Niki N. Phaser

              Well, we can all sigh with relief, Manic Street Preachers are brave enough to do a follow-up to their Richey Edwards written album, Journal for Plague Lovers. In a letter to fans posted on their official website, the three Manics are talking about working on new material: “We have been writing/demoing in Cardiff, songs, ideas and coffee have been flowing”. They also mentioning the movies and the music they are currently into, but that’s less important.

             Some reports say that the working title is It’s Not War – Just the End of Love, which sounds pretty Wire-esque (I mean, it’s long enough). It will be the band’s tenth album and it will have the difficult task of following this year’s acclaimed Journal for Plague Lovers, which has the Manics feature in about every Best Albums of 2009 Top there is. And they deserve it, no doubt about it. If you still wonder why…

Question Time

Well, it is pretty much official: Manic Street Preachers have done it again. Journal for Plague Lovers, their latest album, is neither a comeback, nor a return to early days, despite the several connections between this album and The Holy Bible (1994). It is just perfect. It is true, is less piano, strings and synth than Lifeblood (2004), but the exquisite riffs at the core of their latest effort show that they are more sure of themselves than they have ever been. They are an electric guitar band and Send Away the Tigers (2007) gave them just the right push to embrace that identity.

Still, fans of Lifeblood and This is My Truth Tell Me Yours, there are no reasons to worry. Tracks like This Joke Sport Severed, Doors Closing Slowly and Facing Page: Top Left offer plenty of melancholic moments. We can also include here the closing number, William’s Last Words, with vocals by Nicky Wire. Considering the beauty of older B-side Dying Breeds, the return is more than welcomed. Hopefully, this direction will be further investigated.

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