Photo Credit: Alex Lake
Critical Thinking, the fifteenth album from the Manic Street Preachers, is finally here and it was definitely worth the wait!
Title track Critical Thinking gets the album off to a flyer, as Nicky Wire takes a turn on vocals walking us through some of the gripes of modern life. We love the line “Smart meters, smart water, smart fucking motorways” – the cynicism of the lyrics within this track were enough to make us laugh. There is also a nice electrobeat helping the song along and it’s one of the best on the record for sure. Next up, Decline & Fall opens with a piano intro before exploding into life. James Dean Bradfield gets back to vocal duties and his class is written all over this one, it could quickly become another of the Manics‘ anthemic tracks and is sure to go down well on their upcoming tour.
Fans had an early taster of what was to come with the release of Brushstrokes Of Reunion, another highly charged track as the vocals and bass work well together. This one is very pleasing on the ears, taking the listener back to the formation days of the band when they released songs such as Motorcycle Emptiness. This writer has been following the Manics‘ music since then and feels old when the realisation hits that the band have been going since 1986 – only thirty-nine years ago!
The next two tracks are both standouts on the record, as Hiding In Plain Sight continues the traditional Manics sound, with Wire once again taking on the vocals with stunning backup from Lana McDonagh, while People Ruin Paintings has an infectious guitar riff that helps to make it the best song on Critical Thinking, as Bradfield brings very punchy lyrics: “Take the sailor out of the ocean/take the adventurer from the Arctic circle/take the nihilist out of the desert/take the flag from the sea of tranquillity/people ruin paintings.”
As we move towards the end of the album, Out Of Time Revival and Deleted Scenes are well worth a listen. Wire ends the album on vocals once again, sounding very much like a young Bernard Sumner from New Order fame. OneManMilitia is the perfect way to end the twelve-track album.
Manic Street Preachers started the year touring in Japan and have ten sold-out UK dates to look forward to in April & May, showing that the band still have an amazing pulling power with their massive fan base. We hope to get along to one of their shows during the tour!
10/10
Standout Tracks: Critical Thinking, Hiding In Plain Sight, People Ruin Paintings
For Fans Of: Suede, Budapest, Feeder
Written by: Alan Brown
