Originally Posted by Radiomanic
(Post 2080257)
1. It's Not War - Great opener, perfect pick for a single.
2. Postcards for a Young Man - I really like this one, reminds me of Design For Life a bit. Obviously not as over-played as Design for Life...yet.
3. Some Kind of Nothingness - Despite Ian Mculloch being involved, that doesn't prevent it being what it actually is...horribly similar to AutumnSong and not much better than the original.
4. The Descent - Starts off like The Everlasting...then wtf?! Utter, Utter offensive shite.
5. Hazleton Avenue - Very poor, and I really detest the Brian May style guitar in the 'chorus that doesn't actually exist'. Embarassing.
6. Auto-Intoxication - Ah more like it! KYE/TIMT crossover with a random shouty pointy bit. Not exactly similar to the offending three previous tracks, refreshing to hear they haven't completely lost their minds afterall.
7. Golden Platitudes - Oh but wait, i knew it wouldn't last! Once again another average radio 1-style track that you'd expect Snow Patrol to come up with, but not the bloody Manics!
8. I Think I've Found It - Enjoyed this one, catchy but also a good track in general. This maybe could've fitted on EMG.
9. A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun - Another good track! Yay! Alot more upbeat and closer to Auto-Intoxication.
10. All We Make is Entertainment - Didn't really hit me, not crap or offensive like tracks 3-5 but not good either. Maybe it's a grower. Some more horrible Brian May guitar towards the end, y know i really hate Brian May.
11. The Future Has Been Here 4 Ever - Wait...is that Nicky Wire i hear? Is it?...SKIP! Oh hang on, there's someone else now ok i'll give it a chance...oh no some Cowbell...ok it's not that bad yet...Sean's back on his trumpet...nah still don't really like it much! It's ok, it's most likely out of all the disappointing ones to grow on me. For a Nicky sung track, its impressive.
12. Don't Be Evil - The Manics normally do album closers quite well, and although this is a good enough mid-album track it doesn't really close the album very well.
Verdict - I'm not directly disappointed now as i heard the previews and thought they were shite, but on the whole i am very disappointed after the ace Journal for Plague Lovers. I know they are capable of so much better, if they'd not done JFPL and released this after SATT then i would've been worried. This is probably their poorest effort since Generation Terrorists (am i actually saying i prefer Gold Against the Soul? Yes i am, oh dear!), it's a shame that this far in their career they've gone in this direction however i know they're still a great band and i look forward to 70 Songs of Failure and Hatred! I'm not going to disown them over a poor 10th album, as i'm confident the next one will be alot better. That said, it doesn't make me look foward to the forthcoming gigs, i'm kind of regretting booking for two gigs i think one will be more than enough.
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