With God on Their Side

Review: The Holy Bible

Vox

November 1994

The Manic Street Preachers' third album is a fast, brash, angst-fuelled affair, closer to the sparse, severe sound of Generation Terrorists than the softer, strung out epic that was last year's Gold Against the Soul. Thankfully, since their debut, the Manics have spent more time on their music than they have mouthing off. The result is that, through simple song structure and strong melody, they majority of the 13, potentially uncommercial, fucked-up punk tunes here transcend their origins to emerge as fairly accessible pop songs. With tracks either hung on fabulous, furious hooks (former single Faster and the current Revol) or built on the band's inherent trademark tragedy (Die in the Summertime, She is Suffering), The Holy Bible is the Manics' finest attempt yet to put militancy into music.

Lyrically, anorexia, political correctness and the horrors of the holocaust are among the inevitably sombre issues they choose to address. Only too many innefective, taped intros and an overwhelming desire for the Manics to lighten up a little, prevent this from being the glorious success these Welsh upstarts always threatened us with.