Songfacts®:

• "Kill Or Be Killed" finds Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, demoralized by the state of the world, espousing a survival-of-the-fittest philosophy. He's tried to spread love and compassion, but with so much hatred around him, the singer has become "cold and detached." Now, Bellamy sees the only way he can exist is to "kill or be killed."
• Bellamy says the track takes influence from Paul McCartney & Wings' 1973 James Bond theme song "Live And Let Die." He described Macca's tune as "a dark take on how life's adversity can sometimes bring out the worst human instincts to survival at any costs."
• With industrial-tinged, granite-heavy riffs accompanied by Bellamy's death growl, this song marks a return to Muse's hard-rocking roots. "'Kill Or Be Killed' is Muse at their heaviest!" said Bellamy. "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."
• Muse debuted "Kill Or Be Killed" live when they played it as the first song of the encore at their June 4, 2022 show at the Rock am Ring music festival in Germany. The band played the track at subsequent festivals to huge acclaim, and concertgoers swarmed onto social media with calls for it to be released. Responding to the overpowering "will of the people," Muse dropped "'Kill Or Be Killed" on July 22, 2022.