Poetry

Of Walking Abortion

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‘I knew that someday I was gonna die, and I knew before I died two things would happen to me; that number one I would regret my entire life, and number two I would want to live my life over again‘.

The first song from The Holy Bible to offer an industrial tone, the savage guitars crunch and throb, drums smash down like hammers on steel, all manner of filters make the instruments sound mechanical and condensed while Bradfield sounds like a cyborg spinning out of control. This is heavy, dark stuff, unsurprisingly, with a chaotic mixture of lyrical brilliance with lyrical weirdness. It’s the first song that sounds evil on the album, as if it has taken on a life of its own and is coming after you, stalking, hunting. Opening with the above haunting quote (Hubert Selby Jr) about life, death, and regret, futility, apathy, the lyrics and music follow without looking back. The finger-pointing ending, which I believe was added by Nicky, has become a Manics moment – meme -mement? The band seemingly taking aim at, well, all of us, the monstrous humans we are, being responsible for all of the terrible shit in the world. Again Bradfield pulls every once of hatred and despair from the words, pumps them back through the music and unleashes a terrifying vocal performance, screaming to the pit of his soul with unfettered anguish and rage.

Misheard Lyrics:

  1. Obsidian’s blackest hole/a city is blackest hole/a city’s blackest hole
  2. The nation’s mouth wraps you inside
  3. Fucked up don’t know why you put it away
  4. Shut up! Shut up!
  5. Open black ground with tomorrow’s compass (?)
  6. So watch out girl and you expect your chores/so watch our car and you’ll expect no choice

Actual Lyrics:

  1. Acedia’s blackest hole
  2. The nation’s moral suicide
  3. Fucked up don’t know why you poor little boy
  4. Shalom! Shalom!
  5. Open black ruins a moral conscience
  6. So wash your car in your ‘x’ baseball shoes

Of Walking Abortion: 4/Great

Never Want Again

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Generic Ratings: 1: Crap. 2: Okay. 3: Good. 4: Great

One of the earliest acoustic (semi) stylings from the band, this has always been a firm personal favourite, ever since I first stumbled upon it in my early downloading days.  It’s one you’ll never hear any other fans talk about but I loved it from my first listen. Opening with a comedy mis-start, followed by lovely, tender guitar riff, it gives way to a stomping beat, and a simply extraordinary Bradfield vocal. It’s all about the melodies, the ability of Bradfield and possibly no other singer alive to sing them, and some quite lovely harmonies too. The lyrics are fine, taking a break from the politics, but they remain firmly in the style of anthems with a rebellious stance. It’s not too clear what the band are angry about, but they sound so happy and comfortable being angry that you get swept along with the emotion and feel free to use the chorus in your own personal tirade. The brilliant guitar solo at the end isn’t really necessary, but I’m never going to turn down a guitar solo.

Never Want Again: 4/Great

Misheard Lyrics: 1. Burn ’em by our side

2. I saw the rain bleaching my whale

3. My dog gets sick of all its lice

4. Thrown a bone way outside

Actual Lyrics: 1. Burn on by our side

2. I saw the rain bleaching my way

3. My gut gets sick of all its lies

4. Thrown all hope way outside

I’m Not Working

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Generic Ratings: 1: Crap. 2: Okay. 3: Good. 4: Great

I drift between liking this one slightly more than it sounds like I do, but it’s not one I can truly like. By the time TIMTTMY was released, I believed I had found my new Nirvana – a band that both rocked fiercely, but were also intelligent and sensitive. Everything Must Go was the first album I bought from them, and had since gone back to buy their previous albums by the time the fifth was released. I can’t remember everything about my first listen, but I do remember quite a few of the songs feeling weak and lifeless, this being one of those. Now, I can see what the band are going for here, but it still doesn’t make for an interesting listen in most cases, and is deathly dreary. I think the lyrics are best part, but musically it is as slow as mud and while Bradfield gives his all, he can’t save it from being a descent into stupor. I appreciate the band going for a new, experimental sound, and for perfectly encapsulating what it sounds like to be aimless in thought and energy, but it’s still a chore to get through.

I’m Not Working: 2/Okay

Misheard Lyrics: N/A