slabhead

A Tale Of Two Halves.

The first half of the album is absolutely stunning. The Everlasting is a beautiful track about longing for youth “In the beginning, when we were winning, when our smiles were genuine.” To me it also speaks to the position the band found themselves in without Richey, more on him later.

If you think you’ve never heard a Manics song, you probably have, and one of them is probably one of their only two number ones, If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will ... read more

This for the longest time was my favourite album of last year. A stark departure from Weller’s days with The Jam, and if you know me you know how much I adore that band.
Jumble Queen, Soul Wandering, Nothing and Flying Fish are particular highlights. Jumble Queen is nothing short of a vibe, and I’m surprised it wasn’t released as a single over perhaps Rise Up Singing, which in itself isn’t a bad track.
Soul Wandering to me speaks to a desire for some sort of purpose, ... read more

This one is a weird one for me. While I’m glad we’ve got Franz Ferdinand back it’s not entirely the return to form that I could’ve hoped for

Let’s start off with the 3 singles. As the Meat Loaf song goes, two out of three ain’t bad. Audacious and Night Or Day remind me a lot of their sound on Tonight, in a good way. Both are strong lyrically, instrumentally and vocally. Hooked by contrast does absolutely nothing for me, the lyrics are ass but at least the ... read more

Like a phoenix from the ashes.

This is my all time favourite album. Not a single bad track to be found, no filler whatsoever. This album is an absolute triumph start to finish.

Even without Richey’s fantastic lyricism, the Manics still deliver lyrically. From an instrumental standpoint, this sets the tone for the rest of the discography from here on in, bar Journal For Plague Lovers. The more radio-friendly tracks like Australia and A Design For Life are some of the best among the ... read more