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.

"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.

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.

[8] For the guitar solo, Bellamy combined a tapping technique with a DigiTech Whammy, a pitch-shifting pedal, to shift rapidly between octaves.

"[9] Touring members: Morgan Nicholls (2004, 2006–2022), Daniel Newell (2006–2008), Alessandro Cortini (2009), Dan Lancaster (2022–present)