Yeah, watermarked promos hardly ever leak, I have a couple of them and they won't even play on my computer!

rofl, i'm sorry but you're totally wrong. i moderate like the second biggest one and despite my best efforts down the years there are albums that you will get borderline trolled for even mentioning, huge numbers of people who think the band is passe after album x or album y, and generally the usual level of interfan tension/conflicts you get on every band's forums really. they have a famously divisive discography after all. i stopped posting on the biggest one, atease, because trying to say something positive is like stepping on a minefield. with all due respect, compared to the big Radiohead messageboards this place is like a Teletubbies forum. i have seen people say pretty unashamedly 'fanboy' things here that pass without much notice but would get them mocked and trolled into oblivion and beyond on the bigger RH boards. which isn't anything to be proud of but yeah i don't know where you got that impression from.

i like how Price unashamedly puts the Richey albums over the Nicky ones, never liked that guy's taste in music. i think i agree with him about the wisdom of this direction though i'm surprised how well people here seem to be reacting to it. i think as fanbases go the Manics hardcore, beyond the many who gave up after Richey left of course, are generally really forgiving, or should i say undemanding. like Rolling Stones fans, i'm not sure that many people here are even bothered if the new album sucks or not, they just want to see them play the old songs on tour... that at least is my impression!

I'm nervous!

Waiting here for the leak... lol

Hi Richey83, such a long time. How are you?

Doesnt matter if it leaks you'll at least hear the songs by next Friday albeit live version from dodgy mobile phone recordings :P

Lol. It would be nice so but I think the songs won't have the same quality as the album... lol. ;)

Doubt that very much. They'll probably check for people waving their phones about during songs. These small gigs never really get bootlegged. I remember the AOL session in 2007 that never got recorded.

Yes, had to laugh at the various stuff you are not allowed to take into certain venues like a 'proper, professional camera' or something! :lol: Yeah, as if most of us are gonna have one of those!

don't know if anyone else has posted this track by track review. Sounds like its going to be a pretty strong album......really want to hear now having read this

http://www.the-fly.co.uk/words/featu.../-first-listen

that review has given me great confidence. i shall sleep well tonight :)

Don't think this has been posted...

Tweet from The Quietus: Starting the week with new Manic Street Preachers. Polish, massive chorus, strings, quite Bon Jovi. These are all good things.

Am terrified. No, I'm not a BJ fan (fnar fnar).

Great news that it's Polish, though. (-;

Bon Jovi? These reviews keep making me optimistic or cynical about the album each time. I need to lie in a dark room and keep saying 'it's a Manics album, of course it will be good'.

That description is made of total win if it's true. But then Nicky did say it...so it's probably bound to sound anything but.

Dudes/Dudettes, it will be fine! Trust me! :D

I've ordered the deluxe version from Townsend and CD 2 of It's Not Love. So excited!

No, that was The Quietus's reaction to hearing the album (www.thequietus.com).