Manic Street Preachers -Journal For Plague Lovers

Fri 1st May, 2009 in Music Reviews

Manic Street Preachers first came to prominence in the start of the – œ90s. James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore quickly set themselves apart from the music that dominated the scene at the time with their politically and intellectually charged alternative rock. In 1995, not long after the band released one of their most acclaimed albums, The Holy Bible, guitarist and songwriter Richey mysteriously disappeared. He remained missing for the next 13 years, and was eventually declared presumed dead on November in 2008.

The remaining three members of the Welsh group went on to further success in Britain and abroad following Richey’s disappearance. Along with losing Richey, their songs also lost their troubled edge. A more mainstream Manics surfaced; along with some of their more celebrated albums like This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, which featured the band’s first number one single, If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next.

Journal For Plague Lovers is the band’s ninth release. With the famed Steve Albini in the producer’s chair, this is one of the most significant Manics albums to date. It features the final lyrics left to the band by Richey – a 13-track legacy to the band’s most interesting songwriter – and is intended to be heard as a body of work, with the band announcing that no singles from this album are being released.

Journal’s sounds point to much of the Manics’ earlier work. Taking the cue from Richey’s lyrics, the band return to their post-punk instincts, something which is immediately felt as soon as the album kicks off. Peeled Apples, with its thudding bass line, harks back to the familiar undertones from their The Holy Bible days. This is felt elsewhere throughout the album in tracks She Bathed Herself In a Bath Of Bleach and the glam-rock-tinged title track; they even cross into synth-punk territory in Marlon J.D. The record’s most effective moments are definitely their more sombre ones, such as the swelling acoustic and emotional The Joke Sport Severed, and the gloomy Doors Closing Slowly.

While these songs are concise, the album as a whole doesn’t exactly leap out, and it is unlikely to reach out to any new fans. But that’s not really what Journals For Plague Lovers is about anyway. The album ends with the poignant William’s Last Words, sung with breaking emotion by a surprising choice of vocalist – bassist Nicky Wire. Despite the song’s oddities, it seems fitting, somehow. This record may not be the band’s best work, but it is definitely one of their most important albums: a tribute to one of the band’s most pivotal musicians, and more importantly, a chance for closure.

Journal For Plague Lovers is out 15 May through Sony Music.