Manic Street Preachers - Futurology

Manic Street Preachers
Futurology
7 July 2014
Columbia

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Futurology marks an even dozen LPs for Welsh alt-politico rockers Manic Street Preachers. As usual, it’s a grand statement of arena rock proportions, this time touching on topics such as the recent misdeeds of Russia and the brittle, hollow shell that is the European Union. And, while tags such as “grand statement” and “arena rock” are usually complete turn-offs in today’s musical climate of irony, cynicism, and detached cool, the intense intelligence of this record simply cannot be denied. (Not even by me, and believe me, I tried.)

Let’s get right to the good stuff: “Let’s Go to War” is a poisoned dagger right in the heart of the impotent corpse that is international diplomacy in 2014. Think Frankie Goes to Hollywood updated for the scene 30 years later, which, unfortunately for everybody, seems to have returned to the tense, threatening gloom that was the 1980s. “Europa Geht Durch Mich” takes a groove reminiscent of Goldfrapp’s “Train” and builds it into the chilling, faux-nationalist refrain that serves as the spine for the record. German actress Nina Hoss provides vocals for the song, lines of which reappear on multiple tracks later on the record.

“The misguided tweets, the sad Facebooking / cheapness surrounds me, but I’m not looking.” So sings James Dean Bradfield on “The View from Stow Hill,” a commentary on the band’s home city of Newport, Wales. Is he not looking in order to concentrate on the positive, or because he knows that social media is yet another form of distraction? In our société du spectacle, when the government isn’t providing us with war to keep us happy, we are forced to turn ourselves into entertainment for others through our tweets and posts. If we are society, then aren’t we also the spectacle?

reviewed by Richard Krueger