Kill or Be Killed (song)

"Kill or Be Killed" is a song by the English rock band Muse. It was released on 21 July 2022 as the fourth single ahead of their ninth studio album Will of the People, having already debuted in live format during festival shows of their Will of the People World Tour. It was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.

"Kill or Be Killed"
Cover of the Felsmann + Tiley reinterpretation
Single by Muse
from the album Will of the People
Released	21 July 2022 (2022-07-21)
Genre	Progressive metal heavy metal alternative metal metalcore
Length	5:00
Label	Warner
Songwriter(s)	Matt Bellamy
Producer(s)	Muse
Muse singles chronology
"Will of the People" (2022) "Kill or Be Killed" (2022) "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" (2022)
Music video
"Kill or Be Killed" on YouTube

Release history

"Kill or Be Killed" was debuted in live format at the 4 June 2022 show of the Will of the People World Tour, at the Rock am Ring music festival in Germany, during which the previous single "Will of the People" also received its live debut. "Kill or Be Killed" was played as the first song of the encore, before the closing song "Knights of Cydonia", and without any official prior announcement from the band.^[1]

"Kill or Be Killed" was subsequently played at every following show of the tour, emerging as a fan favourite. On 14 July, Muse confirmed through social media that "Kill or Be Killed" would be released as the fourth single ahead of Will of the People one week later on 21 July 2022, with a thirty-second snippet of the studio version of the song becoming available to preview through TikTok later that day.^[2]

Writing and composition

Prior to the live debut of "Kill or Be Killed", in an interview with Apple Music 1 on 17 March 2022, Matt Bellamy described "Kill or Be Killed" as "the best metal/prog track we've ever done", featuring "industrial-tinged, granite-heavy guitar riffs".^[3] Music journalists described "Kill or Be Killed" as progressive metal,^[4][5] heavy metal,^[6] alternative metal,^[7] and metalcore.^[8]

For the guitar solo, Bellamy combined a tapping technique with a DigiTech Whammy, a pitch-shifting pedal, to shift rapidly between octaves. He said, "I'm plainly cheating in that solo ... It sounds like I’m doing insane arpeggios. I'm not a shredder at all. I've never been a very good shredder, but I found ways to cut corners."^[9]

Charts

Chart performance for "Kill or Be Killed"

Chart (2022)	Peak position
UK Singles Sales (OCC)[10]	81
UK Singles Downloads (OCC)[11]	80
UK Rock & Metal (OCC)[12]	20
US Rock Airplay (Billboard)[13]	37