This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

06/08/1999 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Mike Lipton

Beginning with the Manic Street Preachers' 1991 EP, the Welsh quartet has tried desperately to generate fire but, at least on this side of the Atlantic, has succeeded only in stirring up a bit of smoke. The music--tepid, arena-pop metal that was but a few steps to the right of Ratt (which would have been an improvement)--never warranted the group's shock-rock attitude or reputation.

The band's latest--already tagged the "Best U.K. album" in the 1999 Brit Awards--is, at the very least, a major leap forward from 1996's abysmal Everything Must Go, the first release following guitarist Richey James's still-unsolved disappearance. While the lead cut, "The Everlasting," is still a throwback to the band's warmed-over '80s rock, the metallic crunch has been replaced by sheens of strings, tremolo guitars, and sundry keyboard textures. The overall mix is more contemporary--punchy and in-your-face--than anything the band has released to date; the exception being singer James Dean Bradfield, who insists on singing in the Freddie Mercury-castrati range. If you happened to like bands like Styx and Kansas, tunes like "Ready For Drowning" and "Be Natural" will make you a happy chappy.