Niki N. Phaser

              So, the rumours were wrong… Manic Street Preachers‘ next album will not be titled It’s Not War – Just the End of Love, but Postcards From A Young Man. It will be their 10th, due to be released this September, and even though they call it “one last shot at mass communication” let’s hope they are not getting crazy ideas like retiring. They might also mean just that this new album will be more radio-friendly than Journal for Plague Lovers, last year’s ultimate alternative masterpiece. At least, that’s what James Dean Bradfield told NME. Their last pop-oriented release was Lifeblood (which is, btw, the album that made me fall in love with this band), so things are looking good. And if you are in the UK, your luck is double, because that is where they start the tour promoting this new one. September through November will see them taking new material to the major joints on the island. Till then, keep your eyes on the Manics’ site:

INFO MANIC

          Yeah, this time it was for real, Peter Steele, iconic frontman of metal band Type O Negative has really died. It happened two weeks ago, but we all know that with Lord Steele we have to wait a little bit and be sure that we are not supposed to laugh at yet another dark joke of his. It is only appropriate that we should remember Type O’s Everything Dies, from 1999′s World Coming Down, a perfect song to qualify them as more than a metal band, but an alternative (and loud) way to deal with universal themes of death and love and fear of all that these two can bring. Still, this is not what you would call a mainstream track, but you can definitely spot a genuine ballad behind all the grunting from the intro, combined with something which sounds like a Hitlerjunge convention. It was just like Type O Negative to go for weird mixing choices, but this is one of those songs that you have to listen with one hand on the volume. That haunting piano from the verse is so addictive that you just have to hear it better and then the chorus kicks in, loud and celebratory, as if hailing death as the one thing in life that is certain — the grounds on which you can build your existence. RIP P.S.

Everything Dies here

                 Scottish grunge revelation, Biffy Clyro, are about to release a new single from last year’s successful Only Revolutions . After the well-received singles That Golden Rule, The Captain and Many of Horror, it’s time for Bubbles (no connection to The Powerpuff Girls, I was told) to persuade another wave of listeners to check out this band. With some ‘backing’ guitars by Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and a feelgood-in-a-small-town Thin Lizzy vibe, we are sure that Bubbles will do its duty. With honors (or horrors ?).

                 If indeed, you jump on board of the Biffy craze, you’ll get plenty of chances to see them rock out their heavy complex arrangements at this summer’s festivals. And from what I gathered, they do it quite nicely. But first, get a taste:

Chase and Pop BUBBLES here