Riderless horses, Noam Chomsky's Camelot

The first taster from the new Manic Street Preachers album hit the radio and subsequently, faster than you can say "Does anyone still care?", the internet, yesterday. The album, 'Journal for Plague Lovers', is out in May, and is noteworthy since all the lyrics on the album are missing guitarist Richey Edwards'. Adding to the "old MSP" feel, the album's cover art is a Jenny Saville painting, just as was the case on 'The Holy Bible'. And a quick scan of the tracklisting reveals such gems as 'Jackie Collins Existential Question Time' and 'She Bathed Herself in a Bath of Bleach". Legendary. So maybe this one will be the oft-promised return to their roots. 

Shame, then, that the opening track, 'Peeled Apples', isn't very good. There's nothing I'd like more than for MSP to put out another album that's a stone-cold-classic, but this sounds like a really-heavily produced (by Steve Albini!) slice of rock and roll. Can't wait to hear the album, because I'll always give the band a chance, but I hope there's better than this.