Manic Street Preachers – Critical Thinking – CD

Manic Street Preachers released their 15th studio album Critical Thinking.

The album celebrates that conflicting ideas collide, with unflinching lyrics that explore the soul and some of the most direct, addictive melodies the band has ever recorded.”

We are told that the album “celebrates conflicting ideas colliding, with unflinchingly soul-searching lyrics meeting some of the most head-on, addictive melodies the band have ever recorded”.

Nicky Wire says: “This is a record of opposites colliding – of dialectics trying to find a path of resolution. While the music has an effervescence and an elegiac uplift, most of the words deal with the cold analysis of the self, the exception being the three lyrics by James (Dean Bradfield) which look for and hopefully find answers in people, their memories, language and beliefs”.

The new single is ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ which features bassist/lyricist Nicky Wire on vocals.

The 12-track album (tracklisting has not been made available yet) is available on vinyl, CD and cassette. A 2CD deluxe edition looks to be consistent with previous deluxe editions (in DVD-sized hardcover book packaging) and features 12 demos on CD 2 along with a Steven Wilson remix of ‘Decline & Fall’.