Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers

Death or Glory

Anyone heard it yet? Absolutely brilliant album - I'd call it a return to form but their last album 'Send Away The Tigers' was equally as good.

It also features lyrics left behind by missing guitarist Richey Edwards, as well as art work from Jenny Saville who contributed to the cover of The Holy Bible, hence the comparison between the 2 albums.

The first single off it, 'Peeled Apples', is an absolute riot

8/10

Alan Noir

Fingers crossed.

Last album was a bit pants though.

Death or Glory

Alan Noir wrote: »

Fingers crossed.

Last album was a bit pants though.

You've gotta be kidding me? Send Away The Tigers was quality, one or two fillers but at least 6 quality tunes

Alan Noir

It was full of dire lyrics, far to short and anything decent was pretty much well trodden ground for them.

Xavi6

'Send Away The Tigers' was very much hit and miss, much like this new record on first listen.

JerryHandbag

Heard somewhere its a bit like Know Your Enemy, which sounds good to me....the louder the better as far as I'm concerned with the Manics!

Xavi6

Dear Manics,

Please, please, PLEASE stop letting Nicky Wire sing.

kthxbye

Death or Glory

Xavi6 wrote: »

Dear Manics,

Please, please, PLEASE stop letting Nicky Wire sing.

kthxbye

Initially I didn't like 'Williams Last Words', but it's definitely grown on me. While Wire is grossly out of tune and his singing isn't the best, the song is really sweet and the sentiment behind it is there for all to see

blindpilot

After the first listen Peeling Apples and Bag Lady stand out. Not a lot else. I'll stick with it though.

Death or Glory

newblue08 wrote: »

After the first listen Peeling Apples and Bag Lady stand out. Not a lot else. I'll stick with it though.

It's worth persevering with- Marlon JD is a cracking tune after a couple of listens- also love All Is Vanity and Virginia State Epileptic Colony (what a title! )

blindpilot

Death or Glory wrote: »

It's worth persevering with- Marlon JD is a cracking tune after a couple of listens- also love All Is Vanity and Virginia State Epileptic Colony (what a title! )

Good call with All Is Vanity. Great tune

qwertplaywert

Give it first 2 listens this morning. They really are back on form , with Send Away the Tigers and then this, both in my opinon Everything Must Go quality albums. Highly doubt they can ever pull off another Holy Bible though.

qwertplaywert

Whens the Irish release date?

The Hustler

qwertplaywert wrote: »

Whens the Irish release date?

Friday 15th May

blindpilot

Pretension/Repulsion jsut grabbed me by the balls there. What a song.

The Hustler

They're on Jools Holland tonight if anyone is interested. Apparently they play 'Peeled Apples', 'Jackie Collins, 'Me and Stephen Hawking' and 'A Design For Life'

sock puppet

I've heard a couple of songs off this and it sounds good. I'll definitely be buying it. Though I've never liked the Manic Street Preachers before. The Holy Bible was their best imo but even that had a few forgettable tracks on it.

Tchaikovsky

There are no forgettable tracks on THB in fairness!

The Hustler

She is Suffering and IfWhiteAmerica arn't the strongest

homerun_homer

The Hustler wrote: »

She is Suffering and IfWhiteAmerica arn't the strongest

*Pitchforks at the ready*
GET HIM LADS!!

The Hustler

homerun_homer wrote: »

*Pitchforks at the ready*
GET HIM LADS!!

She is Suffering is awful Even the band hate it

homerun_homer

The band hate Revol too. I remember the last time I saw them play PCP live and James said "never again" because he was finding it too hard to remember all the words.

bottlerocket

After two listens I really like this album. Good to hear Richey's lyrics again, he really shows up how awful Nicky's lyrics are at times. Need to give it another few listens but so far so good. It was an incredibly brave decision by the band to do this and I'm just glad it seems to have come off. It's also a great way of honouring their friend and a reminder of how unique and talented he was.

Trafford Lad

I think the first 5 songs stand out...not sure about after that, need to give it a few more listens! I think when they play the Olympia next month they will play the album in its entirety, and then play older hits.

sock puppet

Tchaikovsky wrote: »

There are no forgettable tracks on THB in fairness!

I think She is suffering and The Intense Humming of Evil aren't that good. The rest of the album is great though. Looking forward to getting the new one.

The Engineer

sock puppet wrote: »

I think She is suffering and The Intense Humming of Evil aren't that good.

Holy crap! She is Suffering is one of my favourite Manics songs. Some of the best lyrics as well..."beauty she is scarred into man's soul". Check out the version on the Canadian release of the album, which was remixed by Tom Lord Alge. It really beefs it up.

They were mining a rich vein of form with The Holy Bible, and I was glad to see that Journal For Plague Lovers was a continuation of it. The music, the lyrics, the packaging - art at its finest. I can't wait for their Olympia gig.

Long live the Manics!

The Engineer

The Hustler wrote: »

Even the band hate it

I'm not so sure about that. I do remember Nicky saying that the video to "She Is Suffering" was "absolute ****e beyond belief", though!

Hardrain

Fantastic album

Odaise Gaelach

Got it on Saturday and I'm enjoying it! I fell in love with Peeled Apples when I heard it on the Zane Lowe show, love the intro to it. Excellent album.

With regards to the Holy Bible, I liked She is Suffering. I didn't like Archives of Pain, or Mausoleum though. But, then again, I though Lifeblood was a pretty decent album...

homerun_homer

Lifeblood is an underrated Manics album. It's got great melodies, is mature and is a good alternative to their rockier side.

Tchaikovsky

I agree that LB is underrated, but still there's only one real stand-out track; 1985, which is the only one they'd play live these days.
Even KYE had Found that Soul and Baby Elian.

I've been a fan for nearly 10 years but have kinda gone off them since SATT (some atrocious lyrics) and the cover of Umbrella - they just don't mean anything anymore

DD

We will see about that. Anyway I have seen them in the concert, the music sounded so good.
I like them a lot. I will like the songs anyway

I need to check when do they have the next concert.

Alan Noir

Got it yesterday. It's pretty good, but I owe it a few more listens before I can properly discern why. Some of the earlier tracks I heard have started to grow on me too.

homerun_homer

I haven't heard the album yet cause I have ordered the special edition signed by the band. It's so annoying more so because I just found out Bag Lady won't be on it. I'll have to download a regular copy of the album now, having failed in previous attempts.

Elliemental

I won`t have time to buy this album until Friday afternoon. I can honestly say I haven`t been so excited about the release of a new Manics album in years, (infact, when Tigers was released, I was almost dreading it after the Lifeblood debacle).

Tchaikovsky

DD wrote: »

We will see about that. Anyway I have seen them in the concert, the music sounded so good.
I like them a lot. I will like the songs anyway

I need to check when do they have the next concert.

<snip>

Cool_CM

Just treated myself to it there, first listening is quite promising!

The Hustler

I adore 'Send Away The Tigers' ! While some of the lyrics leave alot to be desired, there are some incredible riffs on it- proper rock out moments (Underdogs, Rendition etc) and the 2 singles 'Your Love Alone.............' and 'Autumn Song' are Manics CLASSICS.

Lifeblood, on the other hand, is the worst thing they've ever done though. In saying that, 'Empty Souls' is in my top 5 ever Manics songs

Kool&TheGang

Bradfield is a legend - you're right about Wire..needs to stay off the mike:)

loveissucide

Can't get into Manics and dunno why,although I will get Holy Bible soon.This new one looks interesting if nothing else.

Placid_Casual

Strangely, enough William's Last Words is my favourite track on the album so far. Somehow, the fragility in Nicky's voice makes the song for me. I read somewhere that he actually wrote the music for it too.
The rest sounds like Manics-by-numbers to me, musically speaking, its ok but not great. But the fact that the lyrics are the last stuff that Richey wrote before his disappearance makes it special. I can see myself listening to this for months for that reason alone.

The Hustler

Placid_Casual wrote: »

Strangely, enough William's Last Words is my favourite track on the album so far. Somehow, the fragility in Nicky's voice makes the song for me. I read somewhere that he actually wrote the music for it too.
The rest sounds like Manics-by-numbers to me, musically speaking, its ok but not great. But the fact that the lyrics are the last stuff that Richey wrote before his disappearance makes it special. I can see myself listening to this for months for that reason alone.

Don't worry, it'll grow on you

'Peeled Apples' and 'Jackie Collins' have been overplayed at this stage, but the slower, moodier songs are the ones that will grip you

overexcitedaj

Halfway through it at the mo and im really pleasantly suprised. SATT did have a few good tunes but i still wasnt expecting this.

The Hustler

Going to see em Thursday, cant wait!

homerun_homer

Would love to see them next week but doubt I'll be able to head up for it. Maybe I should and pull a sicky Friday.
Just got the signed special edition album this week and I really like it. I know it will grow even more on me the more I get to properly listen to it. Only had it on twice in work so far, and 1 listen to the Demo's cd. I am still annoyed that Bag Lady isn't on it though.

The Hustler

Yeah, Bag Lady is brilliant - if you listen to it closely it's actually '4st 7lbs' played backwards