While 2013’s Rewind the Film looked back in contemplation, the Manics’ 12th studio album Futurology is designed to celebrate European art and movements of the last two centuries, reflecting a joy and a freedom in travel and movement. With the Manics lyrics always come first, and Bradfield has said that they always inspire the music rather than vice versa as with many other bands. Sonically spectacular and bold, with sounds influenced by Simple Minds, a band they have paid tribute to, and the 80s, there is nevertheless a modern and futuristic bent to the production on this album. The lyrics booklets, marked always by a chosen quote and select images are crucial to the experience of a Manics album. You have to read to unlock the full meaning of each song, as if it is poetry and riddle of existential importance.
Opening song ‘Futurology’ responds to previous album Rewind the Film in which the band seem to admit the exhaustion of trying to mobilise generations through their music. ‘We’ve done the best we can / a magnifying glass / with questions left to ask’ and ‘one day we will return / no matter how much it hurts / and it hurts’ embody their enduring spirit and need to musically hold the world to account. The opening bursts of the guitar and their driving force in their chorus, combined with the collective vocal give this song an uplifting and celebratory character. The storming ‘Walk Me to the Bridge’ is the Manics at their layered best. The synth beat is unfamiliar but effective before the chorus, one of their best, explodes into glory with emphatic guitar and drumming as well as an enlivened James Dean Bradfield vocal. Although it is easy to read missing member Richey Edwards, into the title and lyrics, the song concerns the Oresund Bridge which joins Sweden and Denmark and the transcendent experience of crossing it, a suspension in motion between two places.
‘Let’s Go to War’ is the band’s call to arms, with darkly military riffs and bitter vocals it is a statement of intent. A reaffirmation of their love for their cause and their determination is embodied in the echoing lyric ‘don’t forget we love you still’, as well as the characteristically thorny Nicky Wire lyric: ‘working class skeletons / lie scattered in museums / and all the false economies / speak falsely of your dreams’. The final track of Rewind the Film, ’30 Year War’, signalled their intent brilliantly and it pairs perfectly with this song.
Bradfield wrote and composed ‘The Next Jet to Leave Moscow’ himself and it takes a retrospective look at some of the controversial moments of the band’s career (‘so you played in Cuba / did you like it brother? / I bet you felt proud / you silly little fucker’). Fuelled by a krautrock percussive rhythm the riffs carry the weight of the lyrics expertly.
A favourite from recent gigs and one of the first songs to be introduced into the setlist from the album, ‘Europa Geht Durch Mich’ is an anthem of the Autobahn. It is a stomping song accompanied by a vocal from German film star Nina Hoss (the daughter of a trade-unionist) and an emphatic European theme will probably not endear this song to Nigel Farage. The fusion of German and English with Hoss make sure this hugely addictive song doesn’t become stale and repetitive.
Welsh Music Prize Winner Georgia Ruth Williams duets with Bradfield on ‘Divine Youth’, with a cacophony of eerily beautiful melodies and layers. In the modern world ‘the kids are growing old / in a digital haze / is it evolution in the virtual age’. The digital theme runs throughout. In the raging, spiteful ‘Sex Power Love and Money’ lyrics like ‘upload your future / and download your past’ are brilliant references to this theme. ‘The View From Stow Hill’ revisits an important place from their pasts and finds ‘pitiful nihilism’, ‘misguided tweets, ‘sad facebooking’ and ‘cheapness’ but you can ‘still sense a little hope’. These lyrics feel slightly awkward in this acoustic number with a futuristic backing.
The instrumentals of ‘Dreaming a City (Hugheskova)’ and ‘Mayakovsky’ are both sharp and expert displays of their musicianship. The former is a tribute to John Hughes who founded a city in Ukraine, and the latter to a poet (representative of Russian Futurism), both encompass the inspiration found in the stories in all of the places you travel to and a homage to the creative, artistic human spirit. Few people currently can rival the majesty of a James Dean Bradfield guitar solo. The violin work on Mayakovsky is also scintillating while a sparse echo of ‘Europa Geht Durch Mich’ fades the album out.
There are no weak tracks on Futurology, it is impossible to skip one. ‘Misguided Missile’ and ‘Black Square’ are both superb and worthy of mention while Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside smoothly lends his vocal talents to ‘Between the Clock and the Bed’.
Always challenging themselves, always reinventing themselves, when other bands of their age have simply faded away, the Manics are still one of the most unique, creative, intellectual, experimental and powerful bands in the music world. Their ability to diversify without giving away an inch of their artistic and lyrical integrity is always astounding. The European fusion of electronica, krautrock, post-punk disco and rock’n’roll make this latest album an art form of the highest quality. It is fitting on the 20 year anniversary of the immense ‘Holy Bible’, they have conjured up another monumental offering to launch themselves into the future.