Sunday, October 18, 2020

Day 0777 - The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers "The Holy Bible" (1994)

Possibly the darkest MSP album, and the last featuring guitarist Richey Edwards who disappeared suddenly during the promotion for the album.  To this day it's not known what happened to him or where he went.

In addition to the situation with Edwards, vocalist/lyricist/guitarist James Dean Bradfield was suffering depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm and anorexia.  This is not the sing-along preachiness of latter stage MSP, this is some grinding, grim and angsty rock.   The guitar riffs are distorted and angular, my favourite being "the Intense Humming of Evil" which sounds like a mix of NIN, TOOL and Radiohead.

The album did not sell well initially, though it was critically vaunted.   The band were probably just a bit ahead of their time, with gloom and angst... which would be fairly marketable over the next few years.   I personally thought it was a great slice of rock.


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