Manic Street Preachers // Futurology
The Manics burst out of Wales in the late 80s in a storm of eye-liner, vitriol and an aggressive self-belief, all Gn'R channelling the Clash. Since then there has been hits, tragedy and bigger hits. Twelfth album Futurology, released ten months after Rewind The Film, heads in a new direction, the band raiding their early eighties record collection. Walk Me To The Bridge channels New Gold Dream era Simple Minds. Let's Go To War is Blancmange with guitars. Lyrically self-critical The Next Jet To Leave Moscow could be U2 stripped free of Bono’s proselytising. Sex Power Love and Money takes the chorus from You Love Us, a verse that incongruously but effectively mixes Wham! Rap, Jesus Jones and the Alarm and a Thin Lizzy style guitar solo. Instrumental Dreaming A City recalls forgotten pop-gothsters Balaam & The Angel. Deviating from the eighties template, Black Square goes sixties and brings to mind a slowed down (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me.
Throughout, Stranglers style synths bubble away and there are hints of Soft Cell, Visage and Ultravox. Thankfully, this avoids being an eighties pastiche, thanks to a modern sound that eschews the worst excesses of that decade's production jobs. Overall, a good but not great album.
Pavlis 7/10
