Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

Repeat (songs I can never get enough of): Yes, IfWhiteAmericaToldTheTruthForOneDayIt'sWorldWouldFallApart, Of Walking Abortion, Archives Of Pain, Revol, 4st 7lb, Faster, This Is Yesterday, Die In the Summertime Skip (songs I have trouble listening to even once): none Repeat (songs I can never get enough of): Yes, IfWhiteAmericaToldTheTruthForOneDayIt'sWorldWouldFallApart, Of Walking Abortion, Archives Of Pain, Revol, 4st 7lb, Faster, This Is Yesterday, ...
...to even once): none Repeat (songs I can never get enough of): Yes, IfWhiteAmericaToldTheTruthForOneDayIt'sWorldWouldFallApart, Of Walking Abortion, Archives Of Pain, Revol, 4st 7lb, Faster, This Is Yesterday, Die In the Summertime Skip (songs I have trouble listening to even once): none Repeat (songs I can never get enough of): Yes, IfWhiteAmericaToldTheTruthForOneDayIt'sWorldWouldFallApart, Of Walking Abortion, Archives Of Pain, Revol, 4st 7lb, ...

Dizzy_Lizzy 08.03.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

Album: The Holy Bible Artist: Manic Street Preachers Label: Sony Released: 1994 Aside from the irony of the Manic St Preachers being on the huge corporate beast of a label that was Sony, 1994 saw them release their finest work to date. "The Holy Bible" is an angry and uncompromisingly bleak album; an arrow into the dark heart of humanity in many ways. Following hot on the heels of "Gold Against The Soul" (an inconsistent and sterile set of songs ...
...innovative and controversial. "The Holy Bible" opens with "Yes" - a scathing critique of overt capitalism and designer science; "In these plagued streets of pity You can buy anything, For $200 anyone can conceive a god on video" The first thing that strikes you (after the initial surprise of the fourth word of the album being the C word) is that the nominal chorus, is inaccesible and rushed. The hook of the song is the wonderfully sung bridge, ...

andystrong 04.02.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

MANIC STREET PREACHERS - THE HOLY BIBLE --------------------------------------- So my previous review was about the Manic Street Preacher's second album, gold against the soul, so I thought what better a time to tackle their next album, 1994's The Holy Bible. Most people will be familiar with the band due to a number of chart topping singles released over the last few years, the problem is that these don't really show how good this band was in ...
...that really shows what the Manics were about. The four members of the band grew up close to each other in a small mining town in Wales The band all had a love of rock music, especially groups like 'The Clash' and 'Guns and Roses', they were also very intelligent and interested in politics etc. The band formed in the late 1980's and released a single, Suicide Alley, which was recorded by scraping all of their dole cheques together. A couple more ...

kylecoare 22.03.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

...the line up. ‘The Holy Bible’ was released in 1994, the Welsh bands third album under the Sony label. The most amazing thing about the album is the lyrics. They are the expressions of someone who was deeply troubled, but is a true artist. The quality comes across in the words, and you have to read all the words off the album to get the full impact. With his depression comes a fairly obvious dark tone to the album. This is especially obvious ...
...in ‘Die in the Summertime’ are intently dark. It is not the sort of thing to play to get upbeat, but the true genius behind this has to be seen. With Richey gone the Manics have still made records, ‘Everything Must Go’ is also excellent and another album of the 90s. They will never re-create what goes on in this album though. 1. Yes - The opening track is a fine example of this album, saying what they think is wrong with the ...

Chris_Padden 20.06.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

...Street Preachers 3rd album The Holy Bible. The Album The Holy Bible is probably one of the gloomiest and darkest records to be produced with its bleak nihilistic songs of pure vitriol. Richey, the bands enigmatic songwriter wrote this album during the deepest parts of his depression so this was not going to be any happy album. Topics that are covered in this album range from prostitution, anorexia and self-abuse to the Nazi holocaust and Hiroshima. ...
...of them and Nicky writing a few of them along side Richey. The album was dedicated to their manager Philip Hall who died of cancer 6 months before this album was released Richey the "face" of the band suffered with depression most of his life and was a person who "practised" self abuse such as cutting himself up and starvation. During this period in the Manics careers Richey Edwards was at most bleak period in his life and a few months after this ...

adsalamon 26.07.2001 (14.08.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

The Holy Bible is possibly the darkest LP you’ll ever hear if you ever listen to it (unless you’re a goth or something and then it’s the happiest CD you’ll ever hear). It was released in 1994, the same year that Take That were at their peak and Blur released the catalyst for Britpop, Parklife, but it’s safe to say that this is far removed from the sound of the charts. Richey Edwards, the band’s enigmatic “poet ...
...had dropped most of the Holy Bible songs from their set when I went to see them). The band and most others regard Revol as the worst on the album. You might note that it spells lover backwards, but it is obscure in the extreme as far as theme goes. It seems to be about Homo-erotic fantasies and dictators, but after that I’m baffled. It’s the closest the band get to in terms of their earliest sound on the album, but the lyrics were probably ...

kfingleton 04.04.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

The Holy Bible is unarguably the Manics’ darkest album. With 70% of the lyrics written by Richey in a downward spiral of depression and self mutilation the album is depressing yet uplifting, as best represented by track nine ‘Faster’. The album has many topics of discussion – the Holocaust, America, and other depressing topics… 1. Yes – 4:59 – ‘everyone I’ve loved or hated always seems to leave’ ...
...as a single from The Holy Bible, but was deemed unsuitable by Sony. 2. Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart – 3:39 – ‘cool – groovy – morning – fine’ **** Starting with a cutting quote, Ifwhiteamerica… is a really cutting song taking it out of America all the way through. America still tries to convince itself that it is enlightened and equal when in reality it is just deceiving ...

camomiletea 06.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

This album......it's utterly astonishing. A masterpiece. The best rock album to come out of the 90's by far. Utterly captivating. Tears you apart. It's really quite hard to express just how good this album is (wow, I sound so dramatic-bear with me!). Words really can't sum it up, though words are exactly what make this album what it is. This album cannot be said to be the best album the Manics have produced. There is one reason for this, its because ...
...certainly not an album that I relish listening to, that I can be said to enjoy. It is an emotional torrent, an epic journey through a mind torn into pieces, it's Richey James life at that time, summed up in song. It's amazing. Its an abuse to self to listen to. Richey IS the beginning, middle and end of this album, (we can see this most clearly by the offerings we have been blessed with since his departure) however, Richey's imput, in the main was ...

Fuschia 31.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

...to get somewhere. The Holy Bible is their third album. The last recorded with Richey James before his disappearance (although his writing was so prolific, Richey’s lyrics pervade many later songs). During this time, Richey was extremely depressed. He was suffering with alcoholism which also caused anorexia. His much recorded self-harm was becoming severe again. They had not only lost their manager & mentor Philip Hall, but Richey had lost his childhood ...
...black, No birds-no birds, a holy mass of dead insects” Faster: A wonderfully fast, frentic punky song here-simple chords and snarling vocals. This is a song about nihilism (“I know I believe in nothing, but it is my nothing”), the disappointment that comes with life and the brainwashing of society. Best Line: “The first time you see yourself naked you cry-soft skin now acne, foul breath so broken” This is Yesterday: An understated, beautifully ...

Punkyvix 27.02.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

The holy bible is one of the most definitive albums of the nineties, made by a band at the peak of their form. It is one of those albums that has no weaknesses. Be warned though, this album is dark and Often disturbing, there are no happy moments. The lyrics were written Mainly my Richy James Edwards, who dissapeared, shortly before the Bands American tour to promote this album. His lyrics show how Troubled he was at the time, and give clues ...

Thechain 28.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

They said this was really Richey's album and there certainly is a very disturbed mind at work here. However, the album's strength is in its scope - yes, it's pretty much all doom and gloom but there are different levels of 'gloomness': from the political (PCP) to the personal (Die In The Summertime); from the all-out rant (Archives Of Pain) to the studied dissection (The Intense Humming Of Evil). And then there's the occasional heart-stopping moment ...
...kind of anorexic's manifesto ("I wanna walk in the snow / And not leave a footprint") which is almost too painful to listen to even without the knowledge that the author really was going through most of this stuff. Of course the above refers only to the lyrics, and in the case of The Manics sometimes people do forget to mention the actual tunes. The music of James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore perferctly tempers the anger and desperation of the ...

TheBoyShaun 30.11.2000 (31.01.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

...in the form of The Holy Bible, the Manics' third and finest album. A bleakly disturbing vision of Richie's mind, the album makes for uncomfortable listening with subjects covering the full range of man's corruption, evil and sickness and will certainly not be to everyone's taste. "I don't see it as a record", Nicky Wire (bassist and lyricist) would say later "I see it as a state of mind". The Holy Bible will always be remebered as Richie's album, ...
...a predominantly lyric-driven album, he barks, growls and snarls his way through the majority of the album's 13 tracks, on occasion seemingly trying to cram too many ideas into too small a place. For all that though, at the album's dark heart lies some great hooks, riffs and melodies, and even some bittersweet moments, particularly during the achingly beautiful "This Is Yesterday". There are also real highlights in "Of Walking Abortion", "Revol" and ...

stevek181 29.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

I think The Holy Bible is the best album the Manics have ever produced. Its probably the least well known album, and it certainly takes some getting used to. The lyrics are about as harsh and gritty as you can imagine, with songs about anorexia, the holocaust, abortion, capital punishment etc. Its not easy listening but the lyrics (written at the height of Richie's illness) are really powerful, and could equally be spoken as poetry. Musically, the ...
...as classics: Faster, She is Suffering, This is Yesterday and PCP. Its got much more of a punk feel to it than Gold Against the Soul, and, it seems, is more representative of some of Richie's pre-occupations during his final months as a legally recognised person! Its a great album but dont expect too many great melodies, and be prepared for some harsh lyrics. Don't buy it for your granny. ...

comradeward 21.09.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

Forget the Manic Street Preachers as you know them now. This is the Manic Street Preachers at there manevolent, majestic best. Each track reveals a tiny, sinister insight into the mind of tortured genius lyricist Richy Edwards. The tracks are a lasting testament to the man and capture the band at the height of their powers. This collection is not for the faint-hearted and will no doubt shock recent converts to the Manics, the lyrics are very intense ...
...attack on Corporate America (If White America told the truth...) to an almost unbearably realistic track on the subject of anorexia (4st 7lbs. A true monster of an album every track will haunt and challenge you for years to come.A bleak, black masterpiece and contender for album of the 90s without a doubt. ...

Beowulf 12.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers

...are still a mystery), "The Holy Bible" is one of the Manics' darkest albums. Themes range from the emotional (4st 7lb - about the disturbing mental state of anorexia nervosa) to the political (ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart - about American gun laws and segregation) problems of the world. The strong voice of James Dean Bradfield (lead vocal + guitar) puts emotion into the already strong lyrics, and the frantic drummung ...
...to strive to fit in with society despite the suffocating nature of it. The band named this album "The Holy Bible" because the Bible is a book of perfection and ultimate truths, and the emotion and meaning held within in this sometimes disturbing masterpiece reflect its title in every aspect. ...

Rachael 12.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Holy Bible, The - Manic Street Preachers