If you've been paying any attention at all to Matt Bellamy of Muse this year, you know it's all puppy love when it comes his band and heavy metal. And you wouldn't need to look too far for some evidence—their single from earlier this year, "Kill Or Be Killed," was described by Bellamy as "a modern metal sound featuring double bass drum action and even a death growl." As it turns out, metal was always in the DNA of Muse—well, sorta anyway, as Bellamy explained in a recent interview with Classic Rock magazine.
"When we were growing up we were listening to bands like Iron Maiden," the Muse front man said. "And though we connected more through Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine and the Smashing Pumpkins, we always had this love for eighties metal. Metallica were also a big one for us, but Iron Maiden were the British band and also felt a bit more punk rock in ways. The song 'Phantom Of The Opera' [from Iron Maiden, 1980] doesn’t feel as bloated or overtly classical as other metal songs. There’s still something quite angry and scary about it. That’s why Maiden are a band we’ve always looked up to.
"That usage of the harmonic minor scale and the progressive approach to arrangements is something that we share, even if we never sounded like them and live in a different genre. We have a lot of respect for them as musicians, especially Steve Harris, who is one of the best bass players around."
Bellamy has also recently heaped tons of praise on Slipknot, going almost as far as crediting the Iowa bangers as an influence on the latest Muse LP, Will of the People, and Bellamy credits his son for turning him on to the band.
"[Our album] also coincides with a little bit of my son, Bing, who's really gotten into Slipknot and stuff like that," said Bellamy. "And we never pretend to be able to touch those guys, but hearing that stuff blasting on the way to school most mornings, that really kind of got into the album a little bit.
"That was what was refreshing about it," continued Bellamy. "It was nice to actually find something that we weren't good at… and actually try and get really good at [it].
All in all, it has been an eventful year for Muse. Over the summer, as a special surprise for fans, they released an NFT edition of Will of the People, which was certified to qualify for the charts in England and Australia, making it one of the first NTFs to qualify for an national album chart.
