Tough one to review, this.. Lots o' baggage. After fifteen years the Manic Street Preachers have decided to use a load of lyrics left behind by Richey Edwards to form the basis of A Journal for Plague Lovers, an album that so desperately seeks to be a companion piece to The Holy Bible that they've used a lovely Jenny Saville painting on the front, made a habit of beginning or ending tracks with snatches of sampled speech and roped in Steve Albini to record it in the hope of recapturing a little of that total classic's post-punk-esque harshness. Despite that effort it probably sounds more like a modern Gold Against the Soul if anything, the sound's well Thin Lizzy for the most part but not quite as dad as we've all come to expect from them in recent years. The lyrics are tangibly lighter than The Holy Bible's in any case, with a fair bit of humour in there (Stephen Hawking missing the sexual revolution because he failed the physical, asking your mum what a sex pistol is, the title of 'Jackie Collins Existential Question Time', the fact that Nicky Wire sings some of them) and once again you've got to credit James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore for somehow managing to work such mental lyrics into actual tunes - mostly of the rocking variety but with some acoustic interludes as you might expect. Decent if not spectacular but I guess this is probably their best album in over ten years and that's going to be enough for many!
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What their label says...
CD1:
1. Peeled Apples 2. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time 3. Me And Stephen Hawking 4. This Joke Sport Severed 5. Journal For Plague Lovers 6. She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach 7. Facing Page: Top Left 8. Marlon J.D. 9. Doors Closing Slowly 10. All Is Vanity 11. Pretension/Repulsion 12. Virginia State Epileptic Colony 13. William’s Last Words
CD2:
1. Peeled Apples 2. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time 3. Me And Stephen Hawking 4. This Joke Sport Severed 5. Journal For Plague Lovers 6. She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach 7. Facing Page: Top Left 8. Marlon J.D. 9. Doors Closing Slowly 10. All Is Vanity 11. Pretension/Repulsion 12. Virginia State Epileptic Colony 13. William’s Last Words
