The Wow! Signal (album)
2026 studio album by Muse
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The Wow! Signal is the tenth studio album by the English rock band Muse, released on 26 June 2026 through Warner Records and Helium-3. It was produced by Muse, Dan Lancaster and Aleks von Korff.
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- First Congregational Church (Los Angeles)
| The Wow! Signal | ||||
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| Released | 26 June 2026 | |||
| Recorded | 2025 | |||
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| Length | 45:27 | |||
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| Singles from The Wow! Signal | ||||
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The bandleader, Matt Bellamy, said Lancaster pushed Muse to create a more modern sound. The lyrics explore themes of cosmic mystery and were influenced by Bellamy's split from the model Elle Evans. "Hush" features the singer Ellie Goulding.
"Unravelling", "Be with You", "Cryogen", "Hexagons", and "Nightshift Superstar" were released as singles. A North American tour began in July, with a European arena tour to begin in November.
Writing
In mid-2025, the bandleader, Matt Bellamy, split from his wife, the model Elle Evans.[3] In order to prioritise his children,[4] Bellamy cancelled Muse shows scheduled for February 2026 in South Africa, India, and the United Arab Emirates.[5][3] The split influenced the writing of the album, which Bellamy wrote mostly in late 2025 "in the depths of this life-changing experience".[3] He said The Wow! Signal may have been the easiest Muse album to make: "It would just pour out of me ... It was such a catharsis. It became a lifeline for me."[3]
The album explores themes of "cosmic mystery" and the "possibility of contact with something far greater than ourselves".[6] The title is derived from the 1977 narrowband radio signal reported to have suggested the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life.[3]
Recording
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Eight tracks were produced by Dan Lancaster and two by Aleks von Korff.[4] Lancaster has been a touring member with Muse since May 2022.[7] After self-producing several albums, Muse decided to "let go of the reins a little bit". Bellamy also credited influence from the Coldplay singer, Chris Martin, who encouraged him to collaborate more.[4] Bellamy described the band members as "control freaks" who initially disliked being given instructions, but said Lancaster pushed them in a new way to create a more "fresh" and modern sound.[4] He likened him to a member of the band.[4]
"Hush" is the first Muse song to feature a guest vocalist, Ellie Goulding.[4] Goulding was working in the same studio as Muse and was invited to add vocals. Bellamy said: "We just turned it into a duet at that point. She sang it in a couple of takes and an hour and a half later we had the song."[4]
Release and promotion
Muse began a European festival tour on 12 June 2025, and released the single "Unravelling" on 20 June.[8] On 19 March, 2026, Muse released "Be with You" and announced the album title and release date.[9] Muse promoted the announcement by sending a tablet 33km above the Earth with the English aerospace company Sent Into Space.[9]
Muse played a small show at London's Brixton Academy in April, and debuted "Cryogen". It was released as the third single on 24 April,[10][11][12] followed by "Hexagons" on 19 May and "Nightshift Superstar" on 5 June.[13][14] The Wow! Signal was released on 26 June 2026 through Warner Records and Helium-3.[15] Muse began a North American tour in July.[16] A European arena tour is to due to begin on 12 November 2026, including two shows at the O2 Arena, London.[17]
Reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 6.5/10[18] |
| Metacritic | 67/100[19] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [20] |
| The Arts Desk | [21] |
| Clash | 8/10[22] |
| Classic Rock |  [23] |
| The Guardian | [2] |
| NME | [15] |
| Pitchfork | 4.5/10[24] |
| Rolling Stone | [25] |
| Sputnikmusic | 4.5/5[26] |
| Under the Radar | [27] |
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, The Wow! Signal received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 from twelve critic scores.[19] The review aggregator Any Decent Music gave it a weighted average score of 6.5 out of 10 from fourteen critic scores.[18]
The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis wrote: "There's something curiously admirable about its commitment to its utterly preposterous bit, its refusal to bow to any notion of maturity or good taste and instead double down in its own world. If you wouldn't want to live there all time, a visit is never boring."[2] In Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan wrote that "as is often the case with this ostentatiously bombastic UK band, their music won't blow your mind so much as beat it into numb submission". He praised the more restrained final track, "Space Debris", as "proof that it'd be OK if Muse kept things a little less intense. Of course, if they did, they wouldn't be Muse."[25] Liam Inscoe-Jones of Pitchfork considered the album "too sincere to have fun and too obnoxious to take seriously ... Expecting subtlety from Muse may seem futile, but the subject matter—be it space or heartbreak—demands it."[24]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard, Christopher Wolstenholme, and Dan Lancaster, except where noted.[28]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Dark Forest" | Bellamy |
| 5:16 |
| 2. | "Nightshift Superstar" | 4:07 | ||
| 3. | "Shimmering Scars" | 4:28 | ||
| 4. | "Cryogen" |
| 5:01 | |
| 5. | "Be with You" |
| 3:35 | |
| 6. | "Hexagons" | Bellamy |
| 5:26 |
| 7. | "The Sickness in You & I" | 4:17 | ||
| 8. | "Unravelling" |
| 3:58 | |
| 9. | "Hush" (with Ellie Goulding) |
|
| 3:56 |
| 10. | "Space Debris" | Bellamy |
| 5:23 |
| Total length: | 45:27 | |||
Notes
Personnel
Credits are adapted from Tidal.[30]
Muse
- Matt Bellamy – vocals, guitar, keyboards (all tracks); choir arrangement (tracks 1–3, 10), string arrangement (1, 2), orchestration (1), art direction
- Dominic Howard – drums, art direction
- Chris Wolstenholme – bass, backing vocals (all tracks); engineering (1–5), art direction
Additional musicians
- Crouch End Festival Chorus – choir vocals (1–3, 10)
- David Temple – choir conductor
- Jason Carr – choir arrangement
- Alex Helfrecht – alto vocals
- Alice Jeffery – alto vocals
- Alison Brister – alto vocals
- Becky Claye – alto vocals
- Beth Horn – alto vocals
- Bethany Burrow – alto vocals
- Caroline Milton – alto vocals
- Charlotte Halliday – alto vocals
- Diana Parkinson – alto vocals
- Emma Kingsley – alto vocals
- Eugenie Aitchison – alto vocals
- Hannah Leonard – alto vocals
- Natalie Fine – alto vocals
- Paula Miller – alto vocals
- Sarah Elliot – alto vocals
- Tina Burnett – alto vocals
- Alistair Scott – bass vocals
- Alistair Yates – bass vocals
- Christopher Wetherall – bass vocals
- David Hodgson – bass vocals
- Duncan McAlpine – bass vocals
- Duncan Sim – bass vocals
- Jonathan Gatward – bass vocals
- Martin Musgrave – bass vocals
- Oliver Davis – bass vocals
- Philip Rashleigh – bass vocals
- Peter Newsom – bass vocals
- Ralph Warman – bass vocals
- Charlotte Smith – soprano vocals
- Clare James – soprano vocals
- Davina Ross-Anderson – soprano vocals
- Emily Soppet – soprano vocals
- Genevieve Helsby – soprano vocals
- Helen Garrison – soprano vocals
- Imogen Rush – soprano vocals
- Jessie Holder – soprano vocals
- Lily Griffin – soprano vocals
- Margaret Ellerby – soprano vocals
- Pamela Vernon – soprano vocals
- Rosemary Zolynski – soprano vocals
- Roxanne Waldron – soprano vocals
- Sarah Niblock – soprano vocals
- Susanna Houtheusen – soprano vocals
- Úna Yates – soprano vocals
- Adrian Warner – tenor vocals
- Andrew Dunn – tenor vocals
- Craig Wilkie – tenor vocals
- James Brown – tenor vocals
- John Vernon – tenor vocals
- Martin Dowling – tenor vocals
- Pedro Ferreira – tenor vocals
- Sean Denny – tenor vocals
- Simon Stock – tenor vocals
- Steve James – tenor vocals
- Tim Foxon – tenor vocals
- London Metropolitan Orchestra – strings (1–3, 10)
- Andy Brown – orchestral conductor
- Anna Croad – violin
- Ariel Lang – violin
- Cathy Thompson – violin
- Charlie Brown – violin
- Charlie Lovell-Jones – violin
- David Juritz – violin
- Debbie Widdup – violin
- Emma Fry – violin
- Gavin Davies – violin
- Guy Button – violin
- Jeremy Isaac – violin
- John Mills – violin
- Jillian Trafford – violin
- Kathy Gowers – violin
- Marianne Haynes – violin
- Miranda Allen – violin
- Natalia Bonner – violin
- Raja Halder – violin
- Ralph De Souza – violin
- Steve Morris – violin
- Thom Gould – violin
- Tom Bowes – violin
- Andy Parker – viola
- Bruce White – viola
- Edward Vanderspar – viola
- Garfield Jackson – viola
- Jordan Bergmans – viola
- Katie Wilkinson – viola
- Mike Briggs – viola
- Úna Palliser – viola
- Caroline Dale – cello
- David Daniels – cello
- Emma Pritchard – cello
- Katherine Jenkinson – cello
- Nathanial Boyd – cello
- Nick Cooper – cello
- David Ayre – double bass
- Laurence Ungless – double bass
- Mary Scully – double bass
- Steve Williams – double bass
- Dan Lancaster – programming (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), additional backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), backing vocals (5, 8), additional percussion (6)
- Bingham Bellamy – additional percussion (1)
- Matt Slater – orchestration (1)
- Lovella Bellamy – backing vocals (2)
- Poppy Tjoeng – backing vocals (2)
- Tobias Tjoeng – backing vocals (2)
- Aleks von Korff – additional percussion (6)
- Chris Whitemeyer – additional percussion (6)
- Tom Kirk – additional percussion (6)
- Ellie Goulding – vocals (9)
Technical and visuals
- Aleks von Korff – engineering (1, 2, 4–6, 8, 9)
- Dan Hayden – engineering assistance (1, 2, 4, 9)
- Ed Farrell – engineering assistance (1, 2, 4, 9)
- Dan Lancaster – mixing (1, 2, 4–6, 8, 9), mastering (9)
- Rhys May – mixing assistance (1, 2, 4–6, 8, 9), vocal engineering assistance (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), digital editing (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), engineering assistance (5)
- Cameron Johnston-Ushijima – engineering assistance (5)
- Marc Doten – engineering assistance (5)
- Tom Ashpitel – engineering assistance (8)
- Chris Gehringer – mastering (1, 2, 4–6, 8)
- Will Quinnell – mastering assistance (1, 2, 4, 6)
- Chris Whitemeyer – studio assistance (1, 2, 4, 6, 9)
- Thomas Briggs – studio assistance (8)
- Jesse Lee Stout – creative direction, art direction
- Mindreader – graphic design
Charts
| Chart (2026) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[31] | 2 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[32] | 1 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[33] | 1 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[34] | 1 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[35] | 31 |
| Croatian International Albums (HDU)[36] | 1 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[37] | 1 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[38] | 2 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[39] | 1 |
| French Rock & Metal Albums (SNEP)[40] | 1 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[41] | 3 |
| German Rock & Metal Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[42] | 2 |
| Greek Albums (IFPI)[43] | 4 |
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[44] | 3 |
| Irish Albums (Official Charts)[45] | 8 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[46] | 3 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[47] | 39 |
| Japanese Digital Albums (Oricon)[48] | 10 |
| Japanese Top Albums Sales (Billboard Japan)[49] | 41 |
| Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)[50] | 76 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[51] | 5 |
| Norwegian Albums (IFPI Norge)[52] | 21 |
| Norwegian Rock Albums (IFPI Norge)[53] | 1 |
| Scottish Albums (Official Charts)[54] | 1 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[55] | 1 |
| UK Albums (Official Charts)[56] | 1 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (Official Charts)[57] | 1 |
| US Billboard 200[58] | 41 |
| US Top Rock & Alternative Albums (Billboard)[59] | 10 |