I imagine the band will deal with it the way they have for the past 15 years, by talking about the new record and politely ignoring and deflecting any stupid questions about Richey that get dropped into an interview.

I mean c'mon, it's 2024, the 80s nostalgia thing is a dead fad. The 90s and 00s seem to be all the rage now baby! And this only proves that the Manics have lost their touch with the zeitgeist they had back in their early days when they sounded like whatever was fashionable. Now they just sound unfashionable.

Sadly MSP have fallen into the curse of the once cult, now popular touring band: release middling albums with low effort, the fans will buy it regardless of quality and laud it because they feel they have to.

They'll always sell out tours and concerts at middle class music festivals and we'll moan they played You Stole The Sun From My Heart. Again. And no Sleepflower. Again. And, oh look! Its The Anchoress! Again.

I'll remain optimistic but Decline and Fall is almost AI-generated Manics. It just lacks excitement. When was the last time they did something genuinely exciting or interesting? Plague Lovers? James' last solo album? Not even Sean's mid-life crisis is inspiring anything exciting.

I shouldn't keep replying but I'm not enjoying trudging through Kafka's The Trial. Richey was not just a band member but a close friend who in one form or another ended their life. Not only do James, Nicky & Sean have to contend with losing a friend, they have also have to endure asking themselves what could've done differently that might have saved Richey from his demise. Every memory becomes an interrogation, a mirror telling you that you failed to prevent the obvious, when in reality people have control over the path they are walking down and ultimately responsible for themselves. Perhaps I'm talking more about myself here and using this in vain as therapy, but I'm not convinced this is miles away from how others might process these tragedies.

Bandwise, I think RTF and Futurology were the last sparks of doing something interesting but lets be honest, the writing has been on the wall about the rot since Nicky's acoustic demo of 'it's not war' was butchered and overproduced until it turned into a Steps flavoured rip off of Everybody Dance.

Perfect description!

When the strings kick in, it always sounds like it's going to be a Carpetright closing down sale advert jingle to me.

*cough* you may wish to book your flights to New Zealand..........

I wish I’d stayed home. I’m quite worried for this album now 😩

Thanks, was in the middle of listening to the new Queen boxset on Spotify so this was a nice surprise.

Absolutely no sign of JDB's vocals on this new song.

26 seconds of possibility and hope followed by 188 seconds of overproduced mush with a string rendition of the start of PCPs lead break. I actually thought it might be something good and now I'm just sad, sad in the same way as seeing a dangerous and catastrophically unhealthy obese person that you used to know in your youth and knowing that they have decent bone structure underneath it all but just prefer junk food to eating healthy.

I wasn’t intending to post anything about it but after hearing the new single…I’m just so fucking disappointed in them. I have loved this band with all my heart for 26 years and to hear them reduced to this kind of easy listening MOR low effort garbage is heartbreaking. I thought the PFAYM era was the nadir but, no, apparently not.

Remember when the Manics were incendiary, intelligent, articulate, intensely emotional and, most importantly, essential listening? These singles reek of a band just churning out something new as part of the album/tour/album cycle, not as a creatively unique and fascinating artistic expression. There is nothing essential about them. Nothing vital.

JFPL is where they should’ve called it a day. The last great album they ever made and definitely the last time that they still felt like the Manic Street Preachers.

I agree with most of this. The part about calling it a day after JFPL is debatable. I love futurology and The Ultra Vivid Lament so I’m happy they didn’t pack it in there.

I liked half of Futurology and loved TUVL, but even they can't justify album after album of tossed off dross from what was once a relevant, potent and sincere artistic endeavour.

If anything it's more painful to watch them return to peddling the whimper, after the bang. Our generation's The Clash spent 15 years writing music for care homes.

Intrigued and feel I need to hear it

Where can I find it?